Ive been using this unit for roughly 5 years now. I clean the chimney (sl300 with cak) from the bottom up each year with a metal wire brush. I get shiny creosote that looks like instant coffee crystals each time. For the past 3 years Ive burnt a good bit of dry pine splits, but this year I also ran a few slow fires that was really stopped down too much.
Upon removing the baffle board this year to clean it, I saw a 3 inch tall mound of creosote chips on top of it. Ive seen this before, but not this much. They were small in nature like 1/8 inch size chips. Once the board and secondary burn tubes were out, I stuck my head inside with a dim flashlight and looked up. I have about 1 foot of chimney, then an offset and then back to straight up. I can see all the way to the top of the chimney cap and the sun was illuminating the top. I saw creosote on the immediate pipe and into the offset. It was just a thin covering, and a bit of it was falling off.
I then got up, pushed the brush up into the opening and started the bottom up cleaning. I got quite a bit of creosote pretty quick in the first 5 feet of chimney. Then as I got further up, there was very little falling out.
I would brush about a two foot section back and forth about 6 to 7 times and then move up to the next two foot part. Once I was at top, I did the same process back down. Most of the creosote came out during the first part of the bottom 5 feet and was roughly shiny, flaky and about 1/8 to 3/16 inch in size. Is it normal to have more in the bottom area than the top? I have not been on the roof, the cap looks good and clean when viewed with a telephoto lens and all seems well.
On another note, The fans in this unit have a bad transformer hum. They always have and its pretty loud when the fans are at a very slow setting. Id like them to be quiet while running with just a light bit of air flow. Anyone else have this issue and would replacement fans help?
Upon removing the baffle board this year to clean it, I saw a 3 inch tall mound of creosote chips on top of it. Ive seen this before, but not this much. They were small in nature like 1/8 inch size chips. Once the board and secondary burn tubes were out, I stuck my head inside with a dim flashlight and looked up. I have about 1 foot of chimney, then an offset and then back to straight up. I can see all the way to the top of the chimney cap and the sun was illuminating the top. I saw creosote on the immediate pipe and into the offset. It was just a thin covering, and a bit of it was falling off.
I then got up, pushed the brush up into the opening and started the bottom up cleaning. I got quite a bit of creosote pretty quick in the first 5 feet of chimney. Then as I got further up, there was very little falling out.
I would brush about a two foot section back and forth about 6 to 7 times and then move up to the next two foot part. Once I was at top, I did the same process back down. Most of the creosote came out during the first part of the bottom 5 feet and was roughly shiny, flaky and about 1/8 to 3/16 inch in size. Is it normal to have more in the bottom area than the top? I have not been on the roof, the cap looks good and clean when viewed with a telephoto lens and all seems well.
On another note, The fans in this unit have a bad transformer hum. They always have and its pretty loud when the fans are at a very slow setting. Id like them to be quiet while running with just a light bit of air flow. Anyone else have this issue and would replacement fans help?
