I have a 80’s era non cat pre epa federal airtight CDW stove. Rear vented to a clay lined ext chimney (covered in stone). Chimney sweep loves its design and the draft it provides. Just this week suddenly I can’t seem to get it to draft unless I closed all the vents. If I open the vent I. The side or the door it leaks out of the corners where the stove cement is gone. So I have had three fires like this and I don’t know what’s wrong. Now I got a decent coating of creosote inside the stove. Any ideas ?
Help!
- Thread starter dhungy
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Well, if you have creosote in the stove then you probably have it in the stove pipe and chimney. You're plugged up somewhere. Start digging.
I took the pipe off the stove and was surprised at how much ash was in there.. also creosote how do I get that out? Also can I check the draft at the wall to see if it’s strong?
The stove pipe and chimney are normally cleaned with a stiff brush made for the job or a rotary cleaner. It's likely that there will be worse accumulation up in the chimney near the top. The chimney needs to be swept.
Cleaned it up as best I could and reinstalled. Tried a some wadded up paper towels in the firebox and the draft seemed much better. I just had the chimney swept a month ago so my instincts tell me that it’s probably not necessary again but on the other hand I’m concerned at how much creosote built up after only 3 oxygen deprived fires
XmasTreefarmer
Feeling the Heat
Could something have plugged the chimney - Squirrel nest partially blocking? Tree limb fell in? Maybe I should ask what type of chimney cap you have?
I don’t think it’s blocked other the on the pipe which I think it wasn’t blocked but restricted. No cap chimney sweep was supposed to order one. Last I knew it was back ordered
If it were me, I wouldn't burn any wood in it until you're sure there's no build up in the chimney. Was it only three fires since it was swept or three fires after you had problems?
jetsam
Minister of Fire
It doesn't need to be guessing game.
Run an inspection camera through the flue, or go up top and look in (and sweep it while you're at it, sweeping takes less time than inspection).
I would definitely also put a cap on it... lots of places have them in stock, wouldn't bother waiting for someone else to order one from some shut-down factory somewhere.
Run an inspection camera through the flue, or go up top and look in (and sweep it while you're at it, sweeping takes less time than inspection).
I would definitely also put a cap on it... lots of places have them in stock, wouldn't bother waiting for someone else to order one from some shut-down factory somewhere.
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