Hot fire "cleaning out" chimney?

[Slow1]

Ok - I've read references here and other places to making sure to "burn hot" in the morning or at least periodically to "clean out" the chimney of the leftovers from overnight burn or whatnot. Now I'm wondering just how much there is to this and the reality of what this does?

Being first year here I am burning less than perfect wood - sold to me as 'seasoned' but from reading here I know it isn't 20% or less moisture (some pieces sissle, some don't, yes I need to get that meter and start sorting them I suppose but then I'd have to cut each one open or resplit them all?). So I am trying to burn hot, but for the first couple weeks I didn't (took time to read up here and learn the gospel of hearth you know). At night things cool down of course so, that brings me back to the question.

Is there benefit to running particularly hot for some period of time in the morning? If so, how hot and for how long? How much of the evils of creosote buildup can this erase?

In case it makes any difference, I have a SS insulated chimney outside that runs pretty much straight up (slight jog near the top where it has to clear the roof edge). The whole thing is too high up for me to climb - the clean out on the outside of the house even would require me to get a taller ladder than I currently have to reach (may end up happening anyway... I wonder if I could shine a light up from the bottom and learn anything useful?)

Thanks in advance.

 

[firefighterjake]

Ok - I've read references here and other places to making sure to "burn hot" in the morning or at least periodically to "clean out" the chimney of the leftovers from overnight burn or whatnot. Now I'm wondering just how much there is to this and the reality of what this does?

Being first year here I am burning less than perfect wood - sold to me as 'seasoned' but from reading here I know it isn't 20% or less moisture (some pieces sissle, some don't, yes I need to get that meter and start sorting them I suppose but then I'd have to cut each one open or resplit them all?). So I am trying to burn hot, but for the first couple weeks I didn't (took time to read up here and learn the gospel of hearth you know). At night things cool down of course so, that brings me back to the question.

Is there benefit to running particularly hot for some period of time in the morning? If so, how hot and for how long? How much of the evils of creosote buildup can this erase?

In case it makes any difference, I have a SS insulated chimney outside that runs pretty much straight up (slight jog near the top where it has to clear the roof edge). The whole thing is too high up for me to climb - the clean out on the outside of the house even would require me to get a taller ladder than I currently have to reach (may end up happening anyway... I wonder if I could shine a light up from the bottom and learn anything useful?)

Thanks in advance.

The general consensus here seems to be that running it hot at least once a day (especially in the morning after choking the fire all night long in the pre-EPA woodstoves) was a good idea with the idea being that it would potentially create a "mini" chimney fire to burn off the accumulated creosote in the chimney vs. letting the creosote build up and have a major incident.

With today's EPA woodstoves the general opinion seems to be that burning the stove hot (but not overfiring) probably doesn't hurt . . . but it may not help much either. Rather, folks here lean towards offering the sage advice of burning well seasoned wood and checking/cleaning chimneys as needed.

 

[oconnor]

I burn mine hot for the first burn to heat up the flue to a temp where creosote is less likely to condense. Some flues cool off quicker than others, and mine is one of those flues. Mostly though, the hot first fire makes for a hot flue, hence better draft, which helps after my reload to get the stove working best, with secondaries drawing well when I damp the primary air down. My wood is not as ideal, nor is my flue draft, so I have to use these workarounds.

I second the comment that dry wood and chimney cleaning is better, and next year, I won't have to use my workarounds so much.

 

[Techstuf]

FireFighterJake's right....I burn hot and use good wood both, I 'once' made the mistake of thinking I was out of the woods, so to speak. Nothing can replace regular chimney inspections for providing true safety and peace of mind.


Nothing.



TS

 

[ikessky]

I use a non-EPA wood furnace. I have a Rutland thermometer on the single wall pipe leading from the furnace to the chimney. According to most people here, the temperature on the surface thermometer should be doubled to gauge what the interior temp is. With that being said, in the mornings, I bring the temp up to ~400-450 and let it run there for probably 15-20 minutes before I back anything down. I do the same thing when I load it at night before bed also. Usually on a standard reload during the day, I'll get it to that temp, but won't leave it there except for a few minutes to get the new load charred.

With all that being said, nothing can replace a good sweeping, except for a chimney fire, and I believe that is what we're trying to avoid!

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I never thought the idea was to create a "mini chimney fire", but to heat the pipe up to start a good draft at the coldest time of the day, and maybe to dry out material that collected over night so that it doesn't become that nasty goopy creosote.

 

[savageactor7]

Well there's a couple of old school theories behind the burn hot theory of chimney maintenance and they don't fit in with todays safety standards.

When we started burning in the mid 70's our neighbors and even vol firemen would advise to burn hot each morning. Figuring you slow burned while sleeping it was thought a morning hot fire would burn off any creasolt from the night before and such continuing morning burns would prevent a more serious creosolt build up.

The short of it was you were in effect having a small controlled chimney fire daily. Sounds a rather harsh way to operate but we did it that way for 30 years or better.

Before the day of gypsy parasite lawyers ruling our lives vol fireman on request would clean our chimney every year...and give you advice on how to burn safer if your chimney showed that you were behind the curve.

 

[pinewoodburner]

Why would you need to do this if you have a medern cat stove that burns clean even at low temperature's?

 

[RedRanger]

I believe what we are looking for is to burn hot enough on re-loads to get the wood charred and the cresote gases consumed.When that is accomplished, turning the stove down will only create an absolute minimum amount of cresote because the gases that create it have been neutralized.

I am referring of course to epa-stoves with the secondary burn technology. With the pre-epa stoves you had to burn hot continuously in order to accomplish the same objective.