How many people beat their stove pipe?

[DonTee]

This isn’t meant to be a serious discussion, I’m just curious.

Some older people in my family like to beat their stove pipe. They’re using single wall stove pipe up to the thimble in a masonry chimney, and claim a good daily beat down keeps the creosote from forming in the pipe.

Just to be clear, the stove pipe in question is screwed together. And it’s not beat on the 90 degree elbow or the seam. Also seasoned wood is being burned (at least 2 years CSS under cover). Finally, the chimney is cleaned twice a year (by me) and I honestly don’t see any reason to clean it that much. Each time very little creosote comes out. 4-6 FC a year is being burned

The stove pipe is taken apart and cleaned once a year. It’s also very clean. The only issue is it has to be replaced every few years because it’s so battered.

Is this something people used to do back in the day? Like if you were burning unseasoned wood? Just curious of the origins.

 

[coaly]

Yes. This is serious. Common practice.

You can slap your hands on the outside without denting it. You don’t slap your hands together on it that hard. The sound and feel changes. When clean it vibrates a little on your palms. Like a slight sting. It has to do with the frequency of vibration. Try it, listen to it.

When coated with a little creosote inside, it feels like stuffing a towel in it tightly. It sounds like a dull thump and doesn’t vibrate like you can feel movement. You will also hear a little fall inside letting you know it’s time to clean the chimney.

When you get good with even marginal seasoned wood you can keep clean enough for the entire heating season. This is burning 24/7 for 6 months. So this is the way to check without going up on the roof or shutting stove down to take pipe apart. I have wood heat only and use this method toward the end of season to get a good idea if it will need to be done on a warm day before season end. How else can you check it with snow on the roof when the stove is going??

 

[stoveliker]

Shaking things loose is a thing one can do. I would still want to clean it out of my stove though, rather than letting it fall and remain there. So the pipe comes off when I clean it. (Also, if one does it daily, and stuff falls, then too much stuff is being deposited in the pipe...)

However, sounding out the level of deposits is actually a good thing; any way to get a sense of the safety of using the pipe in the current state is a good thing! Right after having a stove pipe with a window...

Finally, I often have the urge to beat [something - not someone] - but my stove pipe is not the victim here. Generally I use my X27 when this comes around. Hence the need to have a supply of wood

 

[coaly]

I should add, never beat your pipe in the dark. Early morning is best.
(when the pipe is coolest without gloves)

The flue damper end without the handle is quite sharp!

 

[coaly]

Shaking things loose is a thing one can do. I would still want to clean it out of my stove though, rather than letting it fall and remain there. So the pipe comes off when I clean it. (Also, if one does it daily, and stuff falls, then too much stuff is being deposited in the pipe...)

However, sounding out the level of deposits is actually a good thing; any way to get a sense of the safety of using the pipe in the current state is a good thing! Right after having a stove pipe with a window...

Finally, I often have the urge to beat [something - not someone] - but my stove pipe is not the victim here. Generally I use my X27 when this comes around. Hence the need to have a supply of wood

When I clean mine from the bottom with a Soot Eater, I burn what falls into the stove.

Going out to teach my wood pile a lesson now. Last piece I split won. Flew um....... between my legs and took the skin off my..........
ankle.

 

[stoveliker]

When I clean mine from the bottom with a Soot Eater, I burn what falls into the stove.

Going out to teach my wood pile a lesson now. Last piece I split won. Flew um....... between my legs and took the skin off my..........
ankle.

View attachment 291992

Yep. Been there done that. Skin is back, but my defeat remains visible. I still need to get me a tire.

I think stoves with baffles (or a cat) don't easily burn what falls down. In any case, I don't go straight up but thru the wall so I take the pipe off to soot eat thru the thimble.

My stove is cooling down, so I'll slap the pipe around tomorrow morning. Just to get used to the sound (I ran the soot eater last week).

 

[Dan Freeman]

I only beat my stove pipe when it's been bad! 😊

 

[stoveliker]

And now I don't want to know any of the nicknames you regularly use 😂

 

[bunfoolio]

Once i beat my stove pipe for the first time i could not stop. Anyone else have the same problem?

 

[Dieselhead]

Regardless of what coaly recommends I still beat my pipe in the dark.

 

[DonTee]

Lol.

Ok so it’s not just my dad. I’ve watched him beat that stove pipe since I was a little kid. The only other person I’ve seen do it is my uncle, and I always wondered if it was normal.

I’ve beat mine a few times, and there is definitely a difference in sound and feel between a clogged up pipe and clean one.

Makes sense that slapping the pipe with your hands would get similar results. I hadn’t thought of that before. And it keeps your pipe from looking all battered.

 

[mcdougy]

Not sure if it's been proven, but g-ma (a wise old lady) told me that if you beat your stove pipe too much it could cause blindness?? Maybe from the potential dust??? Also note that it is safest to beat your pipe when no one is around to hear you.

 

[stoveliker]

So, I missed the (in hindsight obvious) "single wall" mention in the OP.
So here I am slapping my stove (!)! pipe, listening. Dull sound. But I ran the sooteater last week and had a cold stove for two days...?!

Then it dawned on me, double wall. So, no use for me
Thanks though for the adherence to the OPs "not meant to be a serious discussion"; y'all done well...

 

[firefighterjake]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

On the serious side . . . guess I never felt compelled to beat my pipe. I just use well seasoned wood, run it the proper Goldliock's Zone temps and in the Fall clean it if necessary.

 

[Manly]

Preventative beat downs have their place when administered properly. When we were kids my father would give my brother and I a once weekly preventative beating to prevent any potential misbehaving. I use a kinder gentler hand when beating my pipe. More of a tapping of the pipe. Sometime the old ways are the best way.

 

[snobuilder]

Before I was educated here at Hearth U. I was a slow burner and the 6' of section of single wall pipe from stove to basement wall needed removal and monthly beating to loosen and remove crispy cresote stelagtites.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I've always slapped it, but never hard enough to dent it. I consider it entertaining. I've never had a lot of buildup.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

I use the poker to reach behind the stove and tap the pipe. The sound is very different when clean/dirty. A clean pipe rings and a dirty one just thuds.

 

[electrathon]

In the 1970's my Grandpa and Grandma lived in the middle of no place across the water from Homer Alaska. He heated has cabin with a woodstove, single wall pipe all the way up through the roof. When the draft would get bad he would climb up on the cabin roof and whack the pipe to knock the creosote loose and drop it back down into the stove. It would draft well for a while till there was a lot of buildup again.

 

[clancey]

They sure had their techniques way back when and I do not think that I could climb up on a roof but I can see it working for awhile until the next build up and he has to go up there again to beat it.. clancey

 

[begreen]

Haven't done this once since we switched to EPA stoves.

 

[clancey]

Yea stoves have progressed over the years..clancey

 

[electrathon]

Haven't done this once since we switched to EPA stoves.

LOL... I think I hear you saying, "Yup, I did that too back in the day".

 

[begreen]

LOL... I think I hear you saying, "Yup, I did that too back in the day".

Yes, back then most of the wood I burned was scrounged and not all of the best quality. Single-wall stove pipe too. It's kind of pointless banging on the outer wall of double-wall stove pipe.

 

[Seanbear]

So...Im not the only one using stove pipe. Thats all there was back in the day. No fireboard, no double wall pipe, no thermometer, no moisture meters,.....I for one think the slapping would work, to a point, but nothing beats a brush cleaning.