How much is too much creosote?

[crepitus]

Hi all. I did my annual chimney sweep and had just under 5 cup's of very fine powder. Chimney is about 25 feet tall and I burn 24 7 from November till early April. Should I be cleaning mid season too?

 

[bholler]

Hi all. I did my annual chimney sweep and had just under 5 cup's of very fine powder. Chimney is about 25 feet tall and I burn 24 7 from November till early April. Should I be cleaning mid season too?

Nope

 

[kennyp2339]

Looks good, volume and type go along way, if you had chunks or tarry stuff I'd say change your practices, but powder is looking good.

 

[peakbagger]

Tar and glassy chunks are the giveaway, if it looks like ash it just carryover from the stove but when you see anything shiny its time to investigate.

 

[Hogwildz]

Looks good, but is that a chunk of mortar?

 

[cahaak]

Fine black powder (soot) is not a concern. You don't note the length of your chimney, but in general that is not an issue and in fact you could probably go every other year if you wanted to. If you are burning 24/7 and have an insulated chimney and your wood is dry, it would be nearly impossible to get any build up of material other than soot. I burn in the same manner and have a 23" straight up SS insulated chimney. I finally cleaned it just a few days ago after three years of burning. I got two cups of extremely fine soot out of it. My wood is very dry, at least three years of seasoning. Dry wood + an insulated chimney + mostly continuous burns= no issues.

 

[rijim]

I get similar, look at it as the 2 hrs spent a year are well worth the time to verify that all is still good.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Fine black powder (soot) is not a concern. You don't note the length of your chimney, but in general that is not an issue and in fact you could probably go every other year if you wanted to. If you are burning 24/7 and have an insulated chimney and your wood is dry, it would be nearly impossible to get any build up of material other than soot. I burn in the same manner and have a 23" straight up SS insulated chimney. I finally cleaned it just a few days ago after three years of burning. I got two cups of extremely fine soot out of it. My wood is very dry, at least three years of seasoning. Dry wood + an insulated chimney + mostly continuous burns= no issues.

The op said their chimney is 25’.

 

[crepitus]

Looks good, but is that a chunk of mortar?

I just threw that in there. It's a rock the dog brought in.

 

[crepitus]

Thanks everyone. I burn well season wood and unfortunately my liner is not insulated but no chunk's or shiny stuff