How Often Do You Clean Your Chimney and Flue?

[Zynthal]

I’m curious how often people here clean or inspect their chimney and flue, especially those who burn regularly through the winter.


Do you follow a strict schedule, go by visual inspection, or wait until the end of the season? Also interested in whether you do it yourself or hire it out, and what signs you watch for that tell you it’s time.


Appreciate any insight... this forum has a lot of experience to learn from.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I clean mine in fall. I want to make sure I don’t have any wasp nests in there. I’ve had stunned wasps fall down when cleaning in the past.

You have to set your cleaning schedule to what you find in your chimney. Some skip a year if they find no buildup multiple years in a row. Others clean theirs multiple times a year for peace of mind or because they need to.

 

[Sealcove]

I burn from November to whenever it gets warm in spring. 100% of my heat is wood unless I am away for a day or two. I clean and inspect my chimney once every fall and I never get more than a cup or two of fine soot. I have double wall pipe to Excel class A, and I might have a different need if it was a masonry system.

I clean and inspect everything myself, which does require some rigging to do it safely on a metal roof, but the whole process is no more than two hours. I could probably skip a year, but for two hours it’s a lot of mental comfort each winter.

 

[kborndale]

I clean mine every October wether it needs it or not. I burn around 3 cords a year.

 

[Dieselhead]

Anytime my stove is cool I use a handheld mirror and flashlight to check out the flue. Weather you can do that or not depends on your stove.

 

[fvhowler]

Every September or October to prepare for the upcoming burn season. I burn around 2 chords of dry hardwoods each year. Once a year is plenty for me.

 

[vatmark]

Once a year usually October or November or whenever we get around to it. We are not full time burners.

 

[MRD1985]

At the end of each season.

 

[Murray01]

All chimney setups are different. My suggestion is to sweep often until you get a handle on buildup for chimney.

In my case I’m dealing with a new stove(BK) and new chimney so I’m learning the frequency of sweeping I need to do. I gave the chimney a sweep after most of the fall shoulder season was done and judging by the small pile of soot/ creosote I didn’t need to sweep in early December. The weather forecast is calling for above freezing temperatures this Wednesday so I’m planning another sweep. Based on the early December sweep I doubt that I need to sweep but until I sweep I just don’t know.

I doubt anyone can give you a definitive answer, I’d suggest you err on the side of caution.

 

[gthomas785]

When I was starting out and only had subpar wood I was sweeping my chimney every 6-8 weeks. Now that I've got my rotation going and always burn 3+ year seasoned wood I sweep once a year in May or whenever I know I'm done burning for the summer.

 

[stoveliker]

All chimney setups are different. My suggestion is to sweep often until you get a handle on buildup for chimney.

In my case I’m dealing with a new stove(BK) and new chimney so I’m learning the frequency of sweeping I need to do. I gave the chimney a sweep after most of the fall shoulder season was done and judging by the small pile of soot/ creosote I didn’t need to sweep in early December. The weather forecast is calling for above freezing temperatures this Wednesday so I’m planning another sweep. Based on the early December sweep I doubt that I need to sweep but until I sweep I just don’t know.

I doubt anyone can give you a definitive answer, I’d suggest you err on the side of caution.

^^This.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

YMMV. I do it at the end of the burn season and before the next heating season. I mainly do it in the fall to ensure there aren't any "obstructions"