How soon to clean chimney

[Brockport Bill]

I have a new quadrafire 5700 step top. I am new to the wood burners. I was reading the instructions and they said I should check the chimney in the first week of running, because it states in two weeks you could generate enough creosote to have a severe chimney fire. I figured I could clean the chimney every two weeks or so myself and have it professionally swept and inspected once a year. Is this over reactive? I am trying to use the stove as primary heat and have my propane boiler be secondary as the stove cools off. I am still working on trying to get the heat out of the basement and up through the house, and get the stove to burn longer than 5-6 hours. I have found that in the middle of the night when I get up to reload and I am down to ash and coals the flue temp reads about 150, the same is for when I return home from work does this create creosote quicker because of low temp burns? In the morning I typically fire the stove to 500-600. Is this to low or to high? Or with these new EPA rated stoves am I over worring about something that is not a big deal?

Thanks for your time and input
Bill

 

[Hogwildz]

500-600 is a good range. And you shouldn't be collecting much creosote at that temp rage. Unless your burning wet wood. Due to lack of resources last year. I burned some fairly wet wood, but burned it hot. I cleaned the cap and 1-1/2' section of pipe that suck out of the old chimney once mid season. When I cleaned it this fall, had about 1-2-3/4 gallon of powder. Just check it every couple weeks for the first month, then once a month, then at end of season depending on what you find in between. Adjust the checks as needed more or less depending what you find the first couple times.

 

[11 Bravo]

I have been burning 5 years. I use mostly hardwood, which is cut, split, stacked and dried in the previous April or even prior to that, so its been drying at least 7-8 months. I burn close to 24/7 and basically have the same situation as you for stove temp. I have a sweep clean my chimney and pipes every summer. I have never had a problem and the sweep says the creosote level is low to average and to just keep doing what I have been doing.....

 

[Brockport Bill]

I have read others write about burning "all nighter" what are they, are they for example large 8" round unsplit logs or so. do they emit more creosote that burning smaller splits? I have heard a full log will burn longer than a full load of splits. I have noticed in the first week of burning as of tonight when I remove the probe thermometer there is a black sooty look to it. Is that normal? Its also has some small black dots on it , creosote? I have also noticed the chimney cap is not dark like the sooty look. I assume that is normal. When I open up the primary air fully with the start up air shut to get the new load started I can easily get to 800-1000 quickly If I do not keep a close eye on it. I don't know if this is way to hot to run for a short period. The class A chimney is rated at 1200. I have 8 ' of double wall in the basement with 2 45's then 27' of class A stainless with 4' abouve the roof

 

[11 Bravo]

I split mine in quarters typically so they are 5" or so at the widest. With a full load at bedtime and closing the air intake 50-75% , I get up 6 or 7 hours later and I still have a nice bed of warm/hot coals so the next load fires up quick. Someone who's been around a bit more can hopefully give you some advice about the rest........

 

[n6crv]

Hello Bill, I have been checking mine every week as it is a new stove. So far all I get is little flakes out of the top 1 or 2 feet of chimney. But seem to get most of the buildup out of the flue pipe before the chimney. I have also noticed that the flue pipe has a nice ring to it if I tap on it. I used to get a thud sound with my old stove.
Don

 

[rudysmallfry]

I went through an extremely paranoid first fire burning year. I was checking the stack thermometer every hour. I got hung up on the fact that the stack temp should be around 300-400 to prevent buildup. Like you mentioned, once the wood is mostly burned down, that's just not possible. Once you're down to coals, you're lucky if it's reading 100. The thing is, yes, the stack is no longer showing a safe burning temp, but then again there's no fire going at that point anyway. All the gases have long been burned off, so not much chance of buildup. As long as the stack is in the safe burning range while an active fire is going, you should be okay.

I checked my chimney monthly my first season. Even with the somewhat wet wood that all newbies have on hand and the learning curve of burning, at no point did I see more than a thin film in my chimney, even at the top where it's coldest. The only buildup I had was in the elbow coming out of my stove to the wall thimble. If I'm curious these days, I just check the elbow first and save myself the trip to the roof. If that's not dirty, nothing else will be.

 

[Hogwildz]

Bill, generally, the closer to the stove, the less creosote build up in the pipe as it is hotter at bottom.. The most accumulation if any, will be at the top, especially anything outside the old existing chimney & cap.
To answer your all nighter, yes a mice size large split or round will burn longer. For night burns, I put 2 or 3 large splits or rounds on the floor of the insert. The the second layer of splits on top is mediums & smalls until I have her packed full as I can get it. Of course depends on the size of your firebox and whether you burn North to South, or East to West. Burning N-S in a 3 cf firebox, I get quite a bit in. And she gets nice and hot. No creosote here.
I let her blaze up, cut the air back at anywhere from 400-550, cut the air all the way to low, and let her cruise through the night. Keep in mind every stove is different, you need to experiment and find what works best for you.