I Just Cleaned Mine Saturday!

[hardwood715]

Chimney fire forces family from home

HYDE PARK — A chimney fire forced a Hyde Park family from its home Saturday night, according to the Pleasant Valley Fire Department.

About 8:30 p.m., Pleasant Valley firefighters responded to a call for a fire at a two-story house at 31 South Quaker Lane. Firefighters said the family and their dog managed to escape the home prior to their arrival. No injuries were reported.

The fire, believed to have originated from the chimney, caused extensive damage. The family was able to make arrangements for shelter without the help of the American Red Cross of Dutchess County.

Pleasant Valley was assisted at the scene by firefighters from Roosevelt, Arlington, East Clinton and West Clinton. Millbrook and Stanfordville fire units were on standby.

 

[hardwood715]

Come to think of it, Warren....thats real close to home ain't it? When I did mine Saturday, I again mostly had that thin shiny crap on the last flue tile north just under the cap, but the stainless steel cap (CAGE) had alot of crap on the spark arrestor, just brushed all the sides with the chimney brush. Yanked the insert and again climbed in , and swept her out from the chamber down, not a whole lotta crap but some. As in Elks Signature, Better safe than Sorry.

 

[wg_bent]

Very close. anywhere from 2 - 6 miles or so from me. I also took an opportunity to look at the chimney while putting some christmas lights on the house. My inspection was very brief...I just looked at the chimney cap and found the same dusty black stuff I removed at the beginning of the season. around the cap. blew on it and about 1/2 of it fell off. I was satisfied that all is well and continued on with the lights and gutters.

 

[JMF1]

I just had mine cleaned sunday...........got enough out to fill a big coffee can from a 25' chimney.............the new Avalon's burnin nice! And some of that is from the spring last season so I think I'm good.

 

[JotulOslo]

I cleaned mine yesterday afternoon, after noticing reduced draft in the Jotul Oslo. A buddy of mine brought over his 34' fibreglas ladder and we leaned it against the side of the chimney. I went up to look at the cap, which had been accumulating creosote over the past few months. Taking off the cap, I looked into the SS flue liner, which only had a light (1/16" or so) accumulation. I took the handle of the screwdriver I carried up with me, and gently rapped on the top of the liner. This caused the accumulated creosote to dislodge and fall down the pipe.

Next, I went down the ladder, taking the cap with me. I estimate that I removed about a cup or so of flaky creosote. While the cap is blackened somewhat, there was no accumulation of hard shiny creosote to speak of. I was surprised to see the amount of buildup that plugged the 1/2" square holes in the spark arrestor.

Once I re-installed the cap, I went into the house, removed the oval plate on the top of the stove, and vacuumed out the creosote that had been dropping down the pipe during the heating and contraction of the flue, along with what I had just knocked down. This amounted to a volume about 6" in diameter and 4" deep.


Here is the thread I started about my chimney cap buildup:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/4337/

I think in the future I will do this once a month, whether it needs it or not.

JotulOslo