Jotul F3CB and SS liner cleaning

[bwells794]

While it isn't time to clean it yet, (brand new stove and only a handful of fires to break it in and get acquainted) I thought I would be proactive and study up for when the time came. I just watched a video of a gentleman sweeping his chimney pipe and cleaning out his F3CB. His set up is the same as mine in a nutshell - straight down w/ tee into the back flue collar. The only difference is mine is a fireplace install so about a foot of the SS liner was ovalized to fit through the damper then circularized again to accept the tee. Will a 6" chimney brush easily conform to the oval? will this mess the brush bristles up? In regards to the stove cleaning, all he did was remove the stove top via the two 3mm screws on the sides and give it a good vacuuming and made sure the top of the baffle (secondary combustion?) plate was free and clear of debris. Is this thorough enough? It also didn't really look like he did too much to clean out the horizontal portion of the tee unless his arm did some magic bending maneuver when he stuck it through the bottom of the cleanout. He also didn't brush edges and nooks to get it as close to immaculate as possible. Just the chimney brush and ash vac. Maybe the perfectionist in me is coming out. Maybe what he did was perfectly fine, I don't know. That's why I'm asking you fine people. Thanks!

 

[bholler]

No a round brush will not work in an ovalized liner which is why i would never ovalize through the damper. But at this point your best bet is a soot eater rotary cleaner

 

[pma1123]

To the OP, I think you're really only concerned getting actual buildup of creosote out of the pipes, not necessarily hospital-clean the ID of the liner. You're only eliminating the fuel for a potential chimney fire. Search more on brown flakey (normal, OK) vs. black hard creosote (bad) to see some firsthand examples.
The sooteater suggested above is a good solution for the DIY'er.

 

[bwells794]

Well i only ovalized it and fed it through because that's the way the stove place said they install them "all the time". It's really only ovalized at the very bottom so at the end of the day, i guess it wouldn't be that big of a deal to 6" brush clean down to the oval then bottom up clean with something else through the clean out of the tee (or even take the tee off). And it doesn't create any draft problems at all. Chimney sucks like a monster, even in shorts & tee shirt weather.

 

[bholler]

Well i only ovalized it and fed it through because that's the way the stove place said they install them "all the time". It's really only ovalized at the very bottom

Yes lots of stove shops do it that way because it is much easier and faster, But the right way is to cut out the damper frame so you can keep it round

 

[bwells794]

Yes lots of stove shops do it that way because it is much easier and faster, But the right way is to cut out the damper frame so you can keep it round

which is exactly what I WANTED to do, but when I asked about it everyone either asked me why I wanted to do it, or told me not to worry about it leading me to believe I was trying to create a whole lot of unnecessary work for myself.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/removing-entire-damper-plate-assembly.144966/

Oh well. It's done, and it works perfectly. No use crying over spilled milk.

 

[bholler]

but when I asked about it everyone either asked me why I wanted to do it, or told me not to worry about it leading me to believe I was trying to create a whole lot of unnecessary work for myself.

Well no not exactly we told you there was usually no need to remove the entire frame just take the back off. But as long as it works well and you didnt damage the liner ovalizing it you are good to go just get a soot eater to clean it