Let the fire go out so I could clean the chimney

[rdust]

It was tough listening to the furnace run and run. I loaded at 11:30 pm Friday night and still had to shovel hot coals out Saturday around 5 pm so it would finish cooling down. This is my first year with a stove and the wood isn't perfect so I wanted to make sure everything was doing ok. Everything that came out seemed fluffy I didn't see any shinny crunchy stuff, I used the shop vac to clean it up so I'm not sure how much was there.

A nice fire is burning now and I haven't heard that furnace for a while.

Here is a before picture, I didn't take one after since I was pretty much a mess by then. :lol:

 

[Pagey]

That looks good, man!

 

[pen]

That doesn't look bad at all. How much wood have you gone through to this point?

pen

 

[LLigetfa]

I clean my chimney in the Summer so I don't lament the fire.

Was that a top-down or bottom-up cleaning? I'm guessing the camera is looking up but there's no light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[rdust]

I clean my chimney in the Summer so I don't lament the fire.

Was that a top-down or bottom-up cleaning? I'm guessing the camera is looking up but there's no light at the end of the tunnel.

Yeah it's from the bottom up, it was dark outside and I've never seen light with the cap on even during the day. I wish I could have checked from the top but the 12/12 roof isn't going to get stepped on till spring. The cap screen is clear, I can see through it so I hope that is good.

 

[rdust]

That doesn't look bad at all. How much wood have you gone through to this point?

pen

Probably just over a cord, I've only been burning since the beginning of November. Probably more build up then I'll get next year once the wood is better and my burning skills improve.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

rdust, most of that ash you got should give you pretty good fires.

You also are a very wise man in checking that chimney now. I wish more would follow in your footsteps. It is better to check and find you don't need cleaning than to not check and wish you had.

 

[LLigetfa]

It is better to check and find you don't need cleaning than to not check and wish you had.

Yes, I did not mean for suggest anyone wait for Summer at least until you have a sense of how clean or dirty your particular setup leaves the flue. Better safe than sorry.

Looking up from the bottom won't show the worst. While it's encouraging that the cap is clean, if at all possible, a top-down inspection will give you the best indication. Not getting any shiny black popcorn is a pretty good indication too.

I too have a 12/12 pitch roof and I lay my ladder at a 45° angle with stakes driven into the ground to keep the base from kicking out. I've considered driving in the stakes in the Fall JIC I needed to get up there after the ground was frozen but I worried I'd lose sight of them under the snow and run into them with the snow thrower.

 

[savageactor7]

If you can periodically mirror the chimney to determine that perfect round or rectangular inner perimeter you should be good to go.

 

[PapaDave]

Started burning at the very end of Sept., and checked the flue at the end of Nov. just for peace of mind. Fires had started getting just a little lazy, so I'm glad I did. The pipe wasn't bad, but the cap had gunked up with some crusty black crap that came off easy.
Luckily, the snow hadn't hit bad yet, so not too big a deal for me.
The flue comes out at the peak on a gable end too, which makes getting to it pretty simple.
That flue doesn't look too bad, rdust. Not sure how you'll get to the cap, hopefully you're right about it being clear.

 

[rdust]

I too have a 12/12 pitch roof and I lay my ladder at a 45° angle with stakes driven into the ground to keep the base from kicking out.

I've attached a picture my set up, I still have the roof jacks up so if my fire starts acting lazy or I think I have a draft issue I'll be able to check it out. Not what I'm looking to do in the snow though.

That flue doesn't look too bad, rdust. Not sure how you'll get to the cap, hopefully you're right about it being clear.

Just took a picture of the cap, it's the middle one you can see through it. It's a "deluxe" cap with a large screen so I think it'll take some a bit of bad burning to plug it up.

 

[LLigetfa]

Ja, a little harder to get to than mine.