We have an Englander 28-JC insert from 1990 in our basement fireplace, which is original to the house, built in 1950. The chimney is brick with clay tubes at the top. We (foolishly) heated last winter without checking or cleaning the chimney (we moved in last July), and fortunately had no issues. We did check the chimney this fall (in October), and it was suprisingly clean, just a little sooty, but no real buildup. All we did to it all of last year was to use some powdered creosote remover in the fire, usually every two days. I try to keep the fire burning as hot as possible, and keep the smoke level down, and I bought another tub of the creosote powder. Last year (and so far this year unfortunately) we have been burning somewhat underseasoned wood (it seems to hiss and sizzle a lot at first, but it has been cut/stacked since last september) I'm guessing that for the chimney to be that clean, we must be doing something right?
