New Flue Pipe after 25 years

[tbear853]

Recently I was playing with my new Craftsman Leaf Blower / Vacuum and it became obvious I needed new flue. I put my stove in in 1992, I have a adjustable elbow off the back of the stove to first section of flue, I modded the end at the stove to add a pair of clamps. It is inside, no rust, never leaked.

Outside is a whole other deal. 3 feet horizontal from stove to tee, then 15 feet straight up to a vent cap of stainless steel. The interior is of course, A-OK as it's stainless steel. The outer shell is .... not so good. No leaks, but this year we are thinking of a new roof maybe .... but for sure, I'll want to replace the flue.



Was in TSC today, the 36" pieces were $34.99 each, the tee with cleanout cap was $54.99. All were discounted 25% which brought those prices down to below what I paid for the first pieces 25 years ago. They had 2 tees and 7 pieces of pipe, I needed 6 pipes. Got it all just under $200 before tax.

Might paint them black like before .... haven't decided.

 

[tbear853]

Meanwhile, that leaf blower / vac trick worked real well. I recall it blew black soot pretty heavy for a what seemed like minutes but was really maybe just a minute.

Today I cleaned my shop vac filter by bouncing it across the yard a few times (just the filter) and then cleaned the stove well, Did my scraping and opened my access port under the burn pot and vacuumed all the ash out that falls through them holes, brushed the walls as I held the vac wand close .... and then I put a couple handfuls of pellets in the burn pot and a little gel starter and about 3pm I fired it as the outside temps were down to 40 and been dropping all day (was near 70 yesterday, but looks like winter is gonna return this week)

I checked it ever so often as I passed through the living room and I soon saw that the flame is livelier than it's been last year or two maybe. Not looking lazy at all, but "snappy" like. Maybe that old flue was starting to choke off some? Wife came home about 7pm and she asked why the flame looked different without me saying anything .... so not just my imagination. No doubt, she's burning great now. It's now after 10pm and there are no ashes in the ash pan yet, almost like they are being totally consumed. Now that I think on it, maybe been a couple three years since the flue was cleaned?

 

[funflyer]

Wow, you sure got your money's worth with those.

 

[tbear853]

Yeah, I guess I have no complaints.
I had drilled a hole in the old clean out cap to let condensation drain ...
... will do so on the new one I rekon.
I'll also repaint the wall and my mounting brackets.

 

[alternativeheat]

"Now that I think on it, maybe been a couple three years since the flue was cleaned"?

If you hadn't cleaned your vent in two or three years then ya the stove probably had a lazy flame from a clogged vent. Most of us clean the vent at least twice per season FWIW. I'm doing mine today, it's my mid season vent cleaning day (I generally clean the vent in Jan sometime as mid season cleaning). Last time was Sept. On that last cleaning I busted a cleaning rod and the replacement came in yesterday. I don't use a leaf blower, I use a rod and brush from the bottom up.

 

[tbear853]

Oh, I know ..... a lazy flame will just sneak up on you when you aren't looking.

I used to clean it religiously every summer, but I just don't recall doing it the last couple years. Last few winters all added up I maybe used 4 tons, maybe in my mind I figured it wasn't so needed with low use. Some winters earlier years I used 3-4 tons and made sure to clean it as we relied more heavily on the pellet stove.
I used to take a old rope, drop through from top with a balled up old towel tied to it and go down and pull through, then I bought a brush and did same ..... (until I misplaced or loaned out my brush). Then I used the shop vac and hoses which works (but makes a mess of hoses).
I think the leaf blower with new flue will be easiest, I'll fab a adapter so I don't have to hold the blower in place and can go inside and clean and brush with the leaf blower pulling. I really don't want to be up there pulling the vent's rain cap so often.

 

[alternativeheat]

My cap is up 26 feet. So I run a brush up from the bottom using a cordless drill to twist it. I add 6 rods on in all. I tie a red rag to the base of the brush and my wife ( if she is home) goes out with high powered binoculars and spies on the screen up there from various angles. If she isn't home I just go out and look from one angle. But you can see clearly the screen and the red rag and if there are clogs, plus you just know it hit top and not a cog getting up there.. So far we have never had a clogged screen and even from way up there ash comes down into a pellet bag I use to catch it. I got quite a lot of ash today, been using some fairly ashy pellets this season. I got quite a lot of ash from the horizontal run too and quite a lot of ash from under the burn pot as well, considering I just cleaned those parts not long ago.

Anyway, whenever I clean like this the flame is always restored to very lively, which is the case today as well !