Newbie chimney cleaning question

[RyanH0802]

My girlfriend and I just installed her grandmas old wood stove. Its a Century something. We haven't been able to find an exact model number on it, just a sticker on the back about the clearance requirements. We have been using the stove for a month now and I'm gonna be cleaning the chimney soon. My question is, ours has a secondary burn chamber above the firebox. There is a steel plate inside the stove with holes in it. Does that have to come out to sweep the chimney? Can it even be removed? I'm guessing that I will have to sweep the chimney from the top down. Another question is, we installed a heat reclaimer above the stove about a foot above the stove to help recover some of the heat. That has tubes that run thru the middle of the chimney so I will only be able to sweep the chimney to that point with out taking the flue pipe apart. So I guess I have several questions here lol...

 

[bholler]

First without knowing the stove we cant tell you if or how the baffle comes out. Post some pics and we may be able to help. If it does not come out you will have to pull the pipe and clean off the baffle from the top. Next take that heat reclaimer out and throw it in the trash it has no place on any wood stove but absolutely not on a clean burn one.

 

[begreen]

Take a look again and see if there is a model number on the clearances sticker. On some Century models you can remove the baffle bricks for cleaning. The heat reclaimer should go. It is not needed or helpful to rob heat from the flue. That spoils draft and lowers the flue gas temps which leads to creosote accumulation. It can also hinder efficient stove operation.

 

[RyanH0802]

I'm working on the pictures right now

 

[RyanH0802]

Here are some pictures

The temp gauge isn't above the heat reclaimer anymore

 

[begreen]

It's a Haugh/Century S131e I think.

 

[RyanH0802]

Where could I find a user manual for it?

 

[begreen]

Old stove. Google? eBay?