Newbie with some questions. Creosote, etc.

[Littledog]

Hey everyone, new here, new to burning. I’ll try to give as much info as I can for my setup at my first home (2500 sq ft) i just moved into. I have an Englander 28-3500 tied into my ductwork. I have a 6 inch flue tied into an 8x13 masonry. I am burning a mix of seasoned wood the previous owners left all sub 20% moisture. Having trouble getting long burn times. Not getting a ton of heat into the ducts but enough to heat the house up about a degree every hour or 2. Ok onto my main problem I have a lot of liquid creosote dripping from the thimble and I’m not sure why. It was already stained from the previous owners and there was no chimney cap. The masonry chimney actually extends another 2 feet below where the thimble goes in. I found this out when sweeping the chimney the whole lower 2 feet was completely filled with creosote all the way to the thimble A lot of water slurry as well because on no chimney cap. Well I cleaned a that crap out and put a cap on and I’m still having stuff dripping Any advice I’d really appreciate it. Maybe run a chimney liner?

 

[bholler]

Hey everyone, new here, new to burning. I’ll try to give as much info as I can for my setup at my first home (2500 sq ft) i just moved into. I have an Englander 28-3500 tied into my ductwork. I have a 6 inch flue tied into an 8x13 masonry. I am burning a mix of seasoned wood the previous owners left all sub 20% moisture. Having trouble getting long burn times. Not getting a ton of heat into the ducts but enough to heat the house up about a degree every hour or 2. Ok onto my main problem I have a lot of liquid creosote dripping from the thimble and I’m not sure why. It was already stained from the previous owners and there was no chimney cap. The masonry chimney actually extends another 2 feet below where the thimble goes in. I found this out when sweeping the chimney the whole lower 2 feet was completely filled with creosote all the way to the thimble A lot of water slurry as well because on no chimney cap. Well I cleaned a that crap out and put a cap on and I’m still having stuff dripping Any advice I’d really appreciate it. Maybe run a chimney liner?

Yeah an insulated liner would be a good start.

 

[jetsam]

It needs an insulated liner for sure. You'll probably need to set that damper a little lower after the liner is in, but it will help with the creosote factory.

You should start with an inspection and sweeping. You can hire a sweep or buy the tools and do it yourself. Looks like you may have a fairly straight shot up there. Is there a cleanout?

Begreen will probably move this over to the furnace forum when he sees it, so don't panic when it disappears.

 

[kennyp2339]

How are you testing your wood moisture, that liquid creosote means that your flue temps are not getting much higher then 250deg f, it has not been cold enough recently to a unisulated masonry chimney to be that much of a liquid producer.
Take a bunch of splits, let them warm up in the basement, resplit the wood and test the fresh split face, make sure the probes penetrate into the wood.
A insulated liner will def help with keeping the flue gases hotter, it will also help with a better thimble connection so quell the liquid from pouring out, and will act as a safety element incase you have a cracked flue tile, or clearance issue with the existing chimney, also 8x13 chimney size for a furnace that requires a 6" round flue is probably not getting the draft it needs which is probably contributing to the marginal performance and additional cooling of the flue gases.

 

[Littledog]

There is no clean out. And it’s close to 30 feet of chimney just swept it a month ago. Seems to get good draft but I’m going to try the liner. My wood is pretty good. Getting 15-20% readings on fresh splits

 

[kborndale]

It needs an insulated liner for sure. You'll probably need to set that damper a little lower after the liner is in, but it will help with the creosote factory.

You should start with an inspection and sweeping. You can hire a sweep or buy the tools and do it yourself. Looks like you may have a fairly straight shot up there. Is there a cleanout?

Begreen will probably move this over to the furnace forum when he sees it, so don't panic when it disappears.

He stated that he just swept it.

 

[bholler]

There is no clean out. And it’s close to 30 feet of chimney just swept it a month ago. Seems to get good draft but I’m going to try the liner. My wood is pretty good. Getting 15-20% readings on fresh splits

To put a proper insulated liner in there and to get the dirt out you will probably need to remove the clay liners. I would also add a cleanout while you were at it

 

[Littledog]

To put a proper insulated liner in there and to get the dirt out you will probably need to remove the clay liners. I would also add a cleanout while you were at it

Where would I add the clean out? Have a T inside behind the thimble? Then punch a hole in the block at the bottom of the masonry flu? Sorry I’m not very educated on this but I’m trying to learn

 

[bholler]

Where would I add the clean out? Have a T inside behind the thimble? Then punch a hole in the block at the bottom of the masonry flu? Sorry I’m not very educated on this but I’m trying to learn

Yes you will have a tee at the thimble regardless and you already have drop below it so I would open up the wall and extend the liner down and out the wall so it can easily be cleaned from the bottom.

 

[Littledog]

Yes you will have a tee at the thimble regardless and you already have drop below it so I would open up the wall and extend the liner down and out the wall so it can easily be cleaned from the bottom.

Great thank you! Think it’s safe to run like this for the time being? If I keep an eye out for buildup and try to run a little hotter maybe it won’t be so bad for now

 

[bholler]

Great thank you! Think it’s safe to run like this for the time being? If I keep an eye out for buildup and try to run a little hotter maybe it won’t be so bad for now

I have no clue without doing an inspection but it certainly looks like it could be quite dangerous

 

[rwhite]

I would think of it this way. Creosote is flammable. If creosote can get out, so can fire. That looks thick and gunky enough to readily burn.