Pics of my chimney after 6 weeks of burning. Thoughts?

[Dave K]

Hey guys,

The foot of snow in fully melted this past weekend and gave me a chance to get on the roof and look at my chimney after burning my smoke dragon for the past 6 weeks. Please take a look and tell me what you think.

(Click pictures for larger images)

Here is the thimble:


Here is the stove pipe... there was only some ash on the inside of it, no creosote:


Here is the top of the chimney:


Looking down:


Looking down with light:



The stuff that you see on the top two tiles is very dry and flaky. As you get towards the middle and bottom of the chimney there isn't much stuck to the walls at all (maybe only ash?)

Should I be concerned about any of this? Or is this relatively normal for burning a pre-EPA stove? This is 6 weeks of burning daily. Not completely 24/7 because I can't get a long enough burn-time while I'm at work during the day. But I burn every evening when I get home from work and overnight. My oil furnace only comes on for about an hour each day (from 530-630pm just to get house temps back up to 68).

I'd appreciate any input from you all!

Thanks~

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Here's "the thing", IMO. If it's easy enough to get on the roof, it's easy to jam a brush down there. It's super easy to do a quick sweep- especially if it's all flaky like that.

I wouldn't say it looks bad- it's the sort of stuff that will slowly flake off by itself for the most part.

 

[Dave K]

Here's "the thing", IMO. If it's easy enough to get on the roof, it's easy to jam a brush down there. It's super easy to do a quick sweep- especially if it's all flaky like that.

I wouldn't say it looks bad- it's the sort of stuff that will slowly flake off by itself for the most part.

Thanks for the input. I haven't bought a set of brushes yet because I think my wife got me them for Christmas.

The other issue is that when I had the chimney swept in early November, the guy sealed my cleanout door with caulk because it was rusted around the edges and letting air in through the bottom. I didn't have extra money at the time to replace the cleanout door so replacing that door is a project I want to tackle in the spring.

If I sweep the chimney now all of that creosote will fall to the bottom and I won't have a way to get it out without opening up that cleanout door..

 

[red oak]

Dave I burn a Fisher like you (Papa Bear in my case) and it looks like our chimneys are the same size. Mine is a 6" but has a stainless steel liner so it is circular. It is normal to get more creosote at the top as this is the coolest part of the chimney. The fact that it is flaky to me is a good thing, if it was runny or oily that would be another matter. I wouldn't worry about it, but cleaning wouldn't hurt, even if you can't open the door at the bottom you can push all that junk to the bottom where it can sit harmlessly until spring.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Takes 5 min and a sharp razor blade to cut the caulk out of there, just take your time and don't force it. 3$ for a new tube and you're sealed back up again.

 

[pen]

I agree with Warm_in_NH, but if for whatever reason you can't get in there, and the bottom of the cleanout isn't too far down from the thimble, then maybe sweep and then run the hose for the shop vac down to the bottom from the thimble?

Used to get the same accumulation when I ran my grandma on the masonry chimney. I swept once per month.

 

[Dave K]

Thanks guys! Appreciate the feedback, as always