Progress Hybrid flue cleaning

[Farenheit 451]

Hi all, first time burning wood and been using the PH for a few weeks here and wondering if anyone that owns one can suggest a method to clean the flue on my own without having to call a sweep? As you can see from pics mine is top vented and stove pipe is inside for about 12 for before going to the roof. I’ve been using a meter to take moisture measurements and most of my wood is reading around 20%.

Since I’ll likely be burning with it 6 months out of the year I want to be sure I’m bent safe with it and in the shoulder seasons when the damper is closed or nearly closed the stove pipe reads no less than 250 and we’ve taken it to 350 a few times. Just want to make sure I avoid creosote buildup. Thanks!

 

[trguitar]

Wow! That looks beautiful!

Mine is rear-vented with a tee, and it's easy to clean from the ground up with a Sooteater. I'm not sure about a top vent setup. You may have to clean from the top. Have you talked to Woodstock about it?

Regarding creosote -- as long as you engage the cat when the stovetop is above 250-300, you should be ok. You should be able to run low and slow without creosote forming. Do you see smoke coming out of the chimney once you've engaged the cat? If not, then there shouldn't be much creosote forming in the chimney. You may see some white/clear smoke, and that's ok. You don't want to see bluish/brown smoke. That means the cat isn't working properly.

 

[Farenheit 451]

Wow! That looks beautiful!

Mine is rear-vented with a tee, and it's easy to clean from the ground up with a Sooteater. I'm not sure about a top vent setup. You may have to clean from the top. Have you talked to Woodstock about it?

Regarding creosote -- as long as you engage the cat when the stovetop is above 250-300, you should be ok. You should be able to run low and slow without creosote forming. Do you see smoke coming out of the chimney once you've engaged the cat? If not, then there shouldn't be much creosote forming in the chimney. You may see some white/clear smoke, and that's ok. You don't want to see bluish/brown smoke. That means the cat isn't working properly.

Hey thanks for your response! I have spoken to Woodstock numerous times (such great customer service) and they basically said having a professional sweep it once a year is ideal. I suppose I could build the hearth out into the room further and move the stove forward to allow for a Tee, just hadn’t planned on getting into that but not too big a deal.

As for smoke, it only get Smokey closer to the morning when it’s run all night and there are only coals left, otherwise cat is always engaged so far in the fall and we keep it between 250-300ish. If I can run it that way 6 months straight without worry of excessive creosote buildup or having to sweep the chimney that would be swell.

 

[barnaclebob]

I had to take my pipe off to clean the chimney bottom up with a soot eater I haven't gotten the courage to step off the ladder onto my very tall roof yet. Otherwise i would do top down and vacuum out the soot that falls into the stove.

Your pipe looks really tall so top down might be a better option for you. Another option might be to unscrew the bottom, slide it up enough to get the soot eater in there and prop it up with a peice of wood. You'll need to fashion some way to keep the soot contained though.

 

[toddnic]

Farenheit 451, you will thoroughly enjoy the PH. We got ours in 2013 and we use it now as our primary heat source for our entire house. The easiest way to clean it is from the bottom using a SootEater. Just remove the bottom pipe and you can extend the SootEater all the way to the top of your chimney. Also, you should only need to clean it at the end of each burning season. I clean mine each Spring and normally get around a quart of creosote. I burn around 3 to 3 1/2 cords each year.

 

[fire_man]

I am very surprised Woodstock did not offer a suggestion for how to clean your flue with the top exit setup. They normally give excellent self-help advice but the crew has changed somewhat recently and I suppose it depends who you talk to.

Removing a bottom section as toddic says seems right to me but mine is rear exit so I don't speak from experience.

 

[barnaclebob]

I am very surprised Woodstock did not offer a suggestion for how to clean your flue with the top exit setup. They normally give excellent self-help advice but the crew has changed somewhat recently and I suppose it depends who you talk to.

Removing a bottom section as toddic says seems right to me but mine is rear exit so I don't speak from experience.

He probably didn't ask them. In practicality without a T behind the stove there isn't any way to clean it bottom up that doesn't involve taking off the pipe. I'd have tried real hard to get a T rear exit setup to work if I were the OP and couldn't get on the roof.

 

[fire_man]

He probably didn't ask them. In practicality without a T behind the stove there isn't any way to clean it bottom up that doesn't involve taking off the pipe. I'd have tried real hard to get a T rear exit setup to work if I were the OP and couldn't get on the roof.

He did ask them: " I have spoken to Woodstock numerous times (such great customer service) and they basically said having a professional sweep it once a year is ideal."

But yes the T rear setup is another option.

 

[Highbeam]

The first picture looks like the PH is painted white but the others look like a flat black or charcoal. Weird.

Is that double wall flue? It's hard to tell but I'm pretty sure it is. The thermometer that you are using to run this stove, is it the one stuck to the flue about 6" above the stove? Is that a probe meter. Probe meters are required on double wall pipe as a magnetic meter is unable to measure the temperature of the inner wall or the flue gasses. Also, the meter is supposed to be much higher up on the pipe. 18" is normally called out in the instructions.

You seem to be interested in operating this stove properly via instrumentation which is good.

Vertical flue is superior, I would have done it just like you with double wall. Even if that means slipping up the bottom section to sweep once per year with a sooteater.

 

[barnaclebob]

He did ask them: " I have spoken to Woodstock numerous times (such great customer service) and they basically said having a professional sweep it once a year is ideal."

But yes the T rear setup is another option.

Whoops i missed that. Its probably more of a Cover Your Ass statement from them then.

 

[fire_man]

That's what I was thinking (cya) but usually they give me great advice which is safe and reasonable for my situation.

 

[begreen]

Is that double wall flue?

Single-wall. Mentioned in his other thread.