questions about first sweep...

[red450]

(Disclaimer: I've only been burning wood for a month, so I'm a complete noob.)

We had some low fires due to crappy wood the first week or so of burning. Since I have the new burner paranoia about creosote, I'd like give the ss chimney a checkup sweep. My stove has a heavy baffle above the secondary airtubes. Am I correct in assuming that I need to take the baffle out in order to sweep the chimney properly? I did some basic searches on the site about sweeping but didn't really find an answer. Which way works best, top to bottom or bottom to top? (straight shot from the stove up through the roof) My roof pitch is pretty mild, so I don't mind getting out the ladder.

 

['bert]

If it's easy to get to, go top down. Close up the stove and brush down from the top. Most of what you need to check on is at the top anyway, so may as well go there.

 

[red450]

If it's easy to get to, go top down. Close up the stove and brush down from the top. Most of what you need to check on is at the top anyway, so may as well go there.

Should I pull the air tubes and baffle, so I can collect the schmutz?

 

['bert]

You should, but I did not. I just let mine collect on top of the baffle. I did not clean mine for the first 5 years so I don`t think mine is going to come apart very easy. Yours is new so may as well learn how to do it right. You said it was easy to get on the roof so I would just jump up there and have a look, maybe there is nothing to clean. Take some pics while your up there and post them here. Some the more experienced folks here will tell you where to go ( I mean how to proceed). Best of luck and be careful up on that roof.

 

[webby3650]

On the Century stoves I have cleaned, I slid the baffle forward without disassembling anything. This allows most of the creosote to fall into the firebox, the rest can be swept off of the baffle. Make sure it is put back into it's proper position when you are finished. I don't think you are going to have very much build up after such a short time though. Good Luck

 

[red450]

Depending on the weather, I'll try to check it out tonight and get pictures. Thanks everyone!

 

[firefighterjake]

If access to the chimney is easy (i.e. roof pitch isn't bad, snow isn't on the roof) I would go with a top down sweep . . . in my case the roof pitch and high chimney coupled with an outside Class A chimney means sweeping from the bottom up is much safer and easier for me to do . . . the only negative is that the cap doesn't get a thorough cleaning . . . but a few light taps with the brush and the fluffy creosote clinging to the cap gently float down to the ground and me . . . like demented black snowflakes.

Due to the way my stove is laid out, I only clean out the area around the baffles once a year.

 

[red450]

I pulled the cap and there was a small amount of very fine black powder around the wire mesh and a thin film in the pipe. I didn't have time to charge the camera for pics but I doubt they'd show much anyway.