Rate my Creosote

[Berner]

Had a busy day taking apart the PH, cleaning the glass, cleaning the CAT, cleaning the T and cleaning the flex liner.

Burning exclusively Norway spruce that has been CSS for 12. I've burned around 3/4 of a cord that reads less than 15% on a fresh split.

Here are the results.

Snout of the T. I found the bottom with the shop vac during my stove cleaning


This didn't give me the warm and fuzzy that I was hoping for. What are your thoughts?

 

[Belcain]

I imagine others will chime in but that does not look scary to me, I'm sure more than you want but ..... It appears to be all nice dry flake type build up which is not so bad. Its the hard shiny stuff that really causes problems. We've had a warm fall/winter here in the north east, weather can make a difference too. Warm fall/winter produces less draft and can cause more build up. Is this more than you've had in prior years with the same setup? When I was running my old VC stove (I replaced it this year with a PE T6) I used to get that much out of 3/4 cord but it was always dry flake like you have. You have a somewhat short chimney and its been warm so draft is lower and maybe just causing more buildup. Just my 2cents which are worth only what paid for them.

 

[bholler]

That is quite a bit for 3/4 of a cord but the conditions of the buildup look good so it is not to bad at all

 

[Berner]

I imagine others will chime in but that does not look scary to me, I'm sure more than you want but ..... It appears to be all nice dry flake type build up which is not so bad. Its the hard shiny stuff that really causes problems. We've had a warm fall/winter here in the north east, weather can make a difference too. Warm fall/winter produces less draft and can cause more build up. Is this more than you've had in prior years with the same setup? When I was running my old VC stove (I replaced it this year with a PE T6) I used to get that much out of 3/4 cord but it was always dry flake like you have. You have a somewhat short chimney and its been warm so draft is lower and maybe just causing more buildup. Just my 2cents which are worth only what paid for them.

There is some hard shiny stuff but there is much more dry flake type build up. This is my third winter burning and it is comparable for my normal build up. However as time elapses and my wood gets better I keep hoping the creosote will get better too.

I have just shy of a cord of mixed hardwoods that have been cut split stacked for 4 years. I plan to burn this, clean again and see how it looks.

 

[begreen]

That's more sote than I would expect even after 4 cords. Does the chimney have a lot of exterior exposure?

 

[Berner]

That's more sote than I would expect even after 4 cords. Does the chimney have a lot of exterior exposure?

It's a 5'x2' exterior stone chimney. It runs up the side of the house so it is completely exposed. I imagine it is really cold in there. I bought the insulation kit with the six inch liner but was not able to add it because my terra cotta tile is 7"X11.5".

 

[begreen]

Cool chimney and mild weather burning. It may get better once you can burn hotter.

 

[Berner]

Cool chimney and mild weather burning. It may get better once you can burn hotter.

I made an effort to burn smaller hotter fires with the air open full to try and avoid all that build up. I will report back with the cold weather results when they are in.

 

[chemical_man]

I swept mine yesterday morning just to see how things were going. Looked like yours, powdery grey material. Given the milder temps so far and 24 feet of outside SS chimney pipe, I wasn't too concerned.

Basically, you want to avoid black shiny stuff (in large amounts) and/or tar.