Single wall pipe and creosote. (Update)

[Jags]

Thanks guys. I am going to clean the chimney and pipe. Cut and split wood now for next year and look at possibly lining the chimney depending on what I see this weekend.

I'm liken' what I'm hear'in. ;-)

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

This is my first year burning. I have had a problem lately with getting the temps up on the stove. I pulled my pipe last night and I have creosote and 1/4" in it. I am not sure about the chimney yet as I have not checked it. What causes creosote in the flue? Is it getting too cold? Bad wood? Should I run double wall pipe instead?

tar-like, glazed, or dry and powdery?

the dryer the soot is the safer it is. very little stored energy in dry powdery soot

ps, how tall is your interior s/w pipe?

 

[offroadaudio]

I have 6 feet of single wall going to a clay thimble thru the wall and up a 25 foot clay liner masonry chimney. Outside wall.

I don't like the sounds of that. No liner in the chimney? This is gonna be a trouble spot for sure.

That stove should have a 6" pipe from stove to sun light. On an external chimney, I would even HIGHLY recommend that it be insulated the whole length of the chimney. Trying to keep that much masonry up to temps to avoid creosote is going to be futile.

I had a small chimney fire just this week, and I believe it was caused by this same issue. My outside masonry chimney has a SS liner, but no insulation.
I think all that cold masonry surrounding the SS keeps the liner too cold. So I second the recommendation to line AND insulate.

 

[toddh]

The single wall is about 3 feet tall and about three feet horizontal. It looks fairly powdery. But I am not going to burn it till I clean it.

 

[Cowboy Billy]

I have a 100+ year old round oak stove in the cabin at the farm. With 6" black single wall pipe going up from the stove through the wall and up another 9'. While I have great draft its amazing how fast the pipe cools down even with flames shooting up the pipe. Next time I go up I'll try to remember to take the temp gun make a roaring fire and check the temp every two feet.

Billy

 

[Martin Strand III]

Creosote forms inside chimneys due to condensation of unburned wood gases on a cool surface.
To minimize it:

* clean your chimney regularly
* burning only dry seasoned wood
* burn all fires "hot" (for less heat, use less wood - not less air)
* keep your chimney above 170* F

Aye,
Marty
Grandma used to say, "Play with fire and you'll get burned."

 

[toddh]

Guys I got up on the roof this morning. My chimney looks perfect. No creosote at all. I just have some in my 6 feet of single wall pipe. My clay liner is 6 1/2" x 11 ID.

 

[NH_Wood]

I have 6 feet of single wall going to a clay thimble thru the wall and up a 25 foot clay liner masonry chimney. Outside wall.

I don't like the sounds of that. No liner in the chimney? This is gonna be a trouble spot for sure.

That stove should have a 6" pipe from stove to sun light. On an external chimney, I would even HIGHLY recommend that it be insulated the whole length of the chimney. Trying to keep that much masonry up to temps to avoid creosote is going to be futile.

Oh no! Don't tell me that! I'm getting my stove installed tomorrow with 6' of pipe to an 8"x8" clay lined masonry chimney going through the center of the house (only last 6 feet is exposed to weather). Flue is roughly 26' high. Should I be looking forward to a problem too?

I'm running my Mansfield tapped into the opposite side of my fireplace flue. Flue is large - 11" square. Interior (center of house) and about 4' above peak of roof. I have NO problem with this setup (except for not being able to burn in my fireplace!). Draft is great (perhaps a little too great). I'm burning well seasoned ash. A little visible smoke from the stack at startup, otherwise clean. I burn hot - stack is usually at 800-900* (probe) - stovetop runs to 550-600*. I'm guessing you'll be just fine. Cheers!