spring cleaning

[Durantefarm]

can you guys help me understand how i will clean out my pipe on my VC Montpelier when the time comes? i dont know how i will be able to access the pipe from inside to clean out the creosote . thx in advance

 

[brazilbl]

I was wondering the same thing this week when they came to clean my chimney. My manual does not mention how I can pull things apart to access the pipe from within the firebox. Saw how they did it (at least with mine - H2100 by Regency). It appears that I have to remove the secondary tubes as well as the baffle above it and then I can get in there with a soot eater and start working away.

Since I wanted a professional chimney sweep to take a look at the installation as well as do the first check, I didn't try this, although I am tempted to see if I can do the chimney cleaning from the front of the fire box, to the 90 degree bend of the flue pipe up all the way to the cap. The chimney sweep did me a favor and took off the thick mesh surrounding the cap and gave that back to me in case I ever wanted to re-install. He believes that all I need is a 1X per year cleaning.

 

[begreen]

Maybe hire a certified sweep to do a cleaning and watch how it's done? Page 15 of the Montpelier manual details cleaning instructions. The baffle board is fragile, handle with care.

 

[canboy]

Cleaning the Montpelier from the bottom is not difficult at all(if you have a SS liner top to bottom). I always do it that way. Pull the cotter pins on the front two Secondary Air tubes, and remove. Then slide out the baffle. Then you have access to the liner for cleaning. The only catch is that there is likely a "drawdown bar" splitting the liner opening in half that may make it difficult to get a brush through. I use a Gardus Sooteater Rotary Chimney cleaning system - it fits past the drawdown bar and into the chimney opening, very easily. Just google it. They are available on Amazon, Home Depot (about $60)...etc. Look on YouTube for videos of the Gardus system and other similar products. I drape a large towel (keep it snug) over the opening of the stove, so that as soot/ash falls down the chimney into the stove, it doesn't fly into the room. At most, after a season of burning, I get about 3-5 cups of ash. I've been doing that for the past 10 years, with no issue.

 

[Mike508]

Cleaning the Montpelier from the bottom is not difficult at all(if you have a SS liner top to bottom). I always do it that way. Pull the cotter pins on the front two Secondary Air tubes, and remove. Then slide out the baffle. Then you have access to the liner for cleaning. The only catch is that there is likely a "drawdown bar" splitting the liner opening in half that may make it difficult to get a brush through. I use a Gardus Sooteater Rotary Chimney cleaning system - it fits past the drawdown bar and into the chimney opening, very easily. Just google it. They are available on Amazon, Home Depot (about $60)...etc. Look on YouTube for videos of the Gardus system and other similar products. I drape a large towel (keep it snug) over the opening of the stove, so that as soot/ash falls down the chimney into the stove, it doesn't fly into the room. At most, after a season of burning, I get about 3-5 cups of ash. I've been doing that for the past 10 years, with no issue.

Second these comments 100%. Only problem i had was the cotter pins were not easy for me to remove (hopeless bent). I solved this by unscrewing the two nuts that hold the air wash in place. Once removing this I could slide out the baffle board and have access to the the liner. I was then able to easily straighten the cotter pins so that in the future I should be able to remove the secondary air tubes.