Sweeping biweekly. Hows this for buildup?

[kyguylal]

Hi all, I've been paranoid because my wood is questionable between 18-22% moisture content. I've been sweeping my chimney with a soot eater every two weeks just in case.

I've burnt through about 3.5 cords so far and went a month between sweeping this time. How does this look for build up? It's a straight shot 8' stove pipe and 7' of class A chimney with no bends.

All powdery when I vacuum it up after sweeping. Should I stick with my biweekly sweeps? Luckily, I'll be good to go for next year. Got about 7 cords of wood which will be ready next fall.

Englander large, 2,400 sf Madison. Been burning great with secondaries blasting for hours even with the wood being just on the edge of dry.

Thank you all.

 

[begreen]

Looks good. At this rate I would probably switch to sweeping once per cord burned and see how that looks.

 

[Woody Stover]

Yeah, that doesn't look dangerous.

 

[kyguylal]

Thanks for the input. I'll go another cord and see how it looks. Luckilly, I have a very easy roof and I'm young and dumb enough to climb up there. Only fallen off once while shoveling so far.

 

[Woody Stover]

Only fallen off once while shoveling so far.

I hate to wish it on anyone but I hope you have a few feet of snow on the ground, for safety's sake.

 

[blacktail]

Why are you vacuuming it out of the stove?

 

[kyguylal]

Why are you vacuuming it out of the stove?

I sweep from the top down and just leave the stove door closed. When I'm off the roof, I ash vaccum the soot which falls into the stove. Takes all of 10 minutes, most of which is me forgetting a screwdriver and trying to get the chimney cap off without one.

 

[kyguylal]

I hate to wish it on anyone but I hope you have a few feet of snow on the ground, for safety's sake.

Luckily, I had a couple feet of snow and I only fell off the garage roof. A nice and easy five foot drop. My wife doesn't let me go up there without her home anymore. I figure I have another few decades until I find the need to pay someone to do it for me

 

[blacktail]

I sweep from the top down and just leave the stove door closed. When I'm off the roof, I ash vaccum the soot which falls into the stove. Takes all of 10 minutes, most of which is me forgetting a screwdriver and trying to get the chimney cap off without one.

If you leave the soot in your stove, it will disappear in your next fire.

 

[jetsam]

Luckily, I had a couple feet of snow and I only fell off the garage roof. A nice and easy five foot drop. My wife doesn't let me go up there without her home anymore. I figure I have another few decades until I find the need to pay someone to do it for me

Lots of people here do bottom-up cleaning with a soot eater. If your cap doesn't have mesh on it, it's a good way to avoid going on the roof.

I just go up there and sweep too, but I have an easy roof.