I've had a HeatMaster G200 for about 7 years now, but have a propane boiler as backup. So I only fire the OWB up during the cold season. Every fall, when the temperature starts dropping, that's my cue to do the annual boiler ritual: clean the chimney, test the water, and mentally prepare for battle.
Without fail, every year I end up with my head stuffed inside the firebox, armed with a hammer and a collection of flathead screwdrivers, chiseling away at creosote like some kind of archaeological dig. Getting the side panels out is also a fight. The whole process takes hours.
By the time I'm done, I've lost a few pounds in sweat and look like I just crawled out of a coal mine. Face covered in ashes. Hair covered in ashes. Shirt covered in ashes. Dignity covered in ashes.
Every year I tell myself, "There's no way other people are still putting up with this. I must be the only bozo spending an entire afternoon role-playing as a chimney sweep." Surely everyone else has figured out a better way by now.
And every year, while scraping away, I think, "I should ask other OWB owners what they're doing..." Then I promptly forget about it until the following fall.
Well, this year I finally remembered.
So how do you guys deal with creosote buildup in your OWB fireboxes? Do you just chisel it out like I do? Is there some magical product that reduces it? Or have the rest of you discovered a secret that could save me from my yearly ash-covered walk of shame?
1st image: Firebox half cleaned out, right panels taken out
2nd image: Firebox cleaned out, panels on both sides taken out
3rd image: Firebox cleaned out completed, scraped panels added back in.
Without fail, every year I end up with my head stuffed inside the firebox, armed with a hammer and a collection of flathead screwdrivers, chiseling away at creosote like some kind of archaeological dig. Getting the side panels out is also a fight. The whole process takes hours.
By the time I'm done, I've lost a few pounds in sweat and look like I just crawled out of a coal mine. Face covered in ashes. Hair covered in ashes. Shirt covered in ashes. Dignity covered in ashes.
Every year I tell myself, "There's no way other people are still putting up with this. I must be the only bozo spending an entire afternoon role-playing as a chimney sweep." Surely everyone else has figured out a better way by now.
And every year, while scraping away, I think, "I should ask other OWB owners what they're doing..." Then I promptly forget about it until the following fall.
Well, this year I finally remembered.
So how do you guys deal with creosote buildup in your OWB fireboxes? Do you just chisel it out like I do? Is there some magical product that reduces it? Or have the rest of you discovered a secret that could save me from my yearly ash-covered walk of shame?
1st image: Firebox half cleaned out, right panels taken out
2nd image: Firebox cleaned out, panels on both sides taken out
3rd image: Firebox cleaned out completed, scraped panels added back in.
![[Hearth.com] The Great Creosote Excavation: Am I Doing This Wrong?](/talk/data/attachments/349/349056-02a06fae935cbe44fc018063238a9ad7.jpg?hash=FUoSz4Vi4I)
![[Hearth.com] The Great Creosote Excavation: Am I Doing This Wrong?](/talk/data/attachments/349/349057-d6e8c31ee380555635e4360001c330b3.jpg?hash=5VTDgn-xrj)
![[Hearth.com] The Great Creosote Excavation: Am I Doing This Wrong?](/talk/data/attachments/349/349058-995e74a8132db488ceb12a08d9bad7c5.jpg?hash=08Y32lGLc4)
