Wake up call for my friend

[kennyp2339]

My best friend and I both have wood stoves, I run a blaze king princess and he runs a englander 30nc, we both have been heating with wood as a primary source for 4 seasons each, that's where the similarities stop... He calls me anal for having at least 2 seasons worth of wood, always gathering early and keeping neat stacks in dry areas of the yard. Earlier this year while he was over at my house he helped me clean my chimney, I got about 3 cups of grey / hint of yellow ash with a tiny bit of black creosote out of the stove. We just did his chimney and well, let the pic explain itself, about a gallon and a half of just creosote came out, he was very surprised and now since he has a little baby he will be changing his approach to burning wood.

 

[JSoko]

good info
not until I joined this FORUM did I realize the importance of burning well seasoned wood

 

[Dillier23]

Out of curiosity, how much Sq footage are each of you heating? How is the wood consumption between the two?

Sorry to high jack the thread, but rarely are the two compared. Still trying to justify spending the extra cash on a Blaze King.

 

[kennyp2339]

I heat approx 2,200 sq ft, I start on November and I'm still going today, I burn between 4.5 & 5 cords of mixed hard woods, it all has been spit and stacked for at least 2 full seasons, he heats approx 1,100 sq ft ( poorly insulated and very leaky home) he starts the same time as me and prob goes thru about 5 cords and normally runs out sometime in February depending on how cold it is. The main difference between the 2 stives is the heat curve, his gets very hot very quickly then peaks and dies down, mine stays very steady throughout the whole burn cycle.

 

[gregbesia]

I'm no expert , but I don't think it is creosote. Looks just like ash from here.

 

[bholler]

IF that is from 5 cords it doesn't look all that bad at all. It absolutely could be better don't get me wrong but i take way more out of allot of chimneys that have had allot less wood run through them.

 

[blacktail]

What kinds of chimney/flue systems are you guys running? And does he run his stove 24 hours a day?

 

[claydogg84]

Your stove is cat, his is not - Correct? My friend runs an old VC Cat stove and the pipe is squeaky clean after a year of burning unseasoned wood.

 

[laynes69]

While it may be more than others, I've pulled almost a full 5 gallon bucket after a month or two with our old wood furnace. We have a 32' chimney and where I would pull gallons, we now pull cups with the newer furnace. I don't think it's excessive for 5 cords of wood.

 

[blacktail]

When I clean my chimney I get more stuff (powdery coffee grounds looking stuff) out than most people here. I blame it on two things. I have an uninsulated liner in an exterior chimney, and my insert gets relit from cold nearly every day, sometimes twice a day. I clean 2x a year.

 

[Hoozie]

fwiw, I also have a 30NC, heating about the same effective area, and with our mild winter, have only gone through ~2.5 cords so far. at the 2 cord mark, I swept the chimney.

Because I goofed up, I don't know the exact amount of creosote that I had, but I do know that at the top, I just had light flakey stuff. It was maybe a few sheets of paper thick. Not bad at all.

 

[kennyp2339]

I have a straight up setup, from the stove collar I got up with single wall ( I know it should be double wall) for 5ft then I go triple wall the rest of the way about 15ft to chimney cap, I'm using duravent. My friend has his stove in his fireplace and is using a stainless steel insulated liner that's about 14ft long ( not the best setup but it works) again I think primarily the difference is in the wood, I'm cutting right now for year 17/18 season, he's about halfway stocked up for next year (he got a maple / oak score this past fall) but what ever else he cuts up now is for season 15/16. Again his burning is certainly not the worst but he knows after seeing the different between my cleaning and his that he can improve and it will make a difference.

 

[kennyp2339]

fwiw, I also have a 30NC, heating about the same effective area, and with our mild winter, have only gone through ~2.5 cords so far. at the 2 cord mark, I swept the chimney.

Because I goofed up, I don't know the exact amount of creosote that I had, but I do know that at the top, I just had light flakey stuff. It was maybe a few sheets of paper thick. Not bad at all.

The stuff we pulled out of his box was like nickels and dimes ( chunky not ashy)

 

[Swedishchef]

Creosote/soot accumulation also has a lot to do with stove/chimney setup. If your chimney is inside and is 18 feet while his is outside and 30 feet, it is obvious he'll have more.

His cleanout looks like some light creosote with soot.

I am convinced this forum has saved countless chimney fires and perhaps the lives of the people in the associated homes.

Andrew

 

[tarzan]

I'm with your friend on changing his habbits. My first move would be to season my wood longer and if that didn't work I would concider doing something different with the chimney setup.

The NC30 is a very efficient stove and very capable of burning clean so just properly seasoning his wood will likely make a huge difference with no other changes.

That much creosite would be perfectly exceptable to many and I get that but for me personaly, my goal is to run a complete season before shutting down to clean and not have anything in the pipe at the end to be of concern. An easily attainable goal with a modern stove and helps me sleep better on a cold Febuary night when the stove is cranking out the heat.

 

[bholler]

I am curious what you guys would do differently with the friends chimney it is an insulated ss liner right? What is there to change. I agree that teir wood may not be as dry as it should be but the setup looks pretty good to me

 

[Swedishchef]

He may smolder the fire too much, the gasses are not hot enough and condense more than your does...

 

[tarzan]

I am curious what you guys would do differently with the friends chimney it is an insulated ss liner right? What is there to change. I agree that teir wood may not be as dry as it should be but the setup looks pretty good to me

Nothing different with the chimney. ;(I mistook Swedishchefs post for the actual chimney setup.

Creosote/soot accumulation also has a lot to do with stove/chimney setup. If your chimney is inside and is 18 feet while his is outside and 30 feet, it is obvious he'll have more.

His cleanout looks like some light creosote with soot.

I am convinced this forum has saved countless chimney fires and perhaps the lives of the people in the associated homes.

Andrew

 

[ChadD]

That doesn't look too bad for a season of burning to me. I burn 5 cords and that's about what I end up with dry wood.