What I saw Today In My Chimney

[69_Eliminator]

Hello All! This is my first season of burning. I bought a smoke dragon about a month and a half ago. I have been wanting to get on my roof to inspect the chimney and get a measurement so I can buy a sweeping brush. Today the snow had melted off of the roof so I went up there.

I have attached two pics of what I saw when I went up there and looked down the chimney. I am most concerned about the presence of the glazed creosote in the top section of flue tile. I am guessing the glazed creosote is in the top part of the chimney since it's outside the house and the coolest part of the chimney.

I'm wondering if I should even be burning since there is glazed creosote in the chimney or if I need to call the oil man and brave a $600 bill for 150 gallons of oil.

I wanted to see how thick the glazing was so I chipped some off with a screw driver and it doesn't appear to be thick, but I'm sure it's not going to be easy to remove. I have seen people say they bought anti-creosote spray or powder and put that in when they burned for a little while to loosen the creosote. Is this what I should do or what would you recommend?

I plan on getting and installing a liner this burning season, but not sure when I can afford to get one.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[webbie]

It's almost impossible to remove this stuff, so the anti-creosote stuff (which, over time, converts the hard stuff to softer) may be your only choice. You'll need to remove as much as possible before lining it anyway.

 

[cableman]

Thats what my buddy has in his where ill be doing his insert install soon. What if the shinny stuff doesn't come off? Is it ok to line with an insulated liner?

 

[Piolet]

Would love to hear others opinions on this too. I have a similar situation in one of my fireplace chimneys.

 

[69_Eliminator]

Thats what my buddy has in his where ill be doing his insert install soon. What if the shinny stuff doesn't come off? Is it ok to line with an insulated liner?

From what webbie said above and in another thread I read they said the glaze needs to be removed before installing a liner.

 

[Nick Mystic]

I had some of that same stuff in my clay tile liner up top when I did my flex liner install last February. I used a sharp wood chisel and just took my time chipping away at it until I got it all out. I didn't want to take a chance on cracking my tile liner, so I didn't use a hammer, just the sharp chisel and my hand chipping away at it. It was a job of work, but persistence paid off and I eventually managed to get it out. As for burning your stove in the meantime, I wouldn't be too worried about a chimney fire from this build up as long as it isn't running all the way down the flue. Also, you don't want to be burning paper, especially Christmas wrapping paper, in your stove since that has a tendency to catch fire and then float up the flue. That is the sort of event that can easily ignite a chimney fire when you have a build up of creosote. When the creosote is just at the top section the chimney is pretty cool in that location and is not likely to start on fire without the ignition coming from down below, as mentioned.

 

[Dave K]

My chimney looks very similar. I too am running an older stove for the first time and it's been about a month and a half. From what I've researched and read, Nick is right. If its only at the top and you aren't burning paper then you should be fine. Best thing to do, it seems, is to get ahead on the wood and once your burning truly seasoned wood then creosote is a lot less of a problem.

Does your stove currently have a baffle? If not, you should certainly install one and that'll help too.

 

[69_Eliminator]

Does your stove currently have a baffle? If not, you should certainly install one and that'll help too.

Thanks for the reply! The outlet is baffled by design on my insert.

 

[maple1]

I always had a thin layer of shiney stuff in the inside of the top section of my stainless chimney when I was burning my old unit. And that was a 17 year relationship. Didn't worry about it.

The thing I watched for was buildup of any kind lower in the chimney. If you get wrong timing come together on a sequence of events it can spell chimney fire real quick - an accumulation of the not-shiney black stuff in your smoke pipe or bottom of chimney together with opening the fire door with some fire in the box at the same time as a gust of wind happens by the top of your chimney can light it up before you can say 'oh crap'.

 

[mellow]

Rutland also makes professional creosote removal products, it is broken down by stage.

(broken link removed to https://www.rutland.com/product/105/creosote-removers)

(broken image removed)