I would avoid the flue fire at all costs I have had them and know of a few instances where there were several hundred gallons of water in their living room from a fire truck also I have never had anything so scary as the sound a flue fire makes, sort of a mix between a tornado and a freight train. We lost our home to fire a few years back, not because of a flue fire but a fire just the same, it was one of the most devestating things that can happen to a family. I now have an out door furnace and I have it fixed to where I can clean the whole thing in about 15 minutesl., but when I had the stove inside and a flue, I had a clean out outside and every so often I would take a long chain up on the roof and put it down inside the chiminy and just swing it in a circular motion that would knock everything loose and then i could drag it out the cleanout.
SkyTramp;
I have also heard that burning potato peelings will help eliminate creasote, One of my uncles used to swear by it.
