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Cleaning your chimneys?

Started by Weekend_Sawyer, September 20, 2005, 12:45:37 PM

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Weekend_Sawyer


How often do you folks clean your chimneys?
I cleaned mine last week. I clean them (3) every september.

I did not get much from the fireplace chimney, it usually burns hot and keeps pretty clean, I got about 1/2 gal soot.
The woodstove in the great room has a chimney on an exterior wall and gave up about 2 gallons.  I always run both of these at the same time. This shows how much more soot builds up in a cooler chimney!
My 3rd chimney from the basement woodstove harldey gave up a shovel full, I didn't use it much last year but I plan on using it a LOT more this year.

Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

SwampDonkey

I clean my flu in september with a wire brush. I get about to gallons which mostly breaks free before I clean it. My flu is brick with a clay liner. SHHH don't tell the insurance company. :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

beenthere

Insurance co. have a problem with a clay liner?

I clean twice a year, and don't get much but know it is done.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

SwampDonkey

Yup, they require stainless steel inserts in those old brick flues. You wouldn't believe the bs we have to deal with. Sometimes I think their new rules they keep coming up with are to stimulate people buying stuff.  ::) Can you imagine having to pay $500 for an oil barrel? Then, another $650 for the oil. My winter's wood was only $800, cut, split, delivered.  ::)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

mike_van

I have to every 3 weeks, except for January when the coal gets shoveled in. That chimney is something you don't want to get slack with, i've had a few fires,  none that got away, but they could very easily.   Would NEVER have wood shingles on the house.    Any magic solutions for that creosote that gets so glassy hard ??  Those logs they sell might work if you had a half cord of them.
I was the smartest 16 year old I ever knew.

SwampDonkey

I use a tablespoon full of creasote remover to a low fire with coals.

Are you burning green wood Mike? We've never had a flu fire here, but the neighbor does every winter by burning green wood. If the insurance company only new about his unreported flu fires.  ::)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Weekend_Sawyer



  :o :o Wow Mike  :o :o

What are you burnin, ex wives ;D
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

mike_van

No, I have dry wood, once & awhile a dead mouse thrown in.  The Harmon has an automatic damper, when the water gets to a certain temp, the door closes,  I guess this causes a lot of the build up.   The coal does wonders though for loosening that stuff up, I just dont burn it till it really gets cold.
I was the smartest 16 year old I ever knew.

old3dogg

I was told once to throw in a couple of aluminum into a hot fire? Any truth to this?
I clean my flu in September, about the end of January and then in April.
I burn mostly kiln dried wood. I dont use the wood burner a whole lot anymore as I never seem to be home much.

ohsoloco

Last winter was my first time heating with a woodstove.  It was sometime in December or January I could hear the creosote falling from the stovepipe so I decided to take it off and clean it out.  Didn't have a brush so I just scraped the worst of it with a putty knife.  It was then that I noticed how much was building up in the liner.  I think my problem was I was burning my fires to cool.  It wasn't long after that I got a thermometer and started burning at the proper temp.  By the time spring came all that junk had fallen off.  Just to give you an idea of how much stuff was in the chimney...The clay liner is 7"x11" on the inside, and there was 48" of liner from where the stovepipe entered the chimney to the ground.  After the heating season, there was only about ten inches left  :o  Bought the proper brushes and rods this summer, and I plan on cleaning it several times through the winter...and keeping my fires good and hot  ;)

Bought all my stuff from this place...free shipping on orders over $99.  They sell creosote remover too.

www.northlineexpress.com

isawlogs

   

   I clean mine just before hunting season ... that'll be in a few weeks , then I clean it again when I get back from christmas holidays ...  Then again in the middle of march . I dont have much to take out , could probably skip the winter cleaning , but it just puts my mind at ease once its done . I have a stainless steel cheminy for the wood furnace in the basement .
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

ElectricAl

I spent 10 years on the local volunteer fire department, and we had quite a few "regular customers".

One crisp night we got called to a chimney fire at a regular customer's house. When we got there the fire was out, the neighbors said there was a 4' flame coming out after the rain cap burnt off.

Some of the our crew set up ladders and climbed the roof to the pipe. They dropped a long log chain down the pipe and whipped it around to knock any loose deposits off.

Chief asked the customer why he did not clean the pipe?

Customer said he did not like hights and it cost too much to hire it done, besides the fire department does a good job and he pays his taxes on time.

The next day the chief had the city lawyer draw up a bill for our "regular customer"

$500 per truck
$50 per man

4 trucks and 12 men = $2600

Was not too long and we had a check from the insurance company. Attached was a letter stating the "regular customer" had removed the woodburner.
Linda and I custom saw NHLA Grade Lumber, do retail sales, and provide Kiln Services full time.

theonlybull

lol.  al,  i like that idea..      i've been on the volly fd for 6 years now,  and we have a few loyal customers,  most burn green wood, and don't clean things out.     the stainless liners are a great thing,  if the fire is burning right, they don't get hardly any creosote on them.....  but,  if they fill up, and the fire gets between them, and the brick chimney,  look out.   makes for one hard fire to get out........
Keith Berry & Son Ltd.
machine work and welding

Ironwood

ElectricAl,

 Good for you guys. Lazy folks make the rest of us responsible folks look bad and create the hassels associated with burning wood and insurance issues. I have burned wood since I was 15 years old in my Mom's garage hustling money by washing cars for the folks in town, aaaaa.... 23 years with not one issue (I am 38 or so).
 

                                    Reid Crosby  
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

BW_Williams

I clean my twice a year and that's usually good enough, but this summer the good lord send 2 swallows who spent about a week cleaning ours out before they decided to lay down in the firebox where I could grab 'em and put them outside, I hope they come back next year!  8) BWW
Support your local Volunteer Fire Dept.  (not by accident)
Support your local Ski Patrol (by snowboarding:)
Mayor of Millerdale, Washington, USA (by God)!

bitternut

The key to a clean chimney is dry wood and a stove that is more undersized than oversized. By being undersized somewhat it requires you to burn your fires on the hot side rather than throttling them back which cools off your chimney and allows creosote to form. My first woodstove was a Riteway placed in my basement that was way too big. As a result I had a chimney fire about every 3 weeks. I now have a small Vermont Castings stove stuck in the hearth of my fireplace. Its been there for over ten years and the chimney has never been cleaned even though I mainly heat the house with it. It gets checked often but never has required any cleaning.

As far as type of wood I don't think it makes any difference what kind you burn as long as it is dry. Creosote is creosote. Wet wood requires heat from your fire to vaporize the moisture  in the wood. Those BTU's used for this are then not available to heat you.

Weekend_Sawyer


last spring I had a Flicker get into my woodstove with a glass front. The Lovley Miss Celest called me and said there is a bird sitting in the woodstove watching me. I told her it was watching TV ;)
Her mother was over and wanted to open the door, I told not to do that just leave it alone and I would get it when I got home. When I got there I saw one sooty, unhappy looking Flicker. He could get through the pipe from woodstove to chimney but could not get up the chimney, I opened the cleanout at the bottom of the chimney (outside) and in a puff of black soot, he flew out.

Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

beenthere

W_S
I thought the story was leading up to a sooty flicker flying around your home. Glad to hear it was flying outside.  :D
I have heard of a squirrel getting loose in a house all covered with soot, and it wasn't pretty.

bitternut
Very well said, and is also my experience with size of wood burner and dry wood as well.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Murf

Quote(I typed lol instead of using a Forestry Forum smiley, whats wrong with me?).

Welding fumes Bull, welding fumes.........  ;D

I too think the key is a small stove and good wood.  I use a that powder on the last good hot fire in the spring and then run the brush down the liner about this time of year. I rarely get more than about a cupfull of fine powder.

My next-door neighbour, on the other hand, if you smack his stove pipe when it's cold it sounds like a hailstorm in there. The kids think it's funny and do it regularly. He burns anything he can get his hands on. He 'voulnteered' to clean up some branches another neighbour lost from a heavy wet snow, the snow hadn't even all melted off them and they were in the stove.  :o
If you're going to break a law..... make sure it's Murphy's Law.

OneWithWood

I agree with dry wood and hot fires.  I clean the woodstove in the workshop before the first fire and after the last fire of the season.  Sometimes the clean out is limited to taking off the cleanout and looking up the flue.  If it is clean I do not bother to climb up on the roof.  it is about 20' from the eave to the ground and I am not comfortable on the roof. :o
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

Weekend_Sawyer


As I mentioned in this old thread before I usually only clean my chimnies once a year. But this year has been colder and we have already burned over 3 cords. I noticed my woodstove in my living room was starting to smoke. This year I had put a cap on it because of the amimals geting in there. So I took my cleaning brush up there and found the cap was caked with creosote and when I took it off the flue was choked almost completley off!
This is my 4th year burning this stove and I have never had this much before. This chimney runs up the outside of the house. My basement woodstove chimney runs up the center of the house and was clean it's much nicer too as the brick chimney will get warm and radiate into the main part of the house.

So there I am cleaning the chimney. I just tie a brick to the bottom of the sweep and drop it down using a rope. I hit a bad area where the creosote had jamed up pretty bad so I pulled to sweep to the top and dropped it, it hit the jam, broke it loose and I could hear it heading for the bottom. I leaned out over the chimney and looked down at the clean out intime to see a black cloud shoot straight out of the cleanout and all over my truck! :o
Well I didn't get out of the way soon enough. the chimney now was pretty clear and an updraft brought a belch of soot right into my face. When I came down of the roof I looked like I was tryin out for a part in Mary Poppins :D

I keep looking around for Larry and Moe
Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

WDH

I clean my stove flues about twice a year.  Using sections of threaded rods and a flue brush, it is a simple, but important task.

One ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cures :).
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Dan_Shade

i had the screen go shut on my pipe too.  the pipe looked good from the bottom up, I had to get on the roof with a peice of PVC pipe with a wire brush duck taped to it to knock some creosote off of the screen, it worked much better after that.

I plan to do a full scrub on saturday or sunday if the weather is decent.  my screen always has the worst of it, but I guess by a screens nature it is hard to keep heated up.  I've thout about taking it off completely.  I guess all it really does is keep birds out.
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

Weekend_Sawyer


I found 2 dead flickers in my cleanout last year. I don't want that to happen again.
So I have to clean the chimney more often.

Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

OneWithWood

I clean the flue in the workshop every fall just before heating season.  I use a flexible rod and brush like WDH does.  I hate getting up on the roof but it is the only way to clean the cap.  I try to burn short hot fires to keep the creosote build up to a minimum.  Lately it has been cold enough to require a constant fire.  Sure hope we are almost through the nasty cold because my supply of seasoned firewood is about gone.  Hate to resort to the kero heater. . .
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

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