Woodstove user tips

[vtsnowedin]

You should check your chimney each time you clean the pipes by sticking a small mirror in the pipe thimble. In the daytime you will be able to see daylight round or square, whatever shape your chimney tiles are. If you have been running it hot regularly and burn dry wood you might go for years without having anything to clean other then what has fallen to the bottom clean out door. They charge as much to clean an open one as they do for one well blocked up.

 

[Tony_S]

Clean it the ole fasion way... drop a live chicken down the chimney.

mark

Mark, You must've been listening to Jim and Frank in the morning!

 

[DKCDKC]

I check but rarely have to do anything with my stovepipe chimneys. Another house I own has a brick chimney, but the folks there don't use it but for a third of a cord a year, or less. It's been three years since it was cleaned and it doesn't need it yet. A lot depends on the wood you burn, the heat of your fire and your air control. Safe bet is to check it at least twice a year - and mirrors do work well.

 

[kw22614]

I too only heat with wood, and like other's have said burn a roaring hot fire in the am and another pm, and keep it stoked and fed all day.
I clean my own with a 13"x13" steel brush with a tightly wound spring like pole, every year just before burn season. On the 4th or 5yr I get a pro in to do it. He climbs in alot further than I do and gives me a good assesment of it's condition. Only once in my almost 30 yrs here had to tuck point some missing mortar from between the joints of the terra cotta liner. Never had a prob.
BTW before you try to start a fire warm your chimney first by burning paper or small kindling, it's make the chimney draft a lot better and the fire to start easier.

 

[Ken45101]

As several have said, a good hot burn helps avoid creosote. Also very important for reducing creosote is well seasoned wood.

Do you have visible smoke coming from your chimney? If you, you are wasting fuel and probably building creosote (and polluting). Other than start up, we rarely can see anything coming from our chimney.

I just had our chimney cleaned. The guy looked at it and told me that it did not need cleaning, there was virtually nothing in it! The chimney has never been cleaned since we had it installed 4 years ago and we heat exclusively with wood. I had him go ahead and clean it anyway since he was already here but he got very little out of it. (I have visually inspected the top of the chimney each year, it's not like I totally ignored it.)

As we drive down the road, we see people with heavily smoking chimneys. Those are building creosote. Smoldering fires are inefficient and creosote builders.

In another forum, someone asked about cleaning the black off of the glass on the stove door. A few commented on the need to use a razor blade to get it off. Wow! If the firebox is building up creosote, think about what the chimney is like! We burn hot enough that we only get a light grey dust on the glass and I clean it once a month with a wet paper towel. The rare black spot is usually burned off in the next good fire.

Ken

 

[EE_Bota]

You can use some dry powder - sold in big box stores - Rutland Creosote Removal - we use this in our fireplace twice a week. It doesnt REMOVE creosote, but it makes it more porous - breaks down the particles / composition making it easier to clean.

As others said clean your chimney now - get a brush for your size and 3-4' lengths of 1/4" galv pipe and you can clean from the bottom. There are fiberglas rod versions too.

I bought something that has fiberglass links, and they click together sort of like how a socket goes on a socket wrench, but holds much better. On the end, instead of a brush, there is something about like a weed eater head. I use a drill with it, and the weed eater line strikes the surfaces and the entire head wobbles and bangs around. This can be done from the bottom. It does a darn good job.

 

[lstinthot]

We burned for about 6 years before we sold our last place and never had to clean the chimney. We did yearly inspections to make sure all was good and it never needed a cleaning. It was hard to tell the fireplace was our main source of heat. We always kept a hot fire, day and night. I would wake up in the morning and have to just throw a log on the coals and within a minute or two the fire was back.

This new house we are in, we just picked up a used insert. The insert was caked of creosote. I chiseled most of it away and have burned the rest of it off. We have a thermometer on the side of the fire box that has some ranges on it. It came with the stove. It says if the fire box is down in the 200F range you are generating creosote and if its over 500F your too hot. We generally keep it around 400 - 450F. And like mentioned already, we barely see smoke coming out of the chimney except when we open it to put more wood on or just starting it up.

 

[murphy1244]

Have mine done every year

 

[EE_Bota]

Since the thread said "tips" here is one...when I have a fire, I wait until there are no flames before I refuel. When there are no flames, I fill it up. I never open it if there are any flames. In this way, no smoke ever gets into the house. I told a buddy about it, and now he does the same, and he is much happier with his setup. He tended to fuss with the fire. Now, he just fills it and waits for no flames, and then refills it. This his much better for him.

Here is the chimney cleaner I mentioned in the earlier post.

http://www.amazon.com/Gardus-Inc-RCH205-Sooteater-Cleaning/dp/B0010H5JXA

 

[DKCDKC]

You should burn the stove hot, but many stoves will actually deform if you let them get too hot for too long. A thermometer is a good idea. I now heat for aesthetic reasons (we have a good geothermal unit), during power outages or when the outside temp is far below freezing - just to have a nice hot room to come in to. The problem is that small Irish stoves like mine are so efficient that they sometimes just produce too much heat, so you have to crank them down. That can cause more buildup, but seems unavoidable. One stove has a stainless steel, insulated stovepipe which - for 15 years at least - has simply shed any buildup and remained pristine. The other we have to check.

One tip... When I built the house, I installed a 4 inch duct to the stove from outside. It made a noticeable difference in the efficiency of the stove because it doesn't pull in outside air through doors and windows, and, in these well-sealed modern homes, allows the stove to have plenty of air. It was recommended by the stove manufacturer and the stove even has a port in back for the duct.