Jeez....this is by far the worst I've ever let it get:
6" well casing, looked like it was filled with burnt potato chips:
6" well casing, looked like it was filled with burnt potato chips:
I think my chimney needed to be cleaned.....
- Thread starter Aerindel
- Start date
Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2020
- Messages
- 9,412
@ThePrincess says her grandfather used to drop a chicken down the flu a couple of times.Jeez....this is by far the worst I've ever let it get:
6" well casing, looked like it was filled with burnt potato chips:
Ben
I'm sure I don't need to point out that is..um..rather dangerous...Jeez....this is by far the worst I've ever let it get:
6" well casing, looked like it was filled with burnt potato chips:
If I can get it. This year is all fir and larch though.
Throw a couple of empty beer cans in the fire every week or every month. Looking at your chimney I'd go with more often. A hotter fire might help too. Unburned gasses are cooling and condensing in your flue.
Its just a chore that needs to be done. Usually I do it once a month, haven't kept up on it very well this year. Its been an odd winter.
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2017
- Messages
- 4,095
We have a new airtight stove. It is finicky if I don't keep the chimney clean. I do it a couple times a winter.
It looks like you could do real well with a newer designed wood stove. A two or a three chambered wood stove would save wood, if a woodchuck could... sorry, I almost let myself go.
My stove has a secondary air injection chamber but I never have the stove turned up high enough to actually use it. Usually the lowest smolder I can manage is still slightly too warm.
Downside of having walls two feet thick I guess. But really, cleaning the chimney is a ten minute job, I just need to keep up on it. I've just never seen it like this before. Usually its just a couple inches of fuzzy stuff on the inside of the pipe. This was weird paper thin bubbles and sheets of hard, shiny brittle creosote, almost like black soap bubbles or foam that had boiled up off the metal and frozen.
Downside of having walls two feet thick I guess. But really, cleaning the chimney is a ten minute job, I just need to keep up on it. I've just never seen it like this before. Usually its just a couple inches of fuzzy stuff on the inside of the pipe. This was weird paper thin bubbles and sheets of hard, shiny brittle creosote, almost like black soap bubbles or foam that had boiled up off the metal and frozen.
Last edited:
How long had it been since you cleaned it? I have a lot of thermal mass in my cabin too. My logs have 16-18 inch buts. I would rather smolder around the clock rather that be cutting kindling and building fires all the time. In two weeks after a cleaning I can already notice a difference. So I try to do it once a month if roof conditions allow me to do it safely. I get that shiny, brittle, bubbly stuff on the cap of my chimney sometimes.
What do beer cans do?
In the east we only burn hardwoods because they have almost no tar/pitch content. We stay away from anything in the pine family (Pinaceae) because of high tar content. Fir and larch are both in the pine family. If you burn pine the tar will build in chimneys exactly like what's in your photo.
Here we can go 10 to 12 years before a chimney needs cleaning. Another cleaning method is to burn a chimney out every 8 years or so (here). I'd be afraid to burn out your chimney. That much tar would burn for hours and generate tremendous heat.
Here we can go 10 to 12 years before a chimney needs cleaning. Another cleaning method is to burn a chimney out every 8 years or so (here). I'd be afraid to burn out your chimney. That much tar would burn for hours and generate tremendous heat.
I been burning seasoned red oak, hickory , white ash , black locust for years.
Use to clean my chimney every fall. There was nothing to clean.
Now I run a brush thru it about every 3-4 years. Still nothing to clean.
I would avoid pine , cedar, and fir at all cost.
Jim
Use to clean my chimney every fall. There was nothing to clean.
Now I run a brush thru it about every 3-4 years. Still nothing to clean.
I would avoid pine , cedar, and fir at all cost.
Jim
We burn about 90% spruce and about 10% birch as this is the wood we have available at about the above ratio. Of course we burn only well seasoned wood. Still, we need to clean at least twice during the year.
Here in the east you can buy creosote logs at lowes, homedepot etc.
http://creosotelog.com/
Creosote logs are for burning out your chimney regularly. I have a neighbor who buys one of these logs every 5 or 6 years and burns out his chimney, works great. It's been over 20 years and he still hasn't needed a chimney sweep. These logs are designed to burn out the tar residue in a chimney.
My neighbor only burns hardwoods, oak, maple etc.
http://creosotelog.com/
Creosote logs are for burning out your chimney regularly. I have a neighbor who buys one of these logs every 5 or 6 years and burns out his chimney, works great. It's been over 20 years and he still hasn't needed a chimney sweep. These logs are designed to burn out the tar residue in a chimney.
My neighbor only burns hardwoods, oak, maple etc.
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2020
- Messages
- 1,530
Same with us. We burn everyday for 5 months. 99% oak that has been seasoned for 4 to 5 years. The majority of our chimney is inside the house, so the chimney is always warm until it gets to the attic and exits the roof. Every morning we burn a hot fire. We never get any creosote. I still brush the chimney, but only once every few years.
My stove pipe wont build up that much without having a flu fire.
After a couple of beers you don't care about the chimney. Okay, okay, the aluminium oxide combines with the creosote and dries it out so it tends to fall down the chimney or be carried out the top. It reduces the chance for a chimney fire and helps keep the flue clean.
The chimney cleaning logs have aluminium powder in them for this reason.
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2020
- Messages
- 1,530
My theory is it's not so much the aluminum its the temperature that is necessary to "burn" the aluminum can, which is over 1000ºF. At that temp, the creosote in the chimney will quickly dry out or burn off. If you don't get your woodstove up to that temp, you'll have a firebox full of empty cans.
We've been using this method for as long as I can remember. We don't build a different fire when we burn cans. It's the aluminium.
Building a hot fire could well start a chimney fire.
Chimney fires only happen when there is a crack in the flu pipe. If you have a fire brick lining that is surrounded by more brick the chances of a fire is nil. The last house I sold had a chimney built like that and a know-nothing inspector told the buyer that a liner was necessary. The buyer called in a fire inspector who told her that it was the safest chimney to have and installing a flu pipe was dangerous.
Yep.
My chimney is welded 1/4" well casing. I don't worry about chimney fires. They are really only a threat to broken chimneys.
No, nobody burns plastic in it.
There are no hardwoods here so its all fir, larch or pine. I actually prefer pine but don't usually get it.
This winter was really oddly warm until recently. My theory is that warm temps meant I was burning the fire unusually low and smoky and had extra 'tarry' build up, and then when it got cold I heated it up enough to boil the tar and make it bubble up off the inside of the pipe and make those weird bubbles in the picture.
My chimney is welded 1/4" well casing. I don't worry about chimney fires. They are really only a threat to broken chimneys.
No, nobody burns plastic in it.
There are no hardwoods here so its all fir, larch or pine. I actually prefer pine but don't usually get it.
This winter was really oddly warm until recently. My theory is that warm temps meant I was burning the fire unusually low and smoky and had extra 'tarry' build up, and then when it got cold I heated it up enough to boil the tar and make it bubble up off the inside of the pipe and make those weird bubbles in the picture.
Running the risk of you all killing the messenger here lol
First, the so called "fact" that pine produces more creosote is actually just a myth or old wife's tale.
Please google to your hearts content before you string me up.
Second, a chimney fire can occur in chimneys that are not damaged, cracked or otherwise compromised it does not matter if they are masonry, tile lined or metal. What matters is the type of fire built in the fire place or wood stove, and how much build up of flammable material has occurred in the chimney.
Certainly cracked or damaged chimneys are a much higher risk, but a chimney fire can burn at well over 2000F on occasion. They can smoulder or be explosive. They can cause the cracks in the chimney from the sheer pressure of the fire, air and the heat.
Fires are also not the only risk if your chimney is not working properly. A partial block can result in fumes and gases entering the home, and should your detector malfunction or you don't have one for the particular gas entering your home, well things can go badly.
First, the so called "fact" that pine produces more creosote is actually just a myth or old wife's tale.
Please google to your hearts content before you string me up.
Second, a chimney fire can occur in chimneys that are not damaged, cracked or otherwise compromised it does not matter if they are masonry, tile lined or metal. What matters is the type of fire built in the fire place or wood stove, and how much build up of flammable material has occurred in the chimney.
Certainly cracked or damaged chimneys are a much higher risk, but a chimney fire can burn at well over 2000F on occasion. They can smoulder or be explosive. They can cause the cracks in the chimney from the sheer pressure of the fire, air and the heat.
Fires are also not the only risk if your chimney is not working properly. A partial block can result in fumes and gases entering the home, and should your detector malfunction or you don't have one for the particular gas entering your home, well things can go badly.
A chimney fire can occur in any chimney.
It is only dangerous in a damaged or badly constructed one.
A blocked or badly designed chimney can indeed be a gas threat.
Something else that people forget about is that multiple chimneys can be a danger.
For instance, a wood stove and a gas hot water heater in a tight house. The wood stove gets cranked up and produces so much negative pressure that the gas hot water heater backdrafts into the house until the CO detector goes off. This was a real fire call I responded to once.
The solution was a cold air intake for the stove.
It is only dangerous in a damaged or badly constructed one.
A blocked or badly designed chimney can indeed be a gas threat.
Something else that people forget about is that multiple chimneys can be a danger.
For instance, a wood stove and a gas hot water heater in a tight house. The wood stove gets cranked up and produces so much negative pressure that the gas hot water heater backdrafts into the house until the CO detector goes off. This was a real fire call I responded to once.
The solution was a cold air intake for the stove.
NEVER use different fuels in the same flue. Ideally each appliance would have its own flue.
Welded pipe sounds great. Is it insulated? What is the construction of the chimney?
Welded pipe sounds great. Is it insulated? What is the construction of the chimney?
Its welded 1/4 thick 6" steel well casing. It's not insulated. It runs completely inside my three story house and acts like a radiator on every floor. It only cost about $100 at the local scrap yard for the 30' of pipe, a small fraction of what even single wall 22 gauge would cost.
Where it passes through the floors and roof I poured in place a 16x16 block of concrete between the joists/rafters. This is my go to method for running flues. In my shop, which has an oil furnace I did the same thing but for the wall where the flue goes through it.
You can see part of it on the right in this old picture from my second floor.
Where it passes through the floors and roof I poured in place a 16x16 block of concrete between the joists/rafters. This is my go to method for running flues. In my shop, which has an oil furnace I did the same thing but for the wall where the flue goes through it.
You can see part of it on the right in this old picture from my second floor.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2020
- Messages
- 1,530
So, where it passes through the wood (or laminate) floor, is it cool enough to put your hand on the pipe?Its welded 1/4 thick 6" steel well casing. It's not insulated. It runs completely inside my three story house and acts like a radiator on every floor. It only cost about $100 at the local scrap yard for the 30' of pipe, a small fraction of what even single wall 22 gauge would cost.
Where it passes through the floors and roof I poured in place a 16x16 block of concrete between the joists/rafters. This is my go to method for running flues. In my shop, which has an oil furnace I did the same thing but for the wall where the flue goes through it.
You can see part of it on the right in this old picture from my second floor.
