Crazy about Creosote

[Bushmans]

Interesting story. I got on the subject of wood burning today at work with a guy and he proceeded to tell me about his burning habits of which I became increasingly alarmed. I then asked him how often he cleaned his chimney and he tells me only once before each heating season. Then proudly he tells me that his 8" flue pipe is choked so full of creosote that it is only about 4" pipe at the end of the season.
I tell him he is gonna burn his damn house down, well his modular house, which he removed the appliance which was built for his type of home and put in a full size wood burner not suitable for his home.

He then tells me no it won't burn down because when he pulls in the driveway at night and notices the black gooey tar dripping from his chimney cap he knows its time for a burn off. Of course I ask him what that entails and he says stuffing my firebox full of newspaper and lighting it until I can hear the woof, woof train sound and then I know that it is burning off the creosote in a"controlled" chimney fire. When I'm done the gooey stuff is all hardened and crumbles in the breeze like those little black snake fireworks you used to light as a kid.

I told him he was effin crazy and was gonna burn the darn thing down. His cleaning "brush" is a coil spring off a car tied to a rope that he lowers down the stainless flue pipe and clangs it on the sides.

I was just dumbfounded. The crazy thing is he thinks he is right in what he is doing. The flue even goes up through his ceiling but because he has insulated double wall stainless he thinks nothing can happen.

So can y'all please say a prayer for this guys family, they at least need some protection against Mr. Crazy for Creosote!

This is all true. I did not elaborate one bit. Almost word for word, even the snake thing!

Wood burning should come with a mandatory class and chimney maintenance videos!

 

[flyboy553]

How in the world would you get through to this kind of guy that what he is doing is just playing with death! You can preach at him til your blue in the face, and it will all be in vain. Until he loses his house and belongings and possibly loved ones, he is going to think what he is doing is the right way!
I am afraid even those classes would be useless to this guy.

Ted

 

[Cheesecutter]

What are the odds he burns green wood because it lasts longer than the dry stuff. It is to bad he puts his family at risk through his ignorance.

 

[Johnny Yooper]

That's pretty scary, especially since there's a family involved. The problem is, it's just about impossible to protect someone from themselves, and yet we all know or see people who shouldn't be operating chain saws or _____ (you fill in the blank) or doing this or abusing that, but the truth is ya can't legislate sanity, even tho the guberment is trying pretty damn hard. Since you told him he's gonna burn his house down, you likely ain't gonna hurt his feelings any more than you already might have, soooo......whether you know him well or not, it doesn't matter, if he doesn't have any CO/smoke alarms, buy one or two, install batteries, and give them to him. Seriously. By the sounds of it, that gesture just might save their skins one day. The absolute last thing anyone wants to read in the paper or see on the news is a family lost because of a fire. Sometimes all you get is a 60 second head start to make it out alive. Think of the money spent on house insurance; a few CO/smoke detectors should be a no-brainer.

 

[flotek]

That's a great id buy him a few alarms and put batteries in them you might save his kids lives

 

[Dogsout]

No matter how hard you try "You can't fix stupid".

 

[dingeryote]

You know that you can take out a life insurance policy on anyone right?

That guy is better than any Lotto or scratch off ever sold.

You tried. You can't beat them upside the head legally, so you did what you could.

 

[kennyl70]

buddy started burning wood this year..... I didn't think nothing of it til he called one night and asked what was wrong with his stove... I asked why and he said well it is roaring and there is a lot of thick smoke coming from outside.... do I have a chimney fire? Yep...... get the wheel barrel and get the wood out now and smoother the rest.... cap the end.... starve it out....... he called me later and said thanks for the tip....... what happened you think? I said well when did you clean the pipe? answer.................. 3 months ago... and he was mixing green and dry...... bullet dodged!!! and now he cleans it every month and burns dry

 

[Coldfront]

You will probably think I'm crazy but I haven't cleaned my stove pipe in 4 seasons. Pacific energy stove, with stove pipe straight up out the roof. I go up on roof pull off the rain cap look down the stainless steel double wall stove pipe with a flashlight and it is clean as a whistle. The only thing I wonder about is there must be some sort of soot down in there right on the top of my stove top? The chimney pipe is clean as a whistle. And yea I been burning lots of green wood also.

 

[jimbojango]

my 8 inch flue only gives me a cup worth once a year and i burn green: get another scapegoat. In other news he's going about getting rid of it in the worst way! oh holy lord.

 

[windthrown]

You know that you can take out a life insurance policy on anyone right

That's my advice. Buy a LI policy on him. You cannot fix stupid, but you can fix ignorance, if that is his problem. Sadly this year a lot of people are running out of dry wood, being lulled by two warm winters. So they are burning more green and wet wood, and burning wood when they usually don't (to augment furnaces, or heat in fireplaces because the NG or LP supply ran out).

Its a fact that wet and green wood create more creosote, its not a scapegoat. If you are burning green wood, you are getting far less heat energy out of it compared to burning it dry (20% moisture or less). I guess you cannot fix ignorance either. No hope for humanity. Arrogance prevails.

 

[farmer steve]

Go into work and ask the idiot if he wants to donate $$ to a fire victim that you both know.

 

[flotek]

I know a guy who says he prefers to burn some green mixed in on purpose he even has an elaborate scientific explanation for it how the cooler dense gases from unseasoned wood are heavier and keep low speeds in the pipe that offer longer better burns or the draft speeds on good dry would be quick and not linger .. Or some Mumbo jumbo nonsense like that .all I know is your gases will come out real fast if the chimney is on fire !it will be one giant Roman candle. Guys with 8" pipe often say they don't get accumulation I think the bigger diameter allows more gases to escape freely without restriction but of coarse more heat escapes too

 

[Jredsjeep]

its a free country this guy can still do what he wants, but being free there can be consequences to pay for. like mentioned it might be a good idea to have someone else’s opinion step in to help bolster yours. this guy is literally playing with fire and his house and family are involved. my guess is that it is easy and covenant for him and he won’t change until something happens.

 

[philoshop]

Some folks just have a logic all their own.
I wonder what color the sky is in his world.

 

[Vermonster]

Some folks just have a logic all their own.
I wonder what color the sky is in his world.

Would you believe rose colored?

 

[mainewoods]

Smoke detectors save lives - PERIOD. If you can not reach him with words, buy him some smoke detectors and offer to install them for him. You will feel better and he and his family may stay alive. Tell him if he has no smoke detectors in his house his insurance company won't cover the loss, if he survives.

 

[dingeryote]

You will probably think I'm crazy but I haven't cleaned my stove pipe in 4 seasons. Pacific energy stove, with stove pipe straight up out the roof. I go up on roof pull off the rain cap look down the stainless steel double wall stove pipe with a flashlight and it is clean as a whistle. The only thing I wonder about is there must be some sort of soot down in there right on the top of my stove top? The chimney pipe is clean as a whistle. And yea I been burning lots of green wood also.

Same here. Tripple walled 8" stainless and a 24' run straight vertical.

Have run half seasoned stuff, for two months and gone up to clean stuff out, and there wasn't enough to fill a coffee cup after scrubbing.
Several years back we ran Green Ash, Green Cherry, and Green Maple when we got caught short. Monthly scrubbings and never got much of anything, and it's always the last 6' or so that has the thin film.

Last year we went 5 Months without a scrub. It wasn't worth the trip up to the roof.

I think NOT having any build up, is troubling me more than having it....if that makes any sense.

 

[Bushmans]

Same here. Tripple walled 8" stainless and a 24' run straight vertical.

Have run half seasoned stuff, for two months and gone up to clean stuff out, and there wasn't enough to fill a coffee cup after scrubbing.
Several years back we ran Green Ash, Green Cherry, and Green Maple when we got caught short. Monthly scrubbings and never got much of anything, and it's always the last 6' or so that has the thin film.

Last year we went 5 Months without a scrub. It wasn't worth the trip up to the roof.

I think NOT having any build up, is troubling me more than having it....if that makes any sense.

If it aint hroke dont fix it.

Sent from my SM-T217S using Tapatalk

 

[mainewoods]

I think NOT having any build up, is troubling me more than having it....if that makes any sense.

That is exactly what you want to see. No creosote. You are either burning it off, or you are regulating the stove to perfection and not creating any creosote to begin with. Sounds like good technique to me.