Creosote.. How much is to much

[biggenius29]

How much creosote is to much?

I checked my chimney weeks ago and it was clear. But in that 2 weeks I put a Barometric damper in, and also burned some pretty sh!!!y wood. So yesterday I checked my chimney and it had a slight creosote build up in it, but I am wondering how much should be built up untill I need to wory about it?

Do those CSL logs work or are they a waste of money?

Or will I be better just burning a hot fire every night to burn everything out?

BTW, I a am burning way better wood right now.

 

[flotek]

epa stoves with secondary burners need drier wood than smokedragons

 

[dingeryote]

BG,

Just as a comparo point.

I burned a LOT of half green Oak and Cherry last year, along with standing dead Ash and fresh off the stump Maple.

End of the season clean out, had about 3 Coffee cups worth after a good scrubbing.

When you start seeing the big flakes forming, ya got issues.

I dunno about the CSL logs but the Rutland powdered stuff seems to help, and several guys have good luck with the beer can method.

Your furnace damps down quite a bit between cycles IIRC, so some build up is going to be expected, so don't get wierded out yet.

Crappie Kieth should be able to help ya on exactly what should be going on, and maybe holler at Nuzzy...he burned the ####ens outta some green wood last year.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[biggenius29]

BG,

Just as a comparo point.

I burned a LOT of half green Oak and Cherry last year, along with standing dead Ash and fresh off the stump Maple.

End of the season clean out, had about 3 Coffee cups worth after a good scrubbing.

When you start seeing the big flakes forming, ya got issues.

I dunno about the CSL logs but the Rutland powdered stuff seems to help, and several guys have good luck with the beer can method.

Your furnace damps down quite a bit between cycles IIRC, so some build up is going to be expected, so don't get wierded out yet.

Crappie Kieth should be able to help ya on exactly what should be going on, and maybe holler at Nuzzy...he burned the ####ens outta some green wood last year.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

Yea, I dont have big flakes forming yet. Right now I am burning a FluRenu log, then in a few days I will take another look. Now that we are having this wonderful global warming and I can get on my roof without having to visit my wife at work I will run a brush down.

BTW, how Is all that global warming melting for you Dinger? Last week I was running down past you and I couldnt believe how much more global warming you got down by you than we got by us.

 

[dingeryote]

LOL!!

Gotta love all the Global warming going on here next to the pond.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[builder1101]

you guys worry too much!

my dad lets his chimney go soooooo far one day i decided to check it out and i'm not ####tin' you guys, there was a hole in the center so small a broom handle wouldn't poke through it. How do i know? i grabbed one to make sure what i was looking at was for real!!

...8" round liner too.....

lke 15 5gal buckets later it's cleaned.


i know, it's not safe, but i can't seem to tell him different....i've given up. it's the effort that counts.
one reason i'm building this 2nd owb, at least the fire hazard will be outside.

 

[rarefish383]

I have a big old Russo insert, got it aound '87 or '88. It was one of the first stoves I had seen with a catalytic combuster in it. I let a guy clean it for me once a year. It's worth the $85 to use his rollers to slide the thing out. I replaced the combuster about 12 years ago. Last year toward the end of the burning season it quit drawing well so I called Rick in. I had run out of my seasnoned Oak and was burning Chestnut Oak and Silver Maple that had been cut down maybe 6 months, but not splt for a couple weeks. When he got here we couldn't believe the build up. The screen on my chimney cover was almost blocked and he got about a 5 gallon buckett of crud. Over the summer I put in a new combuster and door seal and it's been burning great. I won't let it go so long on the combuster again and only mix in a stick or 2 of green wood in emergencies, Joe.

 

[Tendencies]

Clean it at the beginnig of every season and keep an eye weekly on the cap for plugging and you should be good to go.....

 

[laynes69]

If your wood is not fully seasoned it can produce some creasote. When you load the furnace, open the damper and let the wood get charred and when you see secondaries, then you can close the damper. The little tab on the side of the damper where the chain attaches you can tweak it a little to stay open maybe 1/16 of an inch to allow for a little more air if needed. I'm burning less than optimal wood right now, that would have burnt fine in the old furnace. So I am keeping my damper open longer, before closing it. I need to get a year or 2 ahead on wood. When I had perfect wood, I could close the damper in 10 minutes, where its taking around 1/2+ hour to close now. With that said, I have pulled under a coffee can of creasote from the chimney.

 

[reiterch]

you guys worry too much!

my dad lets his chimney go soooooo far one day i decided to check it out and i'm not ####tin' you guys, there was a hole in the center so small a broom handle wouldn't poke through it. How do i know? i grabbed one to make sure what i was looking at was for real!!

...8" round liner too.....

lke 15 5gal buckets later it's cleaned.


i know, it's not safe, but i can't seem to tell him different....i've given up. it's the effort that counts.
one reason i'm building this 2nd owb, at least the fire hazard will be outside.

While I agree that people are over concerned about creosote, especially with how clean today's stoves burn, I would say your dad is overdoing a bit.

Here is what I would consider excessive build-up in a chimney. I can't imagine having what your dad has. I can't even believe his stove worked with that much build up.

 

[flotek]

wow thats scary ,its amazing how the stuff can build up like that ,i would crap myself if i looked down my pipe and saw that :jawdrop:

 

[Feez]

you guys worry too much!

my dad lets his chimney go soooooo far one day i decided to check it out and i'm not ####tin' you guys, there was a hole in the center so small a broom handle wouldn't poke through it. How do i know? i grabbed one to make sure what i was looking at was for real!!

...8" round liner too.....

lke 15 5gal buckets later it's cleaned.


i know, it's not safe, but i can't seem to tell him different....i've given up. it's the effort that counts.
one reason i'm building this 2nd owb, at least the fire hazard will be outside.

Oh I can believe it burned like that. One time in my pipe, you couldn't get a broomstick down (straight) but if you could "corkscrew" broomsticks you could fit five of them in. In other words, air went right up but in a spiraling path.

In my case it wasn't stubbornness or wanton neglect, it was ignorance.

 

[builder1101]

yah, but that's the beauty of owb's....worry free. if they do catch fire, they just burn themselves out, and not the entire house/garage.

if they build up so bad they don't burn, house doesn't get smoked out.

all in all, it's easier just to keep the mess and hazards outside....

 

[Austin1]

I burn 85% pine, ya the hated soft wood the big bad creo builder ya right what ever. Granted I do not get a hot 8 hour burn time like I do with coal but after 4 months of burning Pine I might get a 1/2 pound coffee can full of the stuff everytime I sweep out of my chimney not too bad, I get more from the shop as it has a few bends in the pipe. I worry more about using News paper to start a fire as that gets sucked up by the draft of my chimney to fall on the ground still smoldering a very bad fire hazard.
I have a motto I live buy as long as it is dry it really wont matter the only thing to catch fire is that gooey brown stuff that you get from running a cold fire.

 

[LumberjkChamp]

As far as how much is too much creosote? Well...they say between one eighth and one quarter of an inch. That is what I have read. If you see glazing like in the pic. above, reach for the chimney brush. If it is fluffy and light, you are most likely safe.

Chimney sweeping logs and chemical powders may help, but my chimney sweep says they don't seem to make a big difference. I used the powder one year but quit after hearing his opinion. I check my chimney for excessive creosote buildup every two weeks and have not noticed a marked difference in buildup while not using the chemical powder.

 

[JFerg65]

The thought of a chimney fire just freaks me out! My stove has been burning 24/7 since the 2nd week of November. I run the brush down it approximately once a month for good measure. Takes me about 45 minutes to an hour from start to finish. The first go round I had like a gallon can full. Mind you I have a six inch stainless flue. I was shocked!! The second time I had a quarter of that. I've been making it a practice of burning hotter fires in the evening when we are home.

I prefer to look at the stove cleaning like flying an aircraft... you have to get out in front of it a bit and stay there to be safe.

I also sleep a lot better at night knowing my chimney is clean.

 

[vwboomer]

I swept my chimney for the first time yesterday since I installed the liner sometime in October.

I got probably a gallon or maybe a little less of the powdery brown stuff. It seemed like a lot to me, but maybe it's not. I do tend to burn hotter than most of you guys I would guess. Especially now that I'm into the middle of my wood stack and it's not as dry as I'd like.

 

[dustytools]

This may sound a little obcessive to some of you but I run the brush down mine once a week need it or not. I live in a single story home with a 4/12 pitch roof, the brush stays on the roof and the ladder stays set up all winter. If I am burning hot I very seldom get anything out at all, burning during the warmer months I will maybe get three to four handfulls of the flaky stuff. I too sleep better at night knowing that the chimney is clean.

 

[logbutcher]

Creosote, chimney fires, smelly damped fires, and plain old bad burning practice are the reasons EPA made the regs for cleaner burning stoves and wood furnaces in the late 80's. We call EPA stoves the "mommie burners": you can't damp the air too far down, or open the air too high---"mommie will take care".

It makes sense since the EPA stoves not only burn cleaner, but much more efficiently saving you wood. My Guess : close to a 1/3 compared with pre-EPA stoves. The cat stoves are even more efficient than non-cats; we use one of each. Forget all the talk about the cats: they do the job. The cat replacement around 12,000 hours ( about 2-3 years for us ) is part of the game, and worth it.

We heat 100%, 24/7 with 2 stoves. Both stacks are cleaned every spring, but the practice of burning a hot fire each morning when loading, and letting new stove loads get up to temperature keeps the flues clean. Wood needs to be seasoned at least one season. We harvest in the winter for the next winter. It's been this way pre-EPA with too many stoves to count, and post-EPA wood stoves.

Local friends--"I've been burning wood before you were born sonny " ! ---will throw wood in the stove, damp the air, walk away, and yes, they climb the roof to clean the chimney or flue often during the winter. It's hard to teach the old dogs. You see plenty of roof ladders around downeast Maine.

 

[mtngun]

If I let the chimney go all season without cleaning -- which is the plan, because my roof is life threatening in the winter -- there will be a 3/4" - 1" layer of fluffy stuff, not unlike the picture reiterch posted.

That freaks some people out, but whatever that stuff is, it doesn't seem to burn. Last time I cleaned, one stove was burning at the time. I let all the fluffy stuff drop down into the burning stove. It merely smoldered. No explosions, no roman candles, etc..

The biggest problem has been the spark screens plugging up. They tend to plug up halfway through the winter, and it wasn't fun to climb on the icy metal roof. So I removed 1/2 of the spark screen, should be able to go all season now.