Time to clean that chimney/stovepipe/woodstove

[MaxTheKnife]

Every year the fall weather seems to sneak up on me because I'm too busy enjoying the cool weather to remember that soon I'll have to fire up the old wood stove to keep us all from freezing to death. It seems like the longer I'm at this wood burning thing the worse my memory gets. Maybe I'm just getting older and my memory is going on me.

Anyway, there's nothing like waking up to an ice cold morning with no wood heat and then suddenly realizing you haven't cleaned up from last year. This year I made an early job of it because I'm down with a late summer cold and didn't feel like doing anything else. What a mess! I also removed the elbow at the top of the stovepipe and replaced it with a heavy-duty clean-out T. That will make life much easier when it comes time to clean it out mid-winter and next fall.

Ok, so anyway, this is just a gentle reminder for all you folks that are forgetful like me. I hope you all have plenty of firewood this winter and keep warm till spring. And don't forget that winter time is prime time for brewing homebrew while the summer heat is gone. Especially bottom fermenting type lagers. They like the cool temps. Happy woodburning!

 

[Brooks]

My chimney sweep was here yesterday. He loves my two lopis - extremely fine ash, never any creosote build-up. I'll only be doing it every other year from here on.

 

[Anjou]

Have had the fireplace on in SoCal for 3 days so far this season No one else would've so far this year, I don't think, but I'm a namby pamby about temperature and LOVE my fireplace. Really would like to have a full-size hearth across half a wall or a corner of a room, with a much larger firebox and access to be able to cook in the thing.

 

[Todd]

I have three to do at our place (two house, one shop). At least I won't have to do our rental since I replaced the entire chimney system as I replaced the asphalt shingles with metal roofing - which is 1/2 done - just one more side to do. Amen.

Todd

 

[Trasael Adnepos]

You just need a good chimney fire now and again to clean the thing out, Max. It's a good way to check for cracks...



Seriously, though, for the masonry flue, the easy way, (I set my Wild Fire glass door insert on rails in there 23 years ago, so it slides out on the hearth for cleaning), is just get up there with an old ice chain with cleats (for tires), on a rope and thrash it up and down a few times with something over the fireplace to keep the dust down. Works great, but I guess not too many people have real tire chains anymore.

When I built the hearth for the air-tight in the family room, I did use the metal-bestos chimney, so that one I'm a little more careful with. However, that goop you throw in the fire to crystalize the creosote saves a lot of time if you are going to brush it out. On the metal chimney, why not open the flapper on the stove pipe, brush it down into the stove, and shovel it out? Oops, I see you have an elbow. You have plain metal stove-pipe on stand-offs going up the side of the house or what? I can see see where that might be real important to keep clean.

Tras

 

[MaxTheKnife]

Actually Tras, the setup I'm working with is an old chimney in the kitchen originally used for a wood cookstove. The chimney goes all the way to the floor of course, but there's no opening like for a fireplace. The stovepipe comes out the top of my woodstove so it elbows in just below the ceiling directly into the chimney. Over the years, the soot and creosote has filled in the bottom part of the chimney, so now when I clean it out I literally have to shovel out the chimney where the stovepipe elbows into it. Yes, I know that sounds a bit scary because of the possibility of a really vicious chimney fire. But the possibility is really quite remote because of the design of my woodstove. Anyway...

That's why I decided to put a cleanout T in place of the elbow. Before, I'd have to pull the stove away from the wall and take down the whole stovepipe in order to clean out the soot and creosote. Now all I'll have to do is just remove the cap on the T and scoop out the crud after brushing the chimney clean. See what I mean? I'm sure there's a better way but I'm going to see how this setup works this winter as I think about what to do about that huge pile of crud in the bottom of the chimney. It's a strange design, but hey, I didn't build the place! I'm thinking about dumping a few buckets of sand into the top of the chimney before the crud reaches the level of the stovepipe. I thought about concrete but that would really make a mess if I put too much in and it overflowed. At least I can shovel the sand out till it's level. Any other ideas would be welcomed and appreciated.

 

[CopperTopMom]

We have a guy who has us on his list to come each fall and clean both chimneys. A couple of times we had to have him come in January and clean the living room one again as it got blocked with creosote, a scary proposition as our chimneys have to be cleaned from the top (on a very steep pitched roof) and the weather isn't the best at that time of year.

Max....
we have the same stovepipe set up on our kitchen stove as you do, however we have a cleanout at the bottom of the flue on the front of the chimney. The same on the living room chimney except that cleanout is all the way in the cellar. That's because until last winter we had a wood furnace down there now we have a lovely Drolet stove in the living room. Much nicer The furnace didn't burn well and as a result we got a lot of creosote in the chimney if we didn't treat it with stuff to break up the creosote.
I don't think it's too complicated to cut a hole in the chimney and put a cleanout in. I don't know if you could do it yourself or would need to get someone who builds chimneys to do it. It certainly makes live a lot easier both in cleaning and checking the cleanliness of the chimney. The type of liner you have in your chimney would probably affect the ease of putting in the cleanout. We have a steel liner and when they put in the opening in the living room for that stove pipe it only took them about an hour (two tops) and most of that time was actually cutting the hole in the brick and the liner.

 

[MaxTheKnife]

Well CopperTop, I sure hear what you're saying and I appreciate you chiming in here. But I don't think it would be that easy in my situation. The worst part is that this chimney sat for at least 30 years full of however much crud was in the chimney without being used. So it's packed in tighter than set up concrete by now. I'd never get it all cleaned out so all I'd wind up doing is making a mess in the pantry on the side of the chimney. I'd also have to tear out a bunch of woodwork inside the pantry to gain access to the base of the chimney. It's just not a happening thing as far as I can tell. I need my shelf space!

This is just one of those situations I'll have to learn to live with. The other option is to tear out the chimney and install a real flue. This chimney was built from native stone back in 1945 and has no liner. That complicates things. Of course, the stone is 4-6 inches thick and is in good shape for the shape it's in. It's funny that the downstairs fireplace chimney is lined with a double 10" clay flue pipe and 16" native stone. I don't know why they would beef up that chimney and skimp on the kitchen one. Oh well, the house was built by conscripst from the county jail since the builder/owner was the county judge at the time. He he. Free labor has its drawbacks I rekon.

 

[CopperTopMom]

Max I have to admit that I wondered about the fact that you said it was full up to that height. Was afraid it might complicate things but figured it didn't hurt anything to chime in. Our chimneys were both rebuilt in the '90's, the living room one because it got struck by lightning! That was when they put in the steel liners. The main part of the house was built in 1824 with an addition in 1875 and another in 1975, the newest addition is the one with the most repairs required to it go figure The kitchen chimney used to only come down to the kitchen ceiling and then the stovepipe went through the ceiling and into the chimney. Had a few spectacular flue fires in THAT chimney let me tell you!