Need some advise from the wood burners

[mxfever]

My dad?s shop is heated with a wood burner. We knew the chimney needed to be cleaned for some time now and were waiting until the weather straightened out. Well two days ago my dad returned home to find the shop a thick cloud of smoke (my pontoon is in there, just a little panic) and no smoke coming from the chimney.

I climbed up on the roof tonight with a chimney brush and looked down in first. There was a wall of black soot completely plugging the chimney off about 15 feet down. I rigged up a piece of round stock to a chain and dropped it in. I had to push is through with a 2x4 then it dropped another 10 feet and again another blockage. I can not get this stuff to loosen up!

Are there any other options? Just to add to the fun he burns 80% cut up pallets, yep pine. So it?s like tar.

It?s a Christmas miracle the place didn?t burn down??.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

You could get some metal conduit and use it as a punch to chip through and then continue to use the chain. Once you have the chain through then move to a brush. There are no real shot cuts and it has to be cleaned.

I use a chimney brush attached to 1/4" cable and a rope........ I feed the rope down to the clean out and my Son man's the cable on the roof. I pull the brush down and he pulls it back up........ works good.

I have a 30' chimney and I use 35" of cable and 35' of rope with the brush tied in the middle.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

Fight like heck to get it clean, then get in the habit if one quick fire per day to heat it up keep it reasonable, and a solid preventative cleaning schedule.

Ain't nuttin like a rip roaring chimney fire to wreck your day.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

.......Ain't nuttin like a rip roaring chimney fire to wreck your day.

Yeah, and sounds like a Saturn rocket taking off before it melts thru the sidewalls then takes the structure with it.

 

[rbh]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

With that much creosote build up take your time and do a good job, it only takes a film on the inside of the chimny to get a chimeny fire going.

Clean it as best you can then start a fire to get it warm/hot and clean it again, then do it on a regular basis

The new stoves have a catylitic converter in them and that helps to burn off the excess creosote as long as it is not cold and smouldering.

And if you have a dampner in the pipe above your stove, get rid of it, do not dampen your fire to a point it is below 250-300f +- as this is were creosote forms on the walls of your chimney.

(they make a magnetic thermometer for your stove pipe so you can see how hot your burning)

We use a round style 8 inch brush with 3 ten foot fiberglass rods for cleaning ours.

 

[mommicked]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

We had a chimney fire years ago in a brick chimney.It roared like a jet engine and shot flame and smoke 25 feet in the air.the fire dept used large fans to pull air out of the den and we just waited for it to burn itself out.We never burned pine,but there was unseen buildup in the chimney above the insert.After dad paid a man to sweep and inspect it, he bought some equipment and we started chimney sweeping part time for a few years.Its a dirty job, but it pays quite well.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

Yeah, and sounds like a Saturn rocket taking off before it melts thru the sidewalls then takes the structure with it.

Actually, all my chimneys now are 2000? stainless (at about $60 a foot) and the stove and boiler are both airtight, so I can control a chimney fire so it just cleans the chimney without damage. Don't do it unless I have to, like the roof is too ice covered to safely do it right.It can be a little rough on rain caps.

 

[mxfever]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

There isn't a damper on the pipe so we're good there. And the magnetic thermometer is a really good suggesion!

We're going to try what Bob said and use sections of conduit to try and break through.

Problem is it's a steel roof and it's raining today. It can't be raining, windy, snowing or you will be free falling 30 feet to mother earth. And ironically that isn't on my Bucket List.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

Ayuh,... A Trick I learned this winter,...

Toss a Tater into the fire, Weekly...
Something in the Tater causes the hard googy creosote to turn into a dry flakey substance...
It'll literally fall off the pipe, 'n either go up the pipe, or fall back into the firebox...

I heard an aluminum can, or tinfoil works too, but I had the best luck with Taters...

 

[2000silvers2k]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

I must ask, what is a tater? all i can think of is tater-tots and im wondering why that would help keep creosote of the walls of the chimney.

Ayuh,... A Trick I learned this winter,...

Toss a Tater into the fire, Weekly...
Something in the Tater causes the hard googy creosote to turn into a dry flakey substance...
It'll literally fall off the pipe, 'n either go up the pipe, or fall back into the firebox...

I heard an aluminum can, or tinfoil works too, but I had the best luck with Taters...

 

[aspeck]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

I must ask, what is a tater? all i can think of is tater-tots and im wondering why that would help keep creosote of the walls of the chimney.

A potato.

Never heard of using a tater .... hmmm, might have to do some research there ...

 

[beagleboy]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

The potatoe trick actually works but I was told actually use potatoe skins and not the whole potatoe. An old timer in the stove building business told me about this. Apparentlly it's the starch that reacts with the creosote.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

Aaaaauuuuuu, come on Bondo, a tato! You have to be making that up! You are just trying to see if he'll actually do it huh?



Why am I all of a sudden hungry for tater tots?

Uh, pass the ketchup



I might pony up for a pro to come over and give it a good, through cleaning. Piece of mind you know. After that, take up the annual maintenance (or more often if it's needed on your setup).

I didn't see when the last time was that you cleaned it. What might be your regular cleaning schedule, eh?

Cheers!

 

[mxfever]

Re: Need some advise from the wood burners

We got it! We used 2, 10 foot sticks of black pipe and a floor scraper clamped to the end. It had enough weight plus some push we broke through the blockage. Once the large chunks were out we used the brush and filled a 5 gallon bucket 3 1/2 times of nasty-ness. Thanks Bob for the tip!

Thanks for the tip Bond-o. Told my pops to stock up on taters!