im a few years into my new OWB and have adopted a few cleaning procedures that seem to work for me, but was curious what others do. First, I started using a product called Soot Destroyer about once a week during the burning season. I buy it at the local farm store in small pellet form. It has helped quit a bit with creosote buildup. That, along with dry wood is a big help. At shut down last year, I crawled in the boiler and wire wheeled the entire inside. It was a NASTY job but it looked new when I was done. Since using the Soot Deatroyer this year and the firebox being cleaner than in the past, I opted not to subject myself to the task of wire wheeling the box again this year. Instead, I scraped down the walls and floor with a modified hoe that i filed to conform to my round fire box (Hawken). I then vacuumed out the remainder of any ash left behind by the shovel. So - what is your end of the burning year cleaning procedure?
I will empty everything from the OWB and return it to where it came from. Then I take a gallon of drain oil and pour it into the inside of the OWB on all the exposed metal to combat condensation during the off season. I also cover the vent due to the potential of rain falling into the stack. Sometimes I use the stainless end cap that came with the vent, sometimes I use just a 5 gal bucket upside down. That's pretty much it here.
Wasn't pleasant I can tell you that. Full nomex suit and full respirator. Threw out my shoes - they were black. I don't care to do that again.
Yooper, what do you mean by "return it to where it came from"? I guess my question really is, before you put your oil in the firebox, how clean is it? Do you just scrape off the steel or do you really spend some time and get it perfectly clean? I would assume it's not perfectly clean, maybe it is. I just don't know how crazy to get about cleaning it and want to see what others do. Thanks.
Our OWB gets wire wheeled and oiled down with a brush. Vent stack covered. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
When I say return it where it came from I am referring to the ashes. With all the people dumping their loved one's ashes in the lake I fish and swim in, I figure a few ashes from the wood stove won't hurt anything when I dump them outside! (not in lake) As far as cleaning the stove's inside, I will spent just a little time scraping down the side walls with a fire poker (more like a log mover). Of course, the bottom of the fire box is pretty clean (no buildup) and that is where the used oil collects. No, I do not get crazy about cleaning or scraping the inside of the stove. I first bought an OWB in early 90's (as did my bro) and it had a 15 year warranty on it. My first OWB stayed at the house I used to live in before the warranty had expired. My brothers (same size) OWB was identical and also came with the 15 year on it. I think it was right about 20 years that he had to replace it. We now each have one with a new 25 year warranty on them. Only reason I'm telling you this is because this is the only off season maintenance I have ever done on the stoves...it seems to have worked quite well.
I clean the ashes out scrape the loose stuff from the sides and back, shop vac brush oil on the botttom and up the sides a ways, cover the stack with a bucket. It is a dirty job I have done yearly since 1998
Drain oil, like from a car oil change? Wrong forum but..... A couple times a year when the wind blows snow or rain sideways it drips down the chimney on the outside of the new liner, I now have orange rust on the top of the NC13i. Can I oil that too?
Something isn't connected right if your leaking rain water through the chimney onto the outside of the stove.
Ha!! Yes there is something wrong...... We have an extra 4' S/S length ontop of the chimney, I had a hard time finding a suitable chimney cap that would accommodate both the old chimney and the extra pipe, WWW "modified" the closest one to fit for both Oh, it's an insert stove in the fireplace incase I didn't mention it. Somehow during the right conditions the water gets in on the OUTSIDE of the new liner a couple times a year, of course the same times we are not running the stove and do not notice. The moisture goes through the modified chimney cap (not inside the new flex liner or into the firebox). I'd rather not steal the few spare hours he has free per week and buy a new cap, but I thought maybe some oil might help?
