After I think it has been 3 burning seasons since I last looked at the chimney, I decided it was time to give it a cleaning. Took the cap off and gave a look and it was absolutely pristine. Well, there was a mud dauber nest in there. Cleaned the gutters while I was on the roof. Here's what I got when cleaning. Some of it is residual ash in the firebox. At least I got the mud dauber nest out. A good bit of what I burn is pine. So much for the "pine=creosote" argument.
3 seasons with Pine? You're doing it all wrong. Where's the gooey sticky black creosote build up? Pine can't burn clean like that. I suppose next you'll tell us your house didn't burn down. Oh wait........ Nice job, bert the turtle .
Great job burning. That is clean. I took this picture Oct '18 when I had the tubes and baffle board out. 4 yrs burn on it, not been cleaned.
Looking good, T Jeff! I’m starting to think the recommendation to clean yearly is based on old tech stoves, poor burning practices, and/or the self interest of the chimney sweep industry. That said, it is probably worth taking a look to make sure there isn’t a birds nest plugging up the works
I needed to replace a baffle in my stove which meant unhook from pipe pull it forward and disassemble. Might as well clean it while I’m at it. No creosote whatsoever. Just white/grey ash. There was some ash buildup (3/4”) in the first and only elbow which was probably choking it down a little bit. That was 3 years of burning! It does seem to be burning and drawing a little better. So I think my plan going forward will be to run my phone down it annually taking a video for inspection and plan on sweeping every other year. Unless video suggests something else. Burn good dry wood & get the stack good and hot from time to time and all will be well
Every year I burn more pine and every year my chimney is ever cleaner. Correlation doesn't equal causation so we'll at least inspect the flue every Fall . I like to take a pic with my phone. So when asked if I got my flu shot I can say yes, yes I did.
Some good points made here. I have gone two years between cleanings with no ill effects. I haven’t cleaned it yet since last winter. Maybe I won’t. I think most of us here are burning nice dry wood, so maybe as others have pointed out, the yearly cleanings are not as necessary. But they certainly don’t hurt. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think the bad reputation of pine cones from the fact that it dries fast. Guy cuts his wood in September and starts burning in October. Smolders oak until the end of April, puts in a load of pine. By then the pine is dry enough, he gets the first hot fire of the year, and sets fire to his chimney. “damm pine burned my house down.” No. Bad burning practices burned your house down.
I think the reputation come from both wood and bad burning practice rather than that it dries fast. It burns fast! Another member has posted on here about burning pine right after cutting it and how he gets big fires and lots of popping. Well, imagine burning all wood like he does pine. For sure creosote will form. Then throw in some green pine and it flames up big time and the chimney gets really hot fast. Ignition and blast off! Most on this forum now have good burning practices and make sure their wood is dry before burning. That makes me think this forum has done the right thing by helping so many people. For sure we can't get to everyone because everyone won't listen or learn; they've done it so long and say they've never had a problem. Okay. Let those alone but have good burning practices yourself. A clean chimney really tells a good story.
The real eye opener on burning pine is when you talk to someone from Northern Territories or Northwest regions where there isn't much else except pines/conifers. For many, that's all they've ever burned and then they here this thing about "you're not supposed to burn conifers" and they look at you like you must be mad. I've heard from someone in the Pacific Northwest that sawdust stoves were once common, using the "waste" from the mills. At least before they came up with particle board. That sounded as strange to me as my talking about coal fired stove did to them.
When campinspecter was a boy growing up on the BC coast in a small sawmill town, everyone had sawdust burners for cooking on and heating the house. On the side of the house was a roofed section with bins that held the sawdust. Again, the drier the sawdust was, the easier and cleaner it was to burn.
Exactly. We touch close to -40c/-40f in my region and most people burn spruce, lodgepole pine, doug fir and larch and our houses are toasty! There isnt much native hardwoods here aside from aspen and birch.
