Thank you I am a wood addict and proud of it. I'll post some pics of my small pile in the proper place in the near future.
I just ordered the AT210-combo from auber instruments with the 4 inch probe A little bit expensive but should be worthed, I hope anyway ... and it should be more accurate than the spring probe that I currently have going to look for a better heat shield too, the one that I have doesn't go high enough and maybe better double wall pipe with 2 x 45 degree instead of 1 x 90 my stove is non-catalytic, so the fire always die after 2-3h if I don't feed it constantly, maybe I should also look into this but that is a little bit more expensive and maybe a project for next year
I don't have the experience that many of these guys have, but I do get more creosote than most say they get. From my experience, that is a little heavy, but not too far out of line. Better (dry) wood will help, and don't close the vent at night. I think you can get it down to half that amount, and I would be comfortable with that.
Welcome to the forum In the Pines If you burn the right fuel you no longer would have to use any of the anti-creosote products. You'll read much on this forum about the 3 year plan and hopefully you'll join right in. Here is some reading for you too: Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage You can download it or just view it online.
Having my chimney stack swept on Thursday. I'm very interested in seeing how much falls out. About 15ft stack, straight - no elbows
It's more a peace of mind, added safety measure, most of what I burn is from 3 years or older split and stacked and covered properly. (for the most part) I learned my lesson the hard way about what "seasoned" means to the local sellers my first year. I stopped buying it than and started processing my own after that first winter and getting really frustrated with what I bought. Bought a moisture meter to get a feel of what I had bought and seldom use it anymore. I most likely don't need it and I surely don't use it every day, it's more like once a week or two.
If I might say, you sound like a very wise man. Of course, that is much different than a wise guy... fwiw, I have never owned a MM but we also have plenty of wood stacked and ready to go.
Great thread for comparisons! Never owned a MM either. I have used a Buck 91 cat stove for over 12 years, up a 14’ stack, and always close the dampers before I go to work in the morning. The windows & door stay black because of this...but proper burning over the weekend helps clean it off. Mostly seasoned oak & some tramp hackberry. I get about a quarter of a feed bucket full from the stack & the cat chamber, cleaning twice a year. Only pull the cat every-other cleaning time, and it’s on its third new cat this 2018 season. That seems like a lot of creosote, and the even the chimney cap screen has some build up.
Thank you; sometimes I can be, other times not so much. Little behind the curve this year due to the weather. I originally bought the Moisture meter because I was still buying wood, so I wanted to have it so I could split the split wood delivered and see how bad the seller was gouging me on price. It's nice to have though. I can test out if that oak is cured yet or needs another year. I believe in stacking the wood into the wind and leaving plenty of gaps for a mouse to easily run thru but not the cat.
Chimney swept, very pleased. About 1.5 measuring cups of creosote inside the stove, after being swept. Just inside the top cap, the guy said there was a thickness of about 3 sheets of paper thick. I think with a new cat, and burning more seasoned wood, there should be even less this time next year. Good to go when Mother Nature says it's go time.
I moved wood into the house, last year wood (had about 25-30% last May of moisture) seem to be down to 12-17% nice summer it seem for it half of a face cord, for now I also put a whole face cord freshly cut from last May in the basement, not ready yet but now it should dry "faster" than being outside and it is close to the stove with small fan 24/7 on them. I hope it would be ready by December / January, I really hope. Some of it is close to 20% and other to 30% and I got one about 35%, when I tested a few. (cut in half and I tested the middle) Worst case, I have enough seasoned wood this time outside to go at least up to Feb/March easily, based on my last year wood, but I don't have enough for the whole winter, this is why I put that face cord in the basement. If we have a winter like last one, I expect to burn about another 2 cord and I can't wait to compare because this time, I should only have wood under 20% and next year I will have wood that are already cut (from last may) so I should not have any issue having seasoned wood, they have another 12+ months to dry. slowly getting there best I can do I think is maybe a two years plan, for now.
Not to worry Spirch I joined here less than a year ago, and prior to joining, I always CSS my wood in the last week of August, for that winters burning. Last year I didn't have enough to get through winter/spring, but fortunate enough to know someone who has lots of good seasoned wood that he will sell. So, we purchased enough for last year (spring) and enough for this coming winter, and I have CSS another years worth (currently sitting on 6 cord). So we are officially 2 years ahead at the moment, and I intend to keep chipping away until we hit the 3-4 year mark.
I just made my first fire, even if it's 70f in the basement I wanted to test the auber intrument that I got (new toy ) with the 4 inch probe so far between the previous probe and that one, there is about 100f difference showing, old one is about +100), could this be one of the buildup cause? (with the high moisture in the wood itself) I will check both probe a lot for the first few fire
We've used it since day one too, since it works we've kept using it. Every stove and the setup are different which is another good reason to go by results and not what other people think.
i was expecting a better/cleaner burn / less creosote since i had made sure to have higher burn and dryer wood last winter. I got a shock when I did the cleaning ... here the inside of the pipe. if you look at earlier picture, this is the 90 degree section / vertical pipe that come directly out of the stove. so when i finished cleaning everything i compared to the previous winter, i had maybe 5-10% less creosote but most of it inside the house instead of the outside chimney. (i had a fan blowing in the stove direction, maybe this didnt help) this winter i'm trying something else, i changed the inside pipes i'm going with 2x 45 with "real" full double wall, if you look at earlier picture you can see that the previous pipe had hole in each extremity of the each section. if next summer when i clean it it look the same or uglier, i might simply change the damm stove and get a newer one, professionally installed. this stove was installed by the previous home owner, I don't know it history.
