As the title says. I normally cleaned my flue half way through the season the last couple years. Last year, I let it go all season. I just cleaned it today. Even when I cleaned at the half way point, I never had any bad indications. That is what led to going the entire year without checking. If it's your first year burning? I'd advise to check every month or so. Better safe than sorry. And for those that are debating double wall vs single inside your home? I had one small dirty spot in my vertical section off the stove? When I looked on the outside of it, I had hung a magnetic thermo there and messed up on my first hole (they wanted a wire wrapped and screwed). So I had drilled 2 small holes. They are now unused, but cold air is present and a dark spot is very visible in that area. I feel as if all my flue inside was single wall? It would all be darker colored ash. Just due to the lower flue temps. Keep your flue gases hot and burn seasoned wood! This is looking down from my roof in my Class A This is the vertical piece off the stove. This is what I got in the bowl (less than a quart). And here is the vertical piece off the stove and the dark spot (and the 2 small holes I drilled 3 years ago). I never noticed this until tonight.
Nice. Last time I checked, the flue was clean enough to leave alone. I'll be checking again soon now that things are starting to get chilly, but I doubt I'll find much. The 30 just flat out burns clean. Helps to have dry wood too, of course.
Dry wood helps a lot. My 1st year I started with decent wood, but it was not as clean. Over the last 3 years, I have definitely acquired good technique and good wood! . This is just a testament that 3 yr old wood is best Stay ahead on your supply folks. It's easier to burn good wood and not have to worry about your family/home.
Nice . It sure makes life easy when the wood is nice and dry. I have a habit of running the brush thru every month of burning season.
Great topic for newbies AND guys like me that made a stove change this year. In the years past I knew in time how my Oslo burned and had a good idea what to expect when pipe inspection time came. But now there's a new stove on the hearth and even though it burns cleaner than the Oslo it also has cooler flue temps. So, the new IS will get frequent flue pipe checks this season until I know how the pipe looks with the way this stove burns. Good read DexterDay !
Great for a whole year Dexter. You are very correct with new burners to check monthly. Don't go a whole year until you are 100% certain you can. Even at our place where we've cleaned twice with 7 years burning. The chimney still gets checked on a regular basis. One bad trip some will make is they will have excellent wood for a year or maybe two and base their cleaning on that. Then they suddenly burn some wood that is not quite up to par. In this case, it will definitely pay to be checking and don't base it on what it did burning excellent wood. Even the weather will have a bearing on it. For example, in a winter like last year, it was colder so stoves burned hotter which helps to keep things cleaner.
Yep. I was out of town for most of the week, and my wife ran the stove in my absence. I checked the cap today and there was a little crunchy stuff up there. Now that I'm back at the helm, I'll run it for a few more days and check it again with brush in hand. Might just brush it and be done for a good couple months or more (although I'll still check).
