My 30nc went into service this past New Years. The winter was, shall we say, memorable. Typical new stove guy, the wood supply wasn't all that great, although the MM said is was mostly in the 20's %, sometimes better. I ran around 2 cords of such wood and maybe another 2 pallets of synthetic firewood (Envi Blocks) before spring finally arrived. Then a few stretches of burning this fall, so far, with somewhat better seasoned firewood. It seemed prudent to sweep before it gets cold, so I popped off the bottom "hatch" on the Metalbestos 6" class A exterior chimney. I wasn't expecting loose material sitting on it, so lost around a double handful of "stuff" similar to the stuff in the picture below. (Probably caught half total in the bucket when sweeping). The top of that hatch was of course dirty but not gooey. It was a little tough to pry open but came out without too much trouble. It seems there must be a hand crank attachment I don't have, so I just went straight up and then pulled it straight down. My hands couldn't turn the skinny fiberglass whip sections. Oh, a 6" round brush with seven 4' "whips". The chimney is a total of 31' vertical with two 15 deg elbows to miss a window, and I should have come within 3.5 - 4' of the cap. I had the holy terrors of knocking it off so I chose to stay below the top. I still have nightmares about standing on the scaffolding up there, trying to stick together those last few, very HIGH pieces. (chimney starts it's 31' climb somewhere around 8' - 9' AGL). Oh, BTW I don't like heights. The waste was completely dry, flaky, mostly black with glittery elements in it. So I guess, what's my score? Am I burning well enough (given the newbie wood supply condition)? Did I sweep it correctly? Is the waste what I should have expected in terms of quantity and quality? Can I relax now about chimney fires until next spring? Thanks for any feedback. (For scale, the container is just a standard galvanized pail)
That's a little less than ideal, but not really too bad, and not a lot. Considering the wood, I think 'ya dun gooder. Just about the equivalent of 4 cords. There will probably still be quite a bit in those last few feet and the cap. Mine is always worse there, because the gases and particulates are much cooler by the time they get there. I think I'd consider getting another length of rod to get all the way up. You could consider a "Sooteater" too.
I think I'll be braver in the spring and go the last section. I should have done this a month ago and had some time to deal with the cap if I did manage to knock it off. Sooteater log? I did use some powdered "Rutland Creosote Remover" late last winter. A tablespoon gets tossed into a fire. I was skeptical it actually did anything but maybe it did help. Thanks for the comments. Just trying to make sure I at least approximated what I was supposed to be doing!
I agree, it's not too bad. The highest section is always the worst and the cap can get quite loaded with creosote. I would suggest getting another rod before spring. I tend to clean my chimney in the fall,then again in February or so.
Spoilsport LOL I'll give it another run then. Can I sweep a warm chimney? (Let the fire die down and then sweep?) Or do I need to go completely out...
Like WS, I like to do a sweep about middle season. We usually have a January thaw, so I do it whenever that happens. SootEater Rotary Chimney Cleaning System | Northline Express
Campinspecter bought a SootEater for Granny's chimney and does it ever work good! She has a neighbour that comes over and cleans her chimney for her every couple of months during the winter and he really likes using it. Especially as there is a couple of bends just above the furnace. Fortunately she has a flat roof so cleaning the cap is easy.
As others have said overall not to bad but the last couple of feet is quite often where the most build up is you definitely need to sweep the entire chimney. I dont clean my cap every year as I dont like heights and the way my chimney is situated I would have to climb 25' without anything to hang on to except a rickety old ladder and thats not happening. I get some binoculars and look at the cap to see how it is and when I run the brush up i make sure to tap the cap a couple times and knock off any loose stuff. Every other year I will get someone to come out and "professionally" clean the chimney and they get the cap too. As far as cleaning the chimney while its warm that depends on how warm youre talking about. If you can touch the liner barehanded with no problem then I would say go for it but be careful if your using a plastic brush or the sooteater. (I have had to buy a new brush because the liner was still to hot and I got in a hurry)
Doesn't look bad to me. My metalbestos chimney was accessible from my ceiling in the basement. I used to take the bottom of the tee off and run a brush up to the top using lengths of the pipe that I use for the snow roof rake. That got me to the top. I would pull it back down and had a clean chimney every time. Could clean my chimney any time I wanted to as long as the stove was cold. I cleaned it about three times every burning season. We burned about 5 cords each year. Back then it was wood cut the prior winter. I never knew about the three year plan until I came to FHC. . Most everything I did then was self taught. Folks are so much better off now with the advise available here.
Be careful with the creosote busting sprays and logs and what not if you have a cat stove as the chemicals will interfere with and likely mess up the catalyst. I'm not saying they don't work I've never tried them I'm just passing on information that was given to me.
For me things got put off last year as I got laid up so went the whole year plus 1/2 of the previous season without cleaning the flue of my NC30. Fuel source was dry the couple pieces I checked were 20% or less although due to lay up didn't get it under cover. At any rate finally got around to cleaning flue last Sunday along with the stove itself, top down as its only a ranch and the flue is about 4.5' high out side likely less than 20ft total.Maybe 2 cups of black dust but a lot of built up fly ash on top of the insulation boards in the stove. Couple 3#( remember those?) coffee cans of gray ash built up in various places inside stove. Secondary tubes were clean inside and no blocked orifices. So we are off to the races for this season. Supervent flue sections( i think that's the brand name) top 1/2 is triple wall, double wall inside living area to transition.
