Had the sweep come out today and he did a sweep and told me that everything looked good and I must be burning some good wood. Little does he know that I had cleaned it myself back in Jan or Feb I dont remember and then burned for a couple more months. I wanted him to come out and look at it since Im new to all this and was a little unsure of my cleaning abilities. One thing that had me concerned was the chimney cap he didnt seem concerned about it but I didnt like the way it looked. It all cleaned off nicely with a brush it was just crumbly and puffy Ive attached some pics of it let me know what yall think.
Do you have a liner installed? Or is this a clay lined chimney? Either way, the cap is the coolest part and normally gets a little crud on it. The Actual flue is what matters. As long as it looked good? Your good to go. Especially if a Sweep said that. As they see some pretty scary stuff.
The chimney cap will tend to junk up the most. Inspect it now and again to be sure it is not clogging.. The more wood you collect the longer it will sit (esp oak 2+yrs) you'll find a cleaner chimney. Keep an eye on it until you know your burning habits. most important cut split and stacked 1+years in a sunny windy spot.
I do have a liner its a six inch full length stainless. He said it looked good as far down as he could see just needed a litte brushing and he wasnt worried about the crud on the cap just me. I guess Ill stop worrying about that stuff too. Thanks for the replies Ill keep an eye on it through the winter and go up and give it a brushing as needed. Oh and for what its worth this guy is a member of the National Chimney Sweep Guild so I guess that means he knows his stuff.
Not to much but I had only started burning in December so Im thinking that I didnt clean it for the first time until end of February or first part of March. I didnt get much junk out of it though but I was concerned that I hadnt done it right if thats even possible.
