New folks and first time burners, "Please read"!

Great Post! Thanks for taking the time to alert others. Sometimes simple things we do and don't realize or think about can have ugly consequences.

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Wow Dave, just Wow.
When we moved here and I didn't know any better, we went ahead and started having fires. Unknown to us was the fact that the flue was 1/2 full (literally an 8" pipe and less than 4" not full of the stuff) of fluffy ash deposits from prior owners burning habits.
After struggling with the stove, I went up and checked. That was my "AHA" moment (among many others).

 

Blessed to have a friend like you with the knowledge to educate.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Thanks for the reminder WeldrDave! We can always learn from someone else’s scoldings to prevent having one ourselves!!! Valuable lesson and certainly not underheard.

 

I tossed a bunch of cuts of prefinished oak from a project just finished. It was hard for me not to burn it but with the finish and all I'll sleep better at night.

 

You’re likely to breathe better too. Along with the rest of us. If we knew the STAAAAAGERING figure of those who did this sort of thing and deserved more than a slap on the wrist.....I think the majority of us would just be in epic surprise. Almost makes you want to give wood to this guy so that he can understand why burning splits is better than the manufactured stuff. By Far. I hope to just know what to say when someone is burning this stuff when I see it.

 

I admit that I do hoard lumber cuts, mostly will burn these outside though with the exception of some hemlock and small DF blocks for a quicker and hotter start. But nothing like this fella. I may get my stove hot its best to just have a hotter fire than get a chimney fire going! At least you can control one of the two.

 

Yeah and I had my small share of some temps that looked too high on the IR therm. So I took action, realized it was kiln dried splits but the flame was too direct. Best to get a split on top of that and keep those torch like fires to a minimum. Just block them off.

 

I use strips of cardboard to get a fire going all the time but I don't stuff the box full of it.

I had a big chunk of square wood that was mixed in with other wood from a scrounge, 8x8 was about 16" long.
I threw it on the splitter and split it and all of a sudden I started smelling something kind of like gas, took a big whiff of the wood must have been creosote soaked.
I said no way I'm burning this in the stove, I had a bark fire going so I threw it all in there, wow those chunks took off and burned like they were soaked in gas, burning hot, black smoke coming off them.
I would hate to think what would happen if someone put 4 splits of that stuff in their stove.

 

All I can say is wow. That was a honest mistake that any number of people without a cat stove might make.
I always pull the top section of pipe off while up on the roof other wise it is to tall for me to reach. That gives me a good bird's eye view of the pipe when done cleaning.

 

I did my share of stupid stuff. No one back then that knew any better either. Wish I knew then half of what I have learned here. I swear the Lord was looking out for me much the same as He is now. I try to tell folks about this forum and how they can learn to burn correctly, burning clean and efficient.

 

This home is my first experience with stoves. Woodstove downstairs, and VC Fireplace on the first floor. I didnt burn much of anything downstairs last year, and glad I didnt. When I pulled the elbow off the thimble and looked inside a few weeks ago, I saw giant 1/4" thick 4x4" chunks of type two creosote that had broken off and fallen to the bottom. Needless to say, I skipped climbing on the roof with the brush, and I am going to have them both professionally cleaned and inspected as soon as this rain clears.