I pulled my pipe off today...pics attached

[drewboy]

I was up on my roof today and decided to pull my cap again and see what my chimney looked like.
I was just up there a couple of weeks ago and decided to wait on a cleaning as it looked fairly good...
but since then I started burning a lot more of my Ash tree that I took down in Aug. It was split and stacked
in a windy, sunny area of my yard and it burns better than some of the 2 year old wood that I've been using
this season. It lights up like a mofo when I throw it in the stove but... I don't have a moisture meter and won't
be getting one soon as I am temp. laid off right now.
Anyways, the flue has a black sheen starting to develop - not the dry creosote that I usually see - the shiny
stuff - although there is no "buildup" - just a super thin layer on some parts of the flue. I will take pics of the
flue tommorow but it concerned me enough to pull the pipe and check it out.

What do you wood burning professionals think of the pipe pics?? Concerned for my well being??
Should I try to put off burning the Ash?? I was planning to really get into that pile for January...
BTW, I try to keep my flue temps in the 550 - 600 degree range.

Rob

 

[Valhalla]

Congrats on your mid-winter chimney cleaning. It is on my to do list for next weekend.

I clean mid-winter and late spring of every year.

Well done.

 

[Highbeam]

Is your connector pipe installed backwards with the male end on the stove side of each joint?

Good to brush it, you've got it apart. The black shiny stuff worries me much more than the light fluffy stuff but you've got a decent accumulation there near the stove. Looks more like fly ash.

 

[drewboy]

Is your connector pipe installed backwards with the male end on the stove side of each joint?

Ha - I thought I might get away with that one but you have sharp eyes Highbeam - yes the pipe was installed by step dad last season long before I found Hearth.com

It doesn't seem to be a problem with my install and I'll probably be in the market for a new pipe / liner set-up in the next couple years.

Can't get away with anything around you guys ;-)

 

[Hogwildz]

I love the newspaper scattered about to catch any crud, something I might have done at one time. LOL
Next time try an old sheet, just make sure its old & the ol lady don't know.

 

[ramack]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread...

I have a TimberWolf that I installed over the summer. It's been cold enough here (Denver, CO area) that I've been burning for up to two weeks duration without cold starting. My guess is I have a total of 120-150 hrs total burn time. I'm burning ponderosa pine that has been seasoned about 6 months. I pulled off my double wall stove pipe to make an adjustment yesterday and expected to see very little build up inside the pipe. Instead I had what I think is too much, similar to the pictures in the initial post. However the build up is black not the light brown/grey and is more dense over the length of the pipe. It's not a black crust, but fluff.

My guess is that:
1- I'm not burning hot enough.
2- This is because of pine.
3- The pine is not fully seasoned.
4- All of the above.
Any input is welcome.

Today I'll climb up, pop the cap and look down the chimney pipe

 

[begreen]

My first guess would be a combo of 1 and maybe 3. What temps are you running the stove at? Pine burns fine when it is dry. Where was the buildup? Outdoors near the top of the flue or in the connector pipe?

 

[ramack]

I don't have a stove pipe thermometer, but I placed a thermocouple on the top of the stove near where the stove pipe connects to the stove. It read only 320F for how I had been burning.

The build up is in the section of double wall stove pipe between the stove and the chimney pipe. The total stove pipe length is about 4.5 feet. About 30 inches of telescoping pipe directly out of the top of the stove, into a 90 deg. elbow, into a Tee, then the top of the Tee is attached to my ceiling support. Then about 18 feet of 103HT chimney pipe straight up and out to 2.5 feet about my roof line. I meant to check the build up in the chimney pipe before I put everything back together, but forgot. The next time it cools down, I'll get on the roof and check it from the top down.

This morning I've been running a hotter fire, but not crazy stupid hot to keep from creating a chimney fire. The same spot now measures 450F. It just seems like an encredible amount of soot/creosote build up for a relatively short amount of time.

The wood "looks" like it's dry enough and the climate here is very low humity, so it seasons quicker than most areas. I don't have a means for measuring the moisture content, but even a couple months ago when I split the logs, it didn't appear to be damp or moist.

Rich

 

[begreen]

Resplit a couple splits and press the freshly split surface against your cheek. If it feels cool and damp, the wood may still have some seasoning to do.

This could be just cool running. I'd clean out the pipe then try running it at 500F for awhile.

 

[ramack]

Yesterday, I bought a magnetic mechanical thermometer (for a stove), it's been indicating 450-550F. I haven't done the split test yet.

Rich

 

[ramack]

I split a chunk that had already been split in quarters. As cold as it has been lately( 17F@4:30am), I couldn't really feel any moisture relating it to dampness or cool to the touch since it's cold. I guess I could have put my tongue on it to see if it froze, ha. The wood sounds very crisp when it splits.

With the stove top thermometer, I've been maintaining a temp. of around 500F. Earlier in the week, when the stove was cool, peeked up the stove pipe from the inside of the stove and the inside diameter was much much cleaner than when I inspected it before. So my guess is that I was just not getting the stove hot enough for extended periods.

Thanks for the input!

Rich

 

[ramack]

Over the past 1-2 months, when the outdoor temps have been warm enough not to light up the stove, I have taken the time to inspect the stove pipe. Much, much cleaner and much less build up on the interior of the pipe. I have been trying to maintain 400-500F reading on the stove top thermometer, so I'm convinced that cause in my stove pipe build up was a low burn temperature for extended periods. The thermometer has been one of my better purchases!

Thanks for all of your inputs.

Rich