Couple of questions before I sweep my chimney

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Moranaj

Member
Oct 19, 2018
71
PA
Im waiting for the tools to sweep the chimney myself in the mail. I was going to have it professionally done but its hard for me to be home during the week when they are available. Since i know ill be doing it this week coming up and my stove is cold right now I decided to remove the baffle to see what that entailed. It was easy enough but im a little concerned with what i found.... the stove pipe past the flue damper looks fine as youd expect right above the stove. Before the damper and in the back of the actual stove before the flue i found a lot of flakey creosote that chipped right off, but it has some glazed creosote underneath it. From my last couple of posts here i know that i was doing a really bad job burning when i first got my stove and im attributing this to the poor job i was doing. However, is this common? Is this a hazard? Ive been doing a really good job of burning lately how has this not burned off? And what kind of brush can i use to remove the glazed stuff
 
soot eater for cleaning, will take care of the glaze/ flake creosote. I
 
Yes but some of it is inside my stove above the baffle. When i started out i was burning wet wood and had really low temps. I was basically a creosote factory.
 
I wouldn't worry about it inside the stove. But if it really bothers you, just reach in with a piece if kindling and see if it'll come off.
 
Yes but some of it is inside my stove above the baffle. When i started out i was burning wet wood and had really low temps. I was basically a creosote factory.
Maybe snap a few pics and post them so we have a better idea of what you need.
 
I have the stove running again so ill grab some pics tomorrow. It might make my post make some more sense
 
Couple of questions before I sweep my chimney Couple of questions before I sweep my chimney Couple of questions before I sweep my chimney Couple of questions before I sweep my chimney Couple of questions before I sweep my chimney Couple of questions before I sweep my chimney

So I swept the chimney from the top down and thats what I ended up with not including the cap which was the worst part. The buildup i was talking about in the original post is what you see in these pictures. Is that normal?
 
That looks pretty good,maybe a cup or so?
 
Yeah its far less than i thought id get but a lot of what i thought was creosote was just ash. Any ideas on that buildup inside the stove though? It is hard to get off and looks like creosote to me
 
I don't see anything alarming. What stove is this? Can you add it to your signature line in your account settings?
 
Sorry i think that youve asked me to do that about 5 times now. Its a hearthstone manchester. Im not so concerned with it in terms of a house fire..... i was just under the impression the creosote should be at or near the chimney cap and not before the flue. Im guessing its from a lot of cold starts?
 
That's a reasonable guess. Thanks for the add of the stove.
 
Looks pretty minimal to me especially if you were burning questionable wood.

Funny it seems to go either way around here. Just cleaned chimney, got 5 gallon bucket of creosote, not bad less than normal :eek:

Or I'm worried about my chimney, just got a cup of soot out of it :cool: