So I’ve been burning since early November, about 2-3x a week for 2.5-4hrs at a time. Wood is very dry, no hissing, burns quick, minimal smoke in the fireplace, and there’s virtually no smoke that exits the chimney, really just a heatwave. I start my fires with those little nuggets; one log front and rear, three diagonal over that, and then two straight on top.
Since it’s my first season burning in this fireplace, I’ve been monitoring my smoke shelf/chamber/flue tiles quite regularly just to get an idea of how things are going, and to adjust the way I manage my fires if needed. I’ve noticed that I’m getting some (very minimal) hard creosote deposits on the corners of the shelf/chamber, while the rest seems to just be fine soot. It’s gotten worse after each couple of fires, so I want to get ahead of it and adjust my habits if necessary. Is cool smoke just swirling around in those corners? Indicative of a cooler fires? The brick here is showing it’s red only because I got in there with a brush just because 😃
Thanks!
![Creosote building up in bottom corners of smoke shelf Creosote building up in bottom corners of smoke shelf](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/290/290219-c52e3df8cbe77e5e95a09d3dd674990b.jpg)
Since it’s my first season burning in this fireplace, I’ve been monitoring my smoke shelf/chamber/flue tiles quite regularly just to get an idea of how things are going, and to adjust the way I manage my fires if needed. I’ve noticed that I’m getting some (very minimal) hard creosote deposits on the corners of the shelf/chamber, while the rest seems to just be fine soot. It’s gotten worse after each couple of fires, so I want to get ahead of it and adjust my habits if necessary. Is cool smoke just swirling around in those corners? Indicative of a cooler fires? The brick here is showing it’s red only because I got in there with a brush just because 😃
Thanks!
![Creosote building up in bottom corners of smoke shelf Creosote building up in bottom corners of smoke shelf](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/290/290217-87994d34cc8b7ed327eb53f0bb3f8f3d.jpg)
![Creosote building up in bottom corners of smoke shelf Creosote building up in bottom corners of smoke shelf](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/290/290218-38d2a81c85ea6af05d5c641ad4ba1ae3.jpg)
![Creosote building up in bottom corners of smoke shelf Creosote building up in bottom corners of smoke shelf](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/290/290219-c52e3df8cbe77e5e95a09d3dd674990b.jpg)