Cleaning the chimney used to be a job I dreaded because I had to disassemble the flue discharge, rolls a 650 lb stove out of way, and then sweep the 9x9 chimney getting a shoe box or two of nasty creosote. Then I had to reassemble everything, which was not always smooth.
So one of the big draws to putting in a liner and new stove was to be able to clean the liner through a tee without moving the stove. Also, I found that I had about a cup of fine powder after a couple months of burning last winter. So I was actually looking forward to cleaning the flue. Well when I pulled down the clean-out cap, I was shocked to see it was most full and it looked like puffed creosote kernels like a chimney fire had taken place.
On closer examination, some of the kernels were slowly moving. It turns out they are "stink bugs." They are a terribly invasive pest that came over from China in some shipping materials about 10 years ago. The mid-Atlantic area now has them every where. These things are nasty. It looks like they have been living in the bottom of my tee for months, with no water. I wonder if they eat creosote. If you haven't seen these things, they unfortunately will probably be spreading their way across the country.
So one of the big draws to putting in a liner and new stove was to be able to clean the liner through a tee without moving the stove. Also, I found that I had about a cup of fine powder after a couple months of burning last winter. So I was actually looking forward to cleaning the flue. Well when I pulled down the clean-out cap, I was shocked to see it was most full and it looked like puffed creosote kernels like a chimney fire had taken place.
On closer examination, some of the kernels were slowly moving. It turns out they are "stink bugs." They are a terribly invasive pest that came over from China in some shipping materials about 10 years ago. The mid-Atlantic area now has them every where. These things are nasty. It looks like they have been living in the bottom of my tee for months, with no water. I wonder if they eat creosote. If you haven't seen these things, they unfortunately will probably be spreading their way across the country.