Masonary Chimney Cleaning

[gpcollen1]

I have 13x13 clay lined flue in pretty darn good condition but was wondering....

In have an insert installed for a few years that just has the jumper pipe from the stove through to the flue. I clean the chimney annually and do get a bit of a pile of creosote when cleaning. Without a block off plate and the direct in to the chimney, that is expected.

As a DIYer, I am moving to make certain everything is done properly in the house while keeping the budget intact. I am installing a liner and block off plate this year. The questions is, how clean is clean as far as cleaning goes. How much glaze is acceptable to remain in the chimney? I can get every bit of loose material out of the chimney and clean it from both the top and the bottom. Basically, there is a coat of glaze that remains in the chimney. Year over year there is more or less, but it is there nonetheless. I should have burned some of the anti-creosote stuff late in the season and cleaned the chimney right after the season was over but did not (baby got in the way all spring - but loving the third girl anyway!).

Cheers,
G

 

[webbie]

It is next to impossible to get that last bit of glaze off. If it is a really thin glaze, as opposed to an actual tar coating, then I would not worry about it. Your best bet might be to get yourself an oversized chimney brush (new), along with good stiff poles, and clean the heck out of it. That might at least scratch it up a bit. I think they even sell some sort of drill attachment "weed wacker" thingy which might get some off.

There are chemical treatments, but these are expensive.

In summary, I can say that we cleaned and lined a bunch of chimneys over the years and never had a problem with the tiny bit of stuff that was baked into the tile and would not clean off. If you had a large tar accumulation, then I would suggest the chemicals.