Need a few tips for cleaning the chimney

[teekal]

Hey, guys. I've been a homeowner with a wood stove now for two burning seasons, and before fall I'd like to do a really good job cleaning out my pipe. The person that I purchased this home from has offered to help me as well, as he has a retractable brush.

I am wondering if anyone has any advice to offer to make the job easier, as this is my first time doing it.

Is there any effective method to "prep" your pipe before you do the job? I've heard of different materials you can burn before hand to make it easier. Is this worth doing or is it a waste of time and money?

My buddy mentioned that the pipes very easily come apart at the joints, so as it stands right now, my plan is to remove the bottom two pipes to see if there is anything to clean first of all, then clean them from there if we can. I would also clean as much of the actual stove from the top down at this time as well. We would then put a bin under the opened pipe and clean as much as we could from the bottom, and then one of us would go to the roof and clean as much as we could from on top.

Let me know if anything about this plan is ridiculous or what I should do differently.

I have posted pictures of my set-up below if they help...

Thanks as always for any advice!

 

[teekal]

Here is the outside of the house.

 

[ckr74]

Do a search on chimney cleaning. There are lots of ways to do it. If that were mine, I'd do top down if you have good safe access on the roof. Just make sure the baffle is removed if you do top down. If you do it from the bottom use a trash bag to keep debris contained in the pipe. It's usually a lot more mess if the pipe is taken apart at the bottom. Sooteater is the way to go if done from the bottom.

 

[ckr74]

After seeing the second picture I don't know about top down. Looks like the roof is steep.

 

[begreen]

It's great that the previous owner offered to help with your first cleaning. If you are ok with heights I would start at the top for inspection. That is a long run of pipe. The flue gases will have cooled quite a bit which should mean more accumulation at the top, especially if the stove pipe is single-wall.

 

[teekal]

After seeing the second picture I don't know about top down. Looks like the roof is steep.

Thanks for the advice, guys!

The part of the roof that the chimney is on is a steep pitch, however you only need to walk on the very top of the roof to get to it, so it's doable. The rest of the roof is not as steep as this part is.