New to the world of wood...creosote question

[Swedishchef]

Hey Guys

First I must say that I absolutely love this site.

I recently built a home and installed a wood stove in my basement. The wood stove is to be used as primary/secondary heat (depending on if I am home, etc).

Looking for a good bang for my buck, I purchased an Osburn 2300. It has a bypass damper which prevents smoke roll out while re-loading, nice big glass door and a built in blower. I used double wall stove pipes with 2 X45 elbows then my 2100 degree outdoor chimney.

Here's my question: I use mostly hardwood (80% of the wood I burn is hardwood). The wood is seasoned (split on the ends, seems dry) I usually light the fire, let me fire get hot (500-600 degrees F in the flue) then close it up and let the secondary do it's thing. It normally burns at 350-400 degrees in the flue.

How bad could my creosote build up be? My installed (certified) told me not to worry until next fall. One full season without a clean. I am not certain how comfortable I feel with that idea and simply wanted some other advice.

Thanks in advance, it's much appreciated.

A.

 

[wendell]

Probably for your piece of mind and to make sure your wood is as good as you think, I would clean your chimney now and see what you get out of it.

 

[BrowningBAR]

There is a big difference between "seems dry" and "is dry". If you have access to your roof/chimney/stove pipe I would inspect it a few times during the winter to be sure you don't have a lot of build up. You're up in Canada and I have to assume you are burning quite a lot of wood. Better safe and a chimney fire.

 

[Swedishchef]

Hrm. I suppose I should get it looked at in order to settle my conscience.

I do live in Canada, however, I dont find that I am burning that much wood.
I should go through approximately 2.5 cord of hardwood and 3/4 a cord of softwood (1 cord being 128 cubic feet, 4X4X8)


A

 

[wood spliter]

I have burned a little over a cord. Reading everything I think I will check on the next nice day. All the wood was not 100% dry.

 

[Joey]

Also,,,watch your stack coming out of the house, it will tell you a lot of things. Black isnt good, white, most likely is steam, you wanna see nice clear radiant heat waves coming out of your stack when the stove it up to temp.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I always recommend new wood burners check their chimney monthly and clean as necessary. The first 2 years are critical to get wood burners off to a good start and during that time, typically 99% will burn wood they think is okay or some wood seller told them or some old man who used to burn wood, etc. Well, this old man says to never burn wood before it's time and then get to know your wood. Every type of wood does not season at the same rate. Some wood may be ready to burn after only 6 months; most need a year or two and some need more than 2 years. It is all a part of education of woodburning; learn the fuel, learn the stove; learn the chimney; learn the cleaning, etc.

 

[wood spliter]

I have white smoke when I re start in the morning. Otherwise pretty much heat coming out of the stack. I guess I'm not to bad.

 

[Swedishchef]

Hey

Thanks for the replies.

I am not totally new to wood, I have simply never burned it myself. I have lots of friends who work in the wood industry and burn wood.

Being my first year with a stove, I purchased wood from a guy 3.5 hours from here. His wood is always seasoned one year ahead of it's sale. I bought a mix of hardwood (sugar maple, yellow birch, white birch and tamrarack) and had 1 cord of softwood (spruce). I had to pay dearly for it, I paid $300 a cord and needed to buy 3.3 cords!! $1000. However, heating the basement of a new home, I have gotten my money worth.

I have already cut my wood for next winter and will more than likely have some left over after this winter, therefore having enough for the next 2 winters. I love cutting wood..it's money in the bank! If I end up not using it, I can always sell it! I have lots of wood on my land (approximately 35 cord/acre) but it's all softwood.

Time to call a chimney sweep. Just to make sure.

Andrew

 

[firefighterjake]

I agree with Dennis . . . well except for his belief that splitting vertically is easier than splitting horizontally.

Checking and cleaning every month is a good habit to get into . . . especially for the first year. As for me, I check and clean monthly regardless . . . but then again it's easy for me to do, takes 10 minutes and gives me some peace of mind . . . plus it would be very embarassing to have Bangor FD's Public Education Officer have a chimney fire.

 

[polaris]

Generally speaking the last ft. or two is where the most build up would be. If your cap is clean and you are burning hot I would not be overly concerned. In fact I clean mine once a year but in reality it does not need it. Just keep an eye on it and I bet you will be fine. My guess wold be that the vast majority of all wood burners only sweep once a year(if that).
Joe

 

[Swedishchef]

Thanks for the tips guys.
I will be getting my chimney cleaned (and stove pipes). I gotta get myself a brush!
Now I just gotta play with my stove and get some nice secondaries going..

Andrew

 

[wood spliter]

I went on the roof this weekend and my flu cap was black. I guess I better go out and get a brush.