Spring Has Sprung

[begreen]

OOF! ...."creosote from behind the brick"...is that common? It hadn't occurred to me to look for
anything like that...but I will now!!
I used to have the local chimney guys come and
clean our chimney and I watched how they did it; until I realized that they never even opened the fire box.
I 'thought' we were paying for them to also check the bricks, seals and the flue.

**that being said, since they didn't 'inspect' anything, I decided to just do it all myself and
save $245. 🤷‍♀️

There is the potential for this to happen in a non-cat stove if the fire is always low temp and smoldering, but that also has consequence of a very dirty flue and a lot of unburned smoke going up it. Modern stoves are designed to try and prevent this though burning poorly seasoned wood can circumvent design.

It's not that common except in stoves that allow the fire to smolder by relying the cat to clean up the smoke before it enters the flue. If the stove is commonly run low and slow, without a frequent hot burn, then creosote can accumulate behind the firebrick. Failure to clean this build up can eat away at the stove metal over time due to creosote's corrosive nature.

 

[stoveliker]

It's not that common except in stoves that allow the fire to smolder by relying the cat to clean up the smoke before it enters the flue. If the stove is commonly run low and slow, without a frequent hot burn, then creosote can accumulate behind the firebrick. Failure to clean this build up can eat away at the stove metal over time due to creosote's corrosive nature.

At least in my case I don't get build up behind the bricks; I think there is not enough air flow going there to route smoke there. In my stove. Construction issue.

When I brush behind the metal wall shields above the bricks, flakes fall down in the gap between the brick and the wall.

 

[begreen]

At least in my case I don't get build up behind the bricks; I think there is not enough air flow going there to route smoke there. In my stove. Construction issue.

When I brush behind the metal wall shields above the bricks, flakes fall down in the gap between the brick and the wall.

It could be that your burning habits are better than some. Allowing the firebox to get hot regularly is recommended for BK stoves. Or perhaps, over the years the stove has received better maintenance than some.

 

[beefhoof]

Should be wrap for me,looks like spring has sprung.Wood sheds are full, and so is the woodyard.2 or 3 yrs. wood in the yard.May have to replace a couple of firebrick in each stove.I get carried away with the shovel cleaning ash while stove is hot.Not bad after 20 yrs. burning about a logging truckload per year.