Chimney care

[Robbyrasta]

I was asked by a customer about their chimney.

( I am not their sole supplier of logs)

 

Apparently, the sweep says there's a lot of crud coming out of their chimney every year, on the annual sweeping. The sweep then left some sort if white powered to help clean the chimney.

 

The customer asked me, if I knew any other methods of keeping it cleaner?

 

I was a little on the hop, trying to work out if I could have supplied damp load, but I am fairly certain I haven't.

I can't comment on the other supplier of logs.

So is there anything ppl can do to keep a brick open fireplace, chimney cleaner?

[ballibeg]

I think not. Even the driest logs have some moisture content and this will condense onto the cold chimney. I doubt the chimney would ever warm up enough to prevent condensation particularly near the top.

 

Sadly advice would be to burn smokeless solid fuel and not logs or install a stove and line the chimney. Liners get up to temperature quickly and prevent condensation.

 

Dave

[tcar]

The white powder is probably something like Stovax Protector

Care & Maintenance Products | Stovax & Gazco, stoves, fires and fireplaces

 

A local farmer burns nothing but damp softwood in a boiler, it used to be running with tar and the flue chocked with creosote, she started using a sachet of the this stuff once a week and the results and remarkable. No idea how or why it works but it does seem to do the business!

 

I’d be really interested to know how it works and if it has any side effects i.e is it corrosive??

 

Trevor

[ThrustSSC]

The white powder is probably something like Stovax Protector

Care & Maintenance Products | Stovax & Gazco, stoves, fires and fireplaces

 

A local farmer burns nothing but damp softwood in a boiler, it used to be running with tar and the flue chocked with creosote, she started using a sachet of the this stuff once a week and the results and remarkable. No idea how or why it works but it does seem to do the business!

 

I’d be really interested to know how it works and if it has any side effects i.e is it corrosive??

 

Trevor

 

It chemically attacks the creosote (an alkali, if I remember right, that reacts with the acids in the tar). That changes the properties of the build-up so that it simply drops away. It's not a replacement for proper sweeping, but the marketing folks will have us believe it's a useful supplement! It sounds from your report that it is indeed not 'snake oil'!

[agg221]

Burning a sack of smokeless every now and again helps. We used to have an 18" open fire with brick chimney and I burned all the bits I took out of my old boat on it, sometimes literally covered in tar and soaked in creosote. I burned wood every night, and bunged a sack of smokeless through once every six weeks or so. It burns a lot hotter and dries out the creosote before it soaks through. The sweep confirmed it was working.

 

Alec

[Alycidon]

I was asked by a customer about their chimney.

( I am not their sole supplier of logs)

 

Apparently, the sweep says there's a lot of crud coming out of their chimney every year, on the annual sweeping.

 

If the stove is run shut right down on a regular basis then the amount of soot (and tar) produced increases significantly.

 

A

[TGB]

...

If the stove is run shut right down on a regular basis then the amount of soot (and tar) produced increases significantly.

It's nice to be able to turn it down and just take the chill off the room. But if it's not running at optimum temp., there's bound to be a greater buildup of crud.

Edited April 4, 2013 by TGB

[Stu3k]

A lot of folks on american woodburning site i visit swear by once or twice a month throwing on a empty beer tin and let it decompose in a good fire , i think the science is the creosote "curing" logs they can buy are aluminium and that combines with the creosote and makes it brittle and drop off

[T14EES T14UNK]

I've heard something like that before somewhere I think... Somewhere. Can't remember when or where but might be worth a try. Can't imagine it would do any harm.