# Clean your pipes



## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

I have had houses with a fire place. I burned wood more for the ambiance, than for heat.

This is my first house with a wood stove. I put it in. I burn a lot of wood, and use it to help heat the house on cold days (less than 40 F).

We put the stove in when my wife redid the house. This is our 4th winter.

A bird built a nest in cap on top of the stove pipe. I thought it would burn out, and I guess it did, mostly.

After a month or two the stove did not vent very well. It had always drawn very well.

I had a chimney sweep come out and clean it yesterday. I have never cleaned a chimney before.

It is drawing great now. *The chimney sweep explained the fire hazard of not cleaning the chimney.* I always thought as long as you burned the right wood you really did not need to worry about. I was wrong. I was ignorant.

Consider this a public service announcement. Maybe I am the only one that did not know.

PS - The chimney sweeps name was Darryl Pipe.


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## robin416 (Dec 29, 2019)

Even though I had a metal roof I still had my chimney cleaned on a regular basis for my wood stove. I was just too paranoid of creating a problem where one didn't need to exist by not doing that maintenance. 

Well at least his last name wasn't chimney.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

I did find out my stove has fiber blankets inside that prevent sparks from escaping the stove.


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## robin416 (Dec 29, 2019)

I wish I had the room in this house for a small wood stove. I took out the fireplace because it overwhelmed the small living room. Plus whoever had it before me took the chimney out so it was useless anyway.


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## In The Woods (Apr 27, 2017)

I’ve been using wood stoves all my life. It’s a normal maintenance item for me to clean my chimney annually just before the heating season. I live in the middle of a huge hardwood forest so have plenty of great firewood around like oak, hard maple, cherry, etc.

You are correct in burning proper seasoned wood is important. However you can still get creosote build up. Many factors involved. The main thing other than the type of wood is running the wood stove too slowly or without enough air intake. What happens is the chimney will get cold part way up - any wood smoke will turn to creosote when it cools. Newer more efficient or “tight” stoves can have this happen easily.

I’m lucky that my wood stove chimney is easily accessible even without a ladder. I use an old feed sack with a piece of firewood inside that is a little smaller in diameter than the chimney. Tied to a rope I simply let it down a few feet - pull and and down a few times - lower a little and repeat.

This is a rural area - not that many houses and not that many house fires. But the fires you do see are caused by a chimney fire most of the time.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

My grandparents never cleaned their chimney. I can't remember how many chimney fires they had. There were several chimneys so Grandpa would just move the stove to another chimney. The last fire almost burned the house down, it spread into ceiling joists in the attic. Apparently the brick and mortar chimney had cracks which the fire spread through. Thankfully they stopped using the wood stove after that. We bought a brush and clean the chimney if we use the wood stove a lot. 

Chimney caps are wonderful. No animals getting in, no rain getting in, hopefully no sparks escaping.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)




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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

HDRider said:


> I always thought as long as you burned the right wood you really did not need to worry about.


It's more about flue temperatures than wood type.

If you can keep the flue above about 250° the creosote will exit in the gases rather than condense on the inside walls. 

Smaller, hotter fires can help lessen the build-up


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## CKelly78z (Jul 16, 2017)

Even with a chimney cap on the top of my pipe, birds still find their way in. Every Summer, I hear a couple of birds that get into my woodstove. I tried to build a tight cage around my cap, but it clogged up with black drippy cresote, and diminished the draw to the point of back puffing smoke into the house. My advise...clean the chimney, stove, and cap right before you start burning in the fall, and then again about New years.


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