Over the weekend, Landlady asked me to inspect the stovepipe in the Meadow House. “Because, God help us, you’re the local expert.” So we took it apart, and it was…clean. Absolutely clean.
Granted that she doesn’t use it that much. But still – we installed it a year ago, and the pipe is completely free of soot. Sunday evening I brought my pipe thermometer over, and her collar temperature routinely runs between 400 and 500 degrees. And the pipe is clean.
I’ve been working on getting over my chimney fire phobia, which I too well know is leading me directly to another chimney fire. I can watch the pipe temp get up in the 300-350 range without reaching for the nitroglycerin pills too convulsively. But here, unless the outdoor temps are very cold, I run into an unanticipated problem: It’s only a 200 square foot cabin, and the stove is capable of driving me right out of it. I like winter indoor temps in the high sixties or very low seventies, because otherwise I’m constantly putting on or taking off clothing. Heat the stove where it really belongs, and the cabin becomes like unto a sauna.
So I’ve pretty much resolved that I just need to clean the damned thing often. Fortunately, my pipe is designed for pretty easy disassembly. I did it this morning right after shit-shoveling, and the whole project didn’t take half an hour. Floor needed sweeping under the wood pile anyway.
And of course every time I do it, I get this weird Dick Van Dyke song in my head…
Joel, I haven’t been able to access the site since Friday the 21st. I keep getting the IE cannot connect to this site: diagnose connection problems BS. But like last time, if I click through from Claire’s post (not her sidebar, it doesn’t work either), I can navigate through. But, if I hit the HOME tab to get to the latest entry I get the error message again. Very annoying.
Sorry if this is a bit long, but I don’t have another way to contact you. It may just be my computer, but yours is the only blog I have trouble with, and I don’t know computers well enough to figure it out. Since I read Claire every day, I’ll continue to go through her post to get to you.
Sorry about that, Don. We’ve been having various troubles both here and at Forgotten Weapons, and it’s been going on for weeks. The provider assures us that there is no problem, so I can’t make promises as to when it’ll be fixed.
Fire that critter up good & hot and crack a window if you need to.
Well, LJH, that works fine if you don’t have to buy… or work too hard… to get your firewood. I have a similar problem. If I run my stove at full tilt all day to keep the pipe temp where it is supposed to be, I use up my expensive firewood too fast, and I have to run around naked…
Talk about indecent exposure!
Our shop wood burner generates aboul 1/2 the soot and debris in the exhaust when it is set to run wide open, and allowed to get very hot. The heat fully burns yhe exhaust products and leaves nothing left to stick
My problem comes from the top flue, especially when the temp drops below freezing. The creosote builds up, slowing down the flow which causes it build up lower down over time. Even running wide open in the morning isn’t enough to clear the blockage up top. Luckily, like your setup, mine is able to be pulled apart quickly and cleaned out. Takes about 15 minutes. Gives me a chance to clean up everything and start the whole process over again.
I’ve also noticed a surprising build-up at the top of the pipe. Down below it’s fine soot, but up above the roof it’s flakes of stuff stuck to the sides.
Dude those of us that used to heat with wood (aka the survivires) been tellin’ ya, fire that sucker up and let ‘er glow! Less work that way.
About the video. Have I had a stroke and fried my Wernicke’s center, or is that video not precisely how I so fondly remember it?
ohgawds, Joel, now you’ve got a earworm in my head!!!! (grins) Been thinking about ya a lot lately as I’ve been going through some hectic eyestrain (for some ungodly reason) which results in migraines… and even more so, with looking after wrm’s lot, which includes a black (male) kitten with the same spunk and attitude as Zoe lol. I enjoyed the last FW clip, which you get to have some fun, and while I ain’t a rifle-girl, I certainly can appreciate the last few seconds of it (chuckle).
I know I don’t comment often on your blog, but I read it every day as part of my waking-up-ritual of tea, oats, meds, plus internet. (which includes gmail, facebook, and my local news site). To this end, I want to wish you all the best for this upcoming year – plenty new toys to play with on the range, may your stump ache less, and may your eyes be quickly and easily fixed.
Best wishes,
Chocs.
What would cause problems if you did let it rip with a chimney fire?
Putting a chunk of old tyre or similar on the fire when its raining heavily or you’ve got a covering of snow to keep any flammable things outside protected is a good lazy way of getting a spotless chimney. That and sooty snow melts faster.
The old cottage I’m in got “modernized” (some one blocked up all the fire places) in the 1980s, I’ve been planning on digging through the bedroom wall to see if the chimney (a hole left between the crappy sandstone the place is built from) is still open. Old Jackdaw nests burn well with a bit of kerosene.
Having a bedroom here that gets above 5 degrees c in the winter would be a big improvement.
It’s a little-known fact that Van Dyke always sang his Disney songs in the original Russian. Later they were dubbed into English, which explains the horrible English accent.
Creosote is the cause of chimney fires. Creosote comes by burning wood that has not had time to “cure”. Cured wood is firewood that has sat around for a year or two.
Joel: Your enlightening explanation of the video is one of the reasons I come here. Note to self: I obviously didn’t proofread my previous post and the order is first type, then gin ‘n tonic.