Cleaning stovepipe for odd wood stove

[dlundblad]

Our house came with a High Valley model 1600 wood stove. I've only ran it a few times, but want to clean it before going any further.. The stove itself has the typical brick lining the stove box, but also has 4 stainless tubes running across the top to aid in secondary combustion. It then has a high temp fiber blanket above the bricks that (per the manual) should not come out.

I am not sure how to clean this thing. Unless I am missing something, all of the creosote in the chimney would just fall onto that fiber blanket, which wouldn't be accessible unless the pipe itself is removed. On top of everything else, it also it does not have the typical ash drawer that allows for easy cleanup. I've read the manual and they basically say to hire the job done. *The stovepipe just goes straight up and through the roof. No angles.

Anyone have any suggestions?

http://www.highvalleystoves.com/stove1600.php

 

[hatt]

Hire a pro and watch him like a hawk so you know what to do next time.

 

[eljefino]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/

 

[Snagglefoot]

Also watch some chimney cleaning videos on You Tube.

 

[Kira]

A friend has a wood burning stove he cleans annually by removing the fire brick and spraying with water.
He uses two sections of rain gutter to route the slurry out the basement door. This stove dirt chokes the internal circulation of air and can really louse things up.

The fire brick then goes back into place - 8 bricks per side. There's a "smoke shelf" atop and a heat exchanger atop that.

I didn't look at the product link but the absence of an ash drawer makes me think yours is a parlor stove, not a furnace.

My friend's unit has an access port in the 10' lateral stove pipe (which goes into the vertical chimney pipe) and another for the vertical pipe itself.

He shoves a round brush through all of it using a segmented fiberglass rod made for that purpose. His roof is easily pitched for facilitated access from above.

I suggest fitting access ports (replacing sections of stove pipe with "T"s where necessary).
Get an appropriately sized flew pipe brush (stiff metal bristles) and whatever length poles to do the job.

The more seasoned your wood is, the fewer problem you'll have. I've seen masonry flues "rot through" due to creosote buildup. I've also seen chimney fires occur when the gooey black stuff (which is resistant to brushing) gets hot enough to ignite.

A full description of what you have would be necessary for us to make further judgement calls.

One thing more; if you're a real rookie at this (and it sounds like you are) remember to go clean and seasoned and DO NOT play with barometric stove dampers until you know what's going on.
Misused barometric dampers ESPECIALLY ON SMALLER UNITS cool the flue too much and aggravate creosote deposition.

Just trying to save your house here bro.

 

[doitmyself]

I find it difficult to fathom that the fiber blanket is located such that material from the chimney falls onto it. There will be debris flaking off the chimney constantly, some of it falling down into the stove. If the fiber blanket impeded this, the material would build up and create a hazard.

You need to figure out how to disconnect the thin black connector pipe (from stove to chimney) and proceed from there. The black pipe is very inexpensive if you need to replace a section. Unless you are up to doing lots of research on the net, the option of hiring a pro the first time and watching him might be a good idea.

Without being condescending, operating a wood stove is like operating a chainsaw regarding safety factors. You need to learn the underlying principles of good operation. I over-fired my first wood furnace decades ago and damaged it. I under-fired it a few times which resulted in black condensate running down the chimney/pipes and making a mess in the stove. If there was a mistake to be made, I did it! No house fires, though.

A colleague of mine had his attic start on fire 20 years after the professional installation. Supposedly they ran the double wall chimney barely touching some structural wood and over the 20 years the wood oxidized (or something) until one time it finally caught fire.

Enjoy the cozy wood fires!

 

[Snagglefoot]

I believe a helpful rule is to run the stove at 300 to 500 F. You can by a stove top thermometor to make sure you haven't dampened it down to much.

 

[andyd]

Total wild guess. Is the stove new enough to have a cat? Is the mat a cat? Does the cat get hot enough to catalyze creosote? If there is an Oil Guy Forum , is there a wood stove forum? I have less than 3 feet of 8" pipe into a 30' 9x12 masonry flue The original Defiant has a distorted and cracked baffle. Functions well enough for backup.

"A colleague of mine had his attic start on fire 20 years after the professional installation. Supposedly they ran the double wall chimney barely touching some structural wood and over the 20 years the wood oxidized (or something) until one time it finally caught fire." DIY

My son's house was lost from that exact scenario. Luckily, he was insured to the hilt.

 

[dlundblad]

Thanks for the info everyone.

 

[Mr_Joe]

I have a woodstove and clean the 8" round chimney/stovepipe myself. I go on the roof(carefully) with my 8" rodded brush, then come inside and take the piping to the stove apart. After I get all I can, I use the shop-vac on the rest in the back of my Vermont Castings stove.

Any stove will have means to clean it out, look on the net for instructions. It's not hard.