Wood Stove and Chimney Cleaning

[Hexa Fox]

Just cleaned out the chimney

I have been selling firewood for many years and people will wait to the last min and then get upset when they can't get what they want.
I have also had people insist on buying wood that looks freshly split and then post a bad review when I told them that wood was to green. They think they know better then the guy that has been selling wood for years. Damned if you do damned if you don't.

Exactly. This is what I am talking about. Like I said, loved my father but he would always wait until the last minute to order wood and if was here during the Winter I always let him know my complaints. There is nothing worse than burning green wood. The problem around here is I have not found a single person that delivers seasoned firewood. As I said, they split it right into the back of their truck or trailer then deliver. Most trees even sitting the ground are not seasoned unless they are split.

I am no expert but I have gotten wood where the bark is rotting off of it but you can tell it was just split and still green on the inside. I realize better than most people how much work it is to properly season firewood. If you are a business you are adding a lot of extra work. You have to split it, stack it and wait. That takes extra time, room and more work when you go to load it again. So I do understand. Everyone calls their wood seasoned. I bought a moisture meter recently and have been playing around with it.

 

[sb47]

Just cleaned out the chimney

Exactly. This is what I am talking about. Like I said, loved my father but he would always wait until the last minute to order wood and if was here during the Winter I always let him know my complaints. There is nothing worse than burning green wood. The problem around here is I have not found a single person that delivers seasoned firewood. As I said, they split it right into the back of their truck or trailer then deliver. Most trees even sitting the ground are not seasoned unless they are split.

I am no expert but I have gotten wood where the bark is rotting off of it but you can tell it was just split and still green on the inside. I realize better than most people how much work it is to properly season firewood. If you are a business you are adding a lot of extra work. You have to split it, stack it and wait. That takes extra time, room and more work when you go to load it again. So I do understand. Everyone calls their wood seasoned. I bought a moisture meter recently and have been playing around with it.

It's a little late for you because you have already bought a moisture meter but all you need to do is smack two pieces of wood together and if it's dry it will ring like a ball bat hitting a home run. If it's to wet it will have a thud sound. Dry wood will sound like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins.
Remember just whack your wood. lol

 

[hkstwn7]

Railroad ties and utility poles should never be used in a woodburning furnace. Years ago, I worked on the right of ways for Penn Central Railroad, and a few farms along the way tried using tie pieces for stove fuel. A few days later, they all told me that their stoves went cherry red and nearly burned down their houses.

 

[olyman]

Railroad ties and utility poles should never be used in a woodburning furnace. Years ago, I worked on the right of ways for Penn Central Railroad, and a few farms along the way tried using tie pieces for stove fuel. A few days later, they all told me that their stoves went cherry red and nearly burned down their houses.

ive burnt tons of railroad ties,,never had any problems..................

 

[hkstwn7]

ive burnt tons of railroad ties,,never had any problems..................

Okay,good luck.

 

[sean donato]

Railroad ties and utility poles should never be used in a woodburning furnace. Years ago, I worked on the right of ways for Penn Central Railroad, and a few farms along the way tried using tie pieces for stove fuel. A few days later, they all told me that their stoves went cherry red and nearly burned down their houses.

Wouldn't be too far fetched to assume they wernt using air tight furnaces. Either way, I'd take a hard pass on burning it. The health standpoint alone says no.

 

[Hexa Fox]

Wouldn't be too far fetched to assume they wernt using air tight furnaces. Either way, I'd take a hard pass on burning it. The health standpoint alone says no.

Those tarps that I wanted sold out fast lol. So do your tarps touch the ground where you weight them down with wood? Because I just found a cover that is close but I do not think it will reach the ground. So my concern is the wind picking it up. I wonder how it will react with wood only holding the top of it and nothing around the perimeter near the bottom?

I was thinking maybe I could cut a hole in that hole made for "pipe" and use fish tape to run string trimmer line, fishing line or some other line through it and at least make it tight.

 

[sean donato]

No, I just cover the top of the pile, still want air to be able to circulate. I only do this with splits, amd rounds. Logs piles I don't cover.

 

[Mad Professor]

Railroad ties would be good to stack the wood on and get it up off the ground, also get some air underneath.

I stack my piles two rows wide, head high, and 10-15' long, on top of free scrap pallets. For covers I cut up a bunch of arm width wood ~1.5' wider than the rows. I put these on top of the pile, then cover it with lumber covers doubled/tripled over I get for free.

I tuck the ends of the covers under some chunks on the ends of the pile. Then to hold it down another layer of arm size wood, and a few large chunks to hold it down in high winds. Keeps the rain off and the stacks get plenty of air.

 

[Marley5]

Something else to consider burning green wood is BTU loss.
I've heated with an outside wood boiler for years, before all the silly restrictions and still burn seasoned wood.

I recommend cutting or ordering your wood a year from burning it.
Big Oak. I go 2 years......yes, with an outside wood boiler

 

[sean donato]

Something else to consider burning green wood is BTU loss.
I've heated with an outside wood boiler for years, before all the silly restrictions and still burn seasoned wood.

I recommend cutting or ordering your wood a year from burning it.
Big Oak. I go 2 years......yes, with an outside wood boiler

Never hurts to let it sit for a year or two. All the locust I just got is wet as the day it was cut. Solid 2 to 3 years till it will be dry enough to burn.

 

[North by Northwest]

Never hurts to let it sit for a year or two. All the locust I just got is wet as the day it was cut. Solid 2 to 3 years till it will be dry enough to burn.

Yeah , same with White & Red oak that I encounter from time to time 2-3 yr seasoning due to it increased density . Shame to use for firewood actually lol.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

These are my experiences. We cut, split and store our firewood under roof inside barns. Had over 170 cord built up at one point. Needless to say, some was stored up to 8 years before used. It amazed me that even after that long you could still see some pieces still sizzling water out the ends when opening the door and this was on small pieces. Larger pieces were worse. I have a boiler and my Father has a homemade double barrel made from boiler tanks. My boiler is in a building along with the wood so all is under roof out of the elements. Your stove looks to be inside so this following doesn't apply but I actually can have water dripping stound the door in Spring months when snow is melting. So much moisture in the air that is condensates when drawn into the stove. People don't realize or think about that but it happens. Again, your house air would be drier. Wood stored outside will draw moisture back in from the air to some extent, just like a sponge. Do a test with a meter in the middle of summer and go back to the same piece when snow is melting to see what I mean. Smaller slits will dry out quicker as more surface area but most, like me, like bigger chunks for quicker handling. Just some info to consider in the mix.

 

[North by Northwest]

Railroad ties and utility poles should never be used in a woodburning furnace. Years ago, I worked on the right of ways for Penn Central Railroad, and a few farms along the way tried using tie pieces for stove fuel. A few days later, they all told me that their stoves went cherry red and nearly burned down their houses.

He'll over here their soaked in creosote , nice burn there

 

[North by Northwest]

These are my experiences. We cut, split and store our firewood under roof inside barns. Had over 170 cord built up at one point. Needless to say, some was stored up to 8 years before used. It amazed me that even after that long you could still see some pieces still sizzling water out the ends when opening the door and this was on small pieces. Larger pieces were worse. I have a boiler and my Father has a homemade double barrel made from boiler tanks. My boiler is in a building along with the wood so all is under roof out of the elements. Your stove looks to be inside so this following doesn't apply but I actually can have water dripping stound the door in Spring months when snow is melting. So much moisture in the air that is condensates when drawn into the stove. People don't realize or think about that but it happens. Again, your house air would be drier. Wood stored outside will draw moisture back in from the air to some extent, just like a sponge. Do a test with a meter in the middle of summer and go back to the same piece when snow is melting to see what I mean. Smaller slits will dry out quicker as more surface area but most, like me, like bigger chunks for quicker handling. Just some info to consider in the mix.

Yeah I always laugh when I hear 8 yr seasoning rates . Oak & maple up North here is optimal in 3-4 yrs max. However , I always forget that in temperate southern regions humid & moist air really puts the blocks to effective drying ! P.S. Pun intended

 

[jellyroll]

Yeah I always laugh when I hear 8 yr seasoning rates . Oak & maple up North here is optimal in 3-4 yrs max. However , I always forget that in temperate southern regions humid & moist air really puts the blocks to effective drying ! P.S. Pun intended

Hack berry and cherry is ready to burn in 10 months here.

 

[gggGary]

racks ml 4' wide 7'6" tall, skids on the ground total 72' long. the 25' extension (cuz I got more wood than racks) covered with "sign" tarp. I fold the edge hammer in large brass eyelets on about 4' centers tie it to lag screws run into larger wood chunks with poly rope. Stays put just fine till I burn it about 5 years later.

 

[45-70Frank]

Hey guys so long story short I have been doing this for awhile now but now the responsibility has become solely mine. So I started burning this year already and noticed a good deal of smoke coming back into the house. So I checked the chimney and made the mistake of brining a floodlight rather than a straight beam light. So I could only see a few panels and they looked very clean. I suspected my problem was with the wood stove. So today I reached up into the baffle and got a whole handful of stuff. That is when I realized I would need to move the woodstove.

My father was adamant about cleaning it every single year, even though sometimes from year to year things seemed to be clean. So I was hoping you guys would have some feedback for me, because upon taking this stuff apart it looks like I have not cleaned it in years. We did clean it last year. The only thing I changed this year is that I got lazy and I have been using pieces of "resin wood" and a butane torch to get my fire going. Could this cause this type of buildup or did I just burn heavier than I thought?

My father always cleaned these parts of the woodstove with a putty knife. So I see mixed reviews of the Soot Eaters people have been attaching to drills. I think they would really help me out here with the woodstove if they fit in the pipes. Can you use them on everything? Like the hole between the woodstove and chimney, the woodstove pipe etc? I would love to hear from you guys that bought the Soot Eaters and how you like them.

I know this post has already gotten long but we have also had a problem with soot getting all over stuff around the house. Especially right around the woodstove and it definitely seems worse than other people experience. We have to dust all the time while burning throughout the winter. We recently changed the gasket around the door but it did not seem to help. Also the door itself seems to be a little loose. My father said to leave it alone because trying to tighten it might break the bolts and create a bigger problem. We also do not cement around the woodstove pipe either. Thoughts?

Before this gets any longer I will leave it as is for now. I have always gotten awesome feedback from this site. You guys just helped me decide on a recent log splitter purchase which I m very thankful for. Definitely want to get this resolved for Winter so that my new log splitter does not go to waste. These are the pipes from the wood stove and the pip that goes out to the chimney by the way. I am probably going to get a better flashlight and inspect the chimney again. I imagine those first few panels may be giving me a bad idea of what the rest looks like.

I would consider that pretty dirty. I just finished cleaning mine and came here with a question.
I used to go on my roof with a round brush and my electric drill, the inside of mine looks shine and spotless. BUT I had a metal roof installed 2 summers ago and am afraid of creasing the roof so now I do it from the inside, damned what a mess. LOL
When mine starts to smoke it's usually when the soot piles up on the top of the stove where the flue connects.

Good Luck

 

[Hexa Fox]

I would consider that pretty dirty. I just finished cleaning mine and came here with a question.
I used to go on my roof with a round brush and my electric drill, the inside of mine looks shine and spotless. BUT I had a metal roof installed 2 summers ago and am afraid of creasing the roof so now I do it from the inside, damned what a mess. LOL
When mine starts to smoke it's usually when the soot piles up on the top of the stove where the flue connects.

Good Luck

Yes, I think I covered this in one of my other posts with pictures. Anyway this was my problem without a doubt.

 

[sb47]

These are my experiences. We cut, split and store our firewood under roof inside barns. Had over 170 cord built up at one point. Needless to say, some was stored up to 8 years before used. It amazed me that even after that long you could still see some pieces still sizzling water out the ends when opening the door and this was on small pieces. Larger pieces were worse. I have a boiler and my Father has a homemade double barrel made from boiler tanks. My boiler is in a building along with the wood so all is under roof out of the elements. Your stove looks to be inside so this following doesn't apply but I actually can have water dripping stound the door in Spring months when snow is melting. So much moisture in the air that is condensates when drawn into the stove. People don't realize or think about that but it happens. Again, your house air would be drier. Wood stored outside will draw moisture back in from the air to some extent, just like a sponge. Do a test with a meter in the middle of summer and go back to the same piece when snow is melting to see what I mean. Smaller slits will dry out quicker as more surface area but most, like me, like bigger chunks for quicker handling. Just some info to consider in the mix.

Drying times differ from location to location and from year to year depending on weather conditions. It also matters where and in what it's burned in. i.e. wood stove/fire place/furnace/open air. Anything will burn if you get it hot enough, even green wood.
Any moisture in the wood will turn to steam, and that steam will drop the BTU's, even though it is burning. wood stoves benefit by keeping all the heat inside the firebox. Creosote can be an issue from cooler fires so yearly cleaning is a must. Everyone should clean there chimney every year anyway. Even twice a year for colder climates that burn longer.
Many people don't have room to keep and store 2/3/4 years of wood in advance. There is no set rule on drying times that works for everyone. It's good to kick around ideas then we do the best with what we got.