Cleaning wood burner flue?

[Dry Rot]

My newish Woodwarm 12kw stove started to burn very slowly and huge amounts of smoke emerged into the room when I open the front to put more wood on, so today I looked up the 150mm flue with a torch. I was surprised to see how much soot there was up there. So I put a 100mm flue brush (the only one I have) up as far as it would go (1m?) and removed quite a lot of debris but suspect there is still more up there. From the stove, the flue has two 45 degree bends, then the rest is a vertical flue inside a 225mm clay liner for about 6m.

If it is going to need cleaning as often as this, I am wondering if it is worth while my getting own nylon rods? They are not cheap, but then neither is getting a professional chimney sweep. I suspect I have't yet learnt how to adjust the dampers on the stove properly which is at least part of the problem but the wood is quite dry. What should I do? Do you clean yours yourself or leave it to the sweep?

 

[SilliamWhale]

Drain rods £25 a pack.

I do my own sweep with a spin on brush from eBay. Burned for two years and flue quite clean.

Make sure your wood is seasoned and you burn hard at least once a day for half hr

 

[carbonfibre farmer]

Drain rods £25 a pack.

I do my own sweep with a spin on brush from eBay. Burned for two years and flue quite clean.

Make sure your wood is seasoned and you burn hard at least once a day for half hr

+1

 

[Recoil]

I use our drain rods with a brush on to do ours. Once a year before the winter comes and we start lighting the fire every day. Easy, but can be quite messy. Put a dust sheet down.

 

[roscoe erf]

you need a hard burn as already suggested helps keep it clear drain rods with brush on do all mine

 

[Dry Rot]

Thanks guys. I think I've been missing out on the hard burn. I see there's an inspection hatch so I can by-pass one 45 degree bend, leaving just the one.

Read somewhere that drain rods are not suitable for a s/s liner and I really need these….

http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/wood_burning_stoves/Super-flexible-chimney-rods-and-brushes.html

….which I can attach to an electric drill?? I assume that's just sales talk or for flues with lots of bends. I'll maybe try cutting down the 225mm brush tomorrow and see if that works on the drain rods.

Stove is working now but struggling with barely a flame and both vents fully open!!!

 

[roscoe erf]

Thanks guys. I think I've been missing out on the hard burn. I see there's an inspection hatch so I can by-pass one 45 degree bend, leaving just the one.

Read somewhere that drain rods are not suitable for a s/s liner
why i use them all the time its the brush that does the work rods shouldn't make any difference

 

[SilliamWhale]

What have you got at the top of the flue? what kind of cap?

Its true that drain rods aren't that flexible if your careful their ok. If you can afford bendy ones or think of something else to use that would be just as good especially with the bends in your flue

 

[Old Boar]

If you can get on the roof, the easiest way is to drop a rope down the chimney, weighted at the bottom so it goes round the bends, tie a branch of gorse to the rope, go inside and pull rope. One clean chimney! Sheet the chimney unless you like cleaning soot off everything in the room!
The old way was to drop a chicken down, but I dont recommend this.
You should not get much soot with dry wood, but the hot burn for half an hour a day should help.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

The woodburner seems to be much more sensitive to a sooty chimney than the Rayburn is, which uses anthracite.
I don't know why this should be.

Is the chicken frozen or do you thaw it first?

 

[Flossie]

A couple of milking parlour liners or half an old welly would fairly blast through

 

[Paddington]

I read somewhere that in Ireland years ago they used to use a live goose down the chimney.

They must have had; a) big chimneys
b) nerves of steel to tie a rope to a live goose at the top of a ladder.

 

[Barleycorn]

I was advised that occasionally chucking aluminium beer cans on the fire keeps the flue clean. Apparently similar theory as the cleaning logs that you can buy. Never tried it though, don't drink canned beer!

 

[Dry Rot]

The chimney had a 9" clay liner and the pro who installed the stove put a 6" stainless liner down through that and, I think shoved glass fibre insulation around the pipe at the top. There is no cap as he didn't have one large enough (for the 9" clay pipe). I had a soot door at the bottom of the original liner and I wondered if cold air entering there might cause problems? Short term I have sealed in with silica.

I am burning birch which was felled this time last year, then stacked all summer, so it is pretty dry. (Yes, I know they recommend drying for two years). I'd put logs on the hot bed of ashes in the morning, open up the vents, and off it would go, a nice blaze in a few minutes. I'll try sweeping tomorrow.

For burning off the soot I have heard table salt works too. With the old chimneys, I always used to get a nice hot fire going, then stuff the chimney with old newspapers, and let rip! Very effective but only for the brave!

 

[Goweresque]

I was advised that occasionally chucking aluminium beer cans on the fire keeps the flue clean. Apparently similar theory as the cleaning logs that you can buy. Never tried it though, don't drink canned beer!

I was told exactly the same by a guy who installs wood burners for a living. He said that the sachets of stuff you can buy to chuck on the fire to help keep the flue clean are just powdered aluminium, and chucking a few aluminium cans on a good roaring fire will have the same effect. The aluminium burns to form a compound that then reacts with the tar in the flue and turns it to a dry dust.

 

[Matt]

i have been told that copper sulphate will make any tar flake off. not tried it my self as of yet.

 

[SilliamWhale]

The chimney had a 9" clay liner and the pro who installed the stove put a 6" stainless liner down through that and, I think shoved glass fibre insulation around the pipe at the top. There is no cap as he didn't have one large enough (for the 9" clay pipe). I had a soot door at the bottom of the original liner and I wondered if cold air entering there might cause problems? Short term I have sealed in with silica.

I am burning birch which was felled this time last year, then stacked all summer, so it is pretty dry. (Yes, I know they recommend drying for two years). I'd put logs on the hot bed of ashes in the morning, open up the vents, and off it would go, a nice blaze in a few minutes. I'll try sweeping tomorrow.

For burning off the soot I have heard table salt works too. With the old chimneys, I always used to get a nice hot fire going, then stuff the chimney with old newspapers, and let rip! Very effective but only for the brave!

If you have no cap then I wonder if a - it will burn too fast and b are you lacking draw? This probably won't help the flue.

 

[Kidds]

I bought one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-Foot-Flue-Brush-Chimney-Soot-Cleaning-Sweeping-6-wide-/360582110469.
Chopped a bit off and fastened it to one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1m-Large-...ls_Supplies_Electrical_ET&hash=item1e83033cbb

There is no way a draining rod is going to go round the 45 degree bends in my flue.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

I bought one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-Foot-Flue-Brush-Chimney-Soot-Cleaning-Sweeping-6-wide-/360582110469.
Chopped a bit off and fastened it to one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1m-Large-...ls_Supplies_Electrical_ET&hash=item1e83033cbb

There is no way a draining rod is going to go round the 45 degree bends in my flue.

Just the job.

 

[Dry Rot]

Well, I took the shears to the 9" chimney sweeping brush today and trimmed it down to slightly over 6", then gently set to work with the drain rods. It did a good job and the fire is now burning normally. It started off quite slowly but I left it with both air vents fully opened with the temperature creeping up and it seems to have cleared itself.

Success to the TFF yet again! That saved me calling out the sweep.