Chris Snyder asks:
I too have just started heating my house with an air-tight wood insert
and everything is going great, but I looked down the chimney and
noticed a thin layer of hard/glazed creosote. We've only been burning
it for about three weeks (24/7) and I can't say for sure if the stuff
was there before we started running the insert (I knew I should have
checked), but I do recall there being glaze on the smoke chamber
before they installed it. We had a chimney sweep inspect the chimney
at the beginning of the season (before the insert was installed) and
he said it did not need cleaning yet, but he rendered it unsafe
because of cracked fire brick...that's why I bought the insert.
snip
How much creosote is too much? The rule of thumb I read was more than
1/8 inch and it's time to schedule a cleaning. At the top of the
chimney there's a paper-thin buildup of that glaze stuff...am I
stressing over nothing? I need to be sure, because I want to sleep
well at night. I've read the Chimney Sweep's horror stories and they
freaked me out!
Get it cleaned. Have the sweep inspect the chimney as he cleans (he should
anyway). He can let you know if the build-up is too bad. In normal use, I used
to clean my chimneys at the start of the season, and halfway through if there
appeared to be any build-up. The one time I ignored that, I was sitting in the
LR with my (now) wife and her daughter when the chimney lit off. Amazing
sight. The yard was a bright orange and flames shot out the top of the chimney.
The fire department was there in about an instant, it seemed. The reason I
hadn't cleaned that chimney was simple: old, stone, no liner and I knew damned
well it was going to fail with no other source of heat in the house. And I was
rentiing from a nice couple who weren't about to spend an extra dime on the
place.
One consolation: once the chimney fire was out, the chimney was clean.
Charlie Self
If God had wanted me to touch my toes he would have put them higher on my body.
http://hometown.aol.com/charliediy/m.../business.html