I suppose I should just go to the archives to look this info up, but I might want a "fresh" prospective on this. Okay, so the temps were a bit balmy today..I suppose in the upper 50s. I let the fire die out and decided that although the furnace has only been running since October 28th, it was time to do some TLC to it.
I cleaned out the ash box thoroughly, I scrapped away as much built up creosote that I could "without" crawling into the darn firebox (anyone have any thoughts on how to clean the creosote out that's way in the rear of the firebox?), then I went up to the chimney...had to "knock" the spark arrester off and have decided that it WILL be remaining off. Then I looked down inside the stack..holy creosote bat man! come on ...this has only been burning now for going on three weeks as of this Friday.
Off I go to Menard's to get a brush. I asked the sales guy there, " my stack is 5" in diameter and I don't see any on the shelf for that size, so do you recommend I buy the 6"? He says yes because that way I can get the stack cleaner. Pardon the pun, but the 6" brush don't cut it.
I didn't even try to force it in as I knew just what would happen.
So is there such a beast as a 5" brush? Guess I could try Fleet Farm. Anyway, long story short, I did get it cleaned out but not with a brush. A long stiff fiberglass pole (4') does wonders.
So now I'm needing to know how I got the creosote build up in only three shorts weeks. The red oak I'm burning is from 7 trees that were cut down six years ago. In the summer the wood is exposed to the sun/wind; in the winter I leave it covered by a tarp. I would have thought that by now this wood would have been dried? Yeah I remember a fellow from WV saying something to the effect that even if it is six years old, unless it is covered by a building yet still allowing the air to go between the stacks...then it isn't dry. WTH?
As always I thank you in advance for your responses/suggestions/ideas. but please be gentle, we all had to start somewhere regarding the OWBs.
Lugnut