I asked here a week ago about "what's the big deal in cleaning your chimney" and got a mountain of excellent response.

We were worried about getting on our metal roof, so we used some powder stuff that the previous owners left behind. You're supposed to put a couple of tablespoons of it on a small fire every three days. This is supposed to somehow slowly remove the creosote.

We used it here and there for a few days.

On Christmas moring a friend of mine started throwing wrapping paper in the fire. I pointed out that that I had read (here!) that that could cause problems and so he stopped. Too late. The screen at the top of the chimney became plugged and the house filled with smoke.

My friend volunteered for roof duty. We sent him up with the chimney brush too. The vent was plugged and easy to clean. When he ran the brush up and down the chimney, hardly anything was knocked into our stove (the chimney goes straight up and down).

We have been burning the junkiest of wood. Really wet stuff. All pine, fir and rotted fence posts. Some fairly green too (all of our fires crackle!) We've also been doing 99% of our heating with wood for the last three months.

We do run very hot fires about once every three days.

So either the hot fires were doing the trick, or that chemical stuff did.

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), December 28, 2001

Answers

If your fence posts were treated you might not want to burn them.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), December 28, 2001.

"Might not.." How about definately wouldn't! Treated lumber releases atomized arsenic when it burns, and the leftover arsenic is concentrated in the ashes. A tsp (or is it a TBSP, well very little in either case) of treated wood ash is more than enough to kill someone quite dead, and the smoke can cause all sorts of permanent lung damage if you survive.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), December 28, 2001.

The fence posts that we put into the fire were pretty badly rotted. Some had a small amount of residual paint.

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), December 29, 2001.

What kind of powder were you putting in it. Also, has anyone heard about the chimney sweep log from walgreens. I wanted to know if that is a joke or not. Guess I can try it myself. We have been burning our stove all green wood for 3 months. I had to clean the chimney once already. Would like to know what that powder was to see if it makes a difference.

Thanks. Ross.

-- Ross Cornett (tech@effingham.net), December 31, 2001.

It's Red Devil Creosote destroyer with cupric chloride.

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), January 02, 2002.

We use something called Anti-Creo-Soot. It is a clearish liquid that smells a little like vinegar or soap. You pour 2-4 ounces in the fire every few hours. It seems to work but at $35 a gallon it is not cheap, especially if you use your fireplace often. It says on the bottle that it is non-toxic, but doesn't say what's in it, which I think is odd--I thought everything had to be labeled. I am still trying to find out what's in it.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 02, 2002.

I have a wood stove & oil burner in the basement. The guy who maintains the oil burner put some 'paper tubes' of anti-creosote stuff in the oil burner when he had it open, says it does help to use those every couple weeks. Didn't know they could be used in the oil burner tho! And since he burned them up, I didn't catch the name of them. Maybe next year. They look about the size of a tube of caulk. Also hear the wive's tale that a few aluminumn cans per month in the firebox helps too. Don't know if it does anything.

Your chimney might stay cleaner if you have a hot stove & it's fairly inefficent. Runs a lot of heat up the chimney, keeps the coating down. Uses lots more wood tho. :)

A construction company got thousands of old busted railroad ties from when the railroad rebuilt near them. They have been burning them in the shop furnace for several years now for heat. Some might not think it's the best way to go, but if you think about it - where will the 'bad stuff' go??? Those old rotted fence posts - you throw them in a pile to rot away, and the stuff oozes into the ground. You burn it, and it oozes into the air. You (along with every one of us who has a mound of such castoffs) takes it to a landfill to be 'contained' and the landfills would all be full and oozing out anyway.

So, what's the difference? Might as well use them for heat. Same with the RR ties. After all, it is creosote on those ties, and that's what coats the chimney from burning regular wood. Right? Think about it. :)

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), January 02, 2002.