Chimney Cleaning

How often should you clean a masonry chimney? Is this something that needs done every year?

Dwayne

If you are burning nothing but anthracite coal, you really don't need to clean the vertical portion of the chimney.. the fly ash will only adhere to the chimney liner 'til it is about 1/8" thick then it will fall down the chimney into the cleanout area. How often to empty the cleanout and clean the horizontal sections of flue pipe depends on how much coal you burn.. lots of coal maybe every three weeks to a month, little coal maybe twice a season.

Greg L

Really the only thing you would need to do is open the bottom and let the ash fall out to clean a ss chimney? No need to ever clean out the rest of it? That sounds a little to easy.

Adamiscold wrote:Really the only thing you would need to do is open the bottom and let the ash fall out to clean a ss chimney? No need to ever clean out the rest of it? That sounds a little to easy.

Like Greg said, you won't need to ever clean it if you're just burning anthracite. My chimney is now 27 years old & I've never cleaned it & it's clean as a whistle inside! (Wood fires will line the chimney with creosote but coal doesn't)

Damn devil I was so looking forward to sending the wife up on the roof to clean it too

That is good to know, less work and things to worry about.

Here's a thought that someone probably can answer here:

Does burning pellets create creosote in your chimney? (I would guess yes)

I would have to say no because it would seem to be an unsafe setup having a side mounted chimney collecting creosote. I think the only ones I've seen have been the dv ones that go straight out the back of the house and not up.

I'm talking about the majority of pellet stoves that vent through a normal chimney.

Adamiscold wrote:Really the only thing you would need to do is open the bottom and let the ash fall out to clean a ss chimney? No need to ever clean out the rest of it? That sounds a little to easy.

Adam-

It's my understanding that a SS Chimney does need to be cleaned every year. The acids produced while burning coal will eat into the SS pipe over time. I believe they recommend cleaing it out, using something to neutralize the acid (baking soda and water?) and coating it with a thin coat of oil shortly after the last burn of the season.

Someone else can probably weigh in more on this, but that's what I gather from reading other posts.

Devil505 wrote:Here's a thought that someone probably can answer here:

Does burning pellets create creosote in your chimney? (I would guess yes)

They do produce creosote but it is a tiny fraction of the amount compared to a true wood burner, probably not a big deal.