Woodburner use

Hoppyuk2

We have a wood burning stove which we use as our main heating in winter it's installed in an unlined stone chimney house is Victorian era, we burn smokeless coal, house coal and logs
We have just had our chimney swept first time in 2 years and the chimney sweep said there was nothing in it no carbon or creasote etc
Also we turn our stove on in October and its on constantly until march\ April.
How often do you have your chimney swept ????
I'm worried the chimney sweep hasn't swept the chimney properly surely it should be filthy after 2 years use ??

YORKSHIRELASS

Hoppyuk2 wrote: »

We have a wood burning stove which we use as our main heating in winter it's installed in an unlined stone chimney house is Victorian era, we burn smokeless coal, house coal and logs
We have just had our chimney swept first time in 2 years and the chimney sweep said there was nothing in it no carbon or creasote etc
Also we turn our stove on in October and its on constantly until march\ April.
How often do you have your chimney swept ????
I'm worried the chimney sweep hasn't swept the chimney properly surely it should be filthy after 2 years use ??

Well we have just had our chimney swept, like you we have a multi-fuel stove and its running constantly from October to March. We burn smokeless coal and also have an unlined chimney. Our chimney sweep got about 1/4 of a carrier bag full of soot out of ours so I would be very surprised if there was nothing after two years!

Does your sweep come recommended? Did he seem to know what he was doing? Our sweep is really knowledgeable about stoves and fires and you can tell he knows what he is talking about.

I dont know for sure but it sounds wrong to me. I know there are a few chimney sweeps about on here so hopefully you will get some good advice.

Oh and as far as I am aware you shouldnt burn house coal on a stove, only smokeless fuels or dry seasoned logs. Again there is lots of info on here.

[Deleted User]

Hoppyuk2 wrote: »

We have a wood burning stove which we use as our main heating in winter it's installed in an unlined stone chimney house is Victorian era, we burn smokeless coal, house coal and logs
We have just had our chimney swept first time in 2 years and the chimney sweep said there was nothing in it no carbon or creasote etc
Also we turn our stove on in October and its on constantly until march\ April.
How often do you have your chimney swept ????
I'm worried the chimney sweep hasn't swept the chimney properly surely it should be filthy after 2 years use ??

Hmmm... our twinwall is usually manky with smokeless soot after six months...

Greenfires

I take it he went in through the register plate above the stove with his brushes?

Hoppyuk2

Hi yes the sweep comes recommended he got a dustpan full of soot out of the chimney after sweeping which seemed like a small amount then went onto the roof with a torch to check the chimney he said it was clean. I have had a look myself and it appears clean The stove does have a very good draw on it. Does running the stove constantly mean we get less chimney deposits then ?
I know your not supposed to use housecoal but we always have we use about 1/4 house coal mixed with smokeless briquettes because it gives off a lot more heat but it hasn't damaged the stove at all we have a stove thermostat which is normally at 400f or 210 Celsius
My reason for asking is i have always intended to get the chimney lined but I have heard mixed reviews with them getting blocked easier if you use the stove constantly or wearing out within 3 years , just after people's own experiences ?

Hoppyuk2

Yes he cleaned out the fire and the stove pipe then undid the hatches on register plate and swept it from there

Swipe

Sounds about right to me as long as it looks clean. I swept both mine and my parents this year after 2 years of not sweeping (only burning smokeless) and there was about a dustpan full for both chimneys.

highrisklowreturn

It may or may not be spot on for what you'd expect. I sweep chimneys and have found some old ones with about a carrier's bag worth - about standard for mixed use.

Others I have found with about 3 bags worth - simply because previous sweeps hadn't swept them right. The thing about yours will be that the chimney, at the bottom, will have been degraded or rebuilt through the years, or restructured to accommodate a back boiler. The reason it may have yielded little soot is that your sweep didn't clean these areas, or hasn't reached in and around your fire - something which I do - to identify them.

muckybutt

I must sweep some muckychimneys up here !

As a norm a stove unlined I'd expect to get about a third of a bin bag full, lined and it would be two hand fulls.

Open chimney and I would expect about a half of a 25L binbag full if not more depending on what has been burn on it.
Depending how the stove has been run will depend on what type of soot comes down, run the stove cool and you will get loads of hard clinker like soot down all crispy and it has a very disticnt smell to it, run it hot as it should be and it should be nice "fluffy" soot almost like talc and it will smell like soot.

Hoppyuk2

The soot that came out was like talc very fine, thankyou for your answers looks like I am just being too careful we use it as our main source of heating

Greenfires

That'll be the smokeless - it leaves a really fine grey dust. And to be fair, although I'm a dyed in the wool woodburner and never use it myself - it does do a pretty good job of helping to keep a chimney clean and free of deposits.