Woodburner use

grahamc2003

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 ??

Looks like you burn very efficiently and therefore don't produce much smoke, and therefore don't produce any soot or tar.

I installed my stove about 5 years ago - haven't had the chimney swept yet, although I did intend to last summer. Confidend there isn't much soot or tar deposited anywhere, simply because I burn the fuel correctly, and don't try burning damp wood, burning overnight, burning at a low temperature, or burning lots of house coal at once. I know the regulars will think I've gone in the head, and I've been told plenty of times I'm dicing with death etc etc, and probably can't wait for me to post that I've had a chimney fire, but I understand combustion, so I'm confident in my actions. I'm not saying anyone else shouldn't have their chimneys swept every six months - it purely depends how they burn their fuel.

I have a job burning house coal without smoke. Even at a stove pipe temp of 450F and the air inlet fully open, I still get a tiny amount of smoke if I have more than a couple of smallish lumps of coal in there (actually in the red hot embers from wood), so that limits the tiny amount of coal I can burn at any one time. (I don't go with the 'don't mix wood and coal idea' for which I have never heard a satisfactory theoretical explanation). I expect it may be that steam from burning wood and smoke from burning coal make a horrible acidic mix, but I avoid that by burning dryish (or at least not very damp) wood and burning all the smoke from the coal by only burning small amounts at the same time.

Incidentally, I installed the stove myself (with valuable help from expert installers on mse), didn't put a liner in, always get excellent draw and a quickly burning non-smoking fire.

A._Badger

FWIW, grahamc2003, my sweep looked at me as if I was mad when I asked if it was OK to burn wood and smokeless simultaneously. 'Why said you shouldn't?' he asked. I explained I'd read it on the web and he seemed to undergo a compulsion to stare at the ceiling and mutter.

I only asked him as I wondered if he'd encountered any problems. He hadn't.

I regularly add a piece of dry wood to my smokeless fire at the end of the evening, rather than add another charge of smokeless which will burn for longer than needed. I then let the fire out burn right out overnight, with the vents open.

No smoke, no soot, no residue.

suki1964

A._Badger wrote: »

FWIW, grahamc2003, my sweep looked at me as if I was mad when I asked if it was OK to burn wood and smokeless simultaneously. 'Why said you shouldn't?' he asked. I explained I'd read it on the web and he seemed to undergo a compulsion to stare at the ceiling and mutter.

I only asked him as I wondered if he'd encountered any problems. He hadn't.

I regularly add a piece of dry wood to my smokeless fire at the end of the evening, rather than add another charge of smokeless which will burn for longer than needed. I then let the fire out burn right out overnight, with the vents open.

No smoke, no soot, no residue.

Same here. Logs are used to keep the fire lit on longer colder nights

Not a problem

Not gassed ourselves nor making soot or tar

Alycidon

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 ??

Not if you burn dry fuel and dont run your stove in a slumber situation. Thats when soots are produced.

I would none the less advise sweeping on an annual basis, ideally in late summer.

A