At Last!

My wood stove is back in operation.  Finally!  Last Thursday the heating company fixed my boiler.  Then, yesterday, they came back to install new black stovepipe on the ground floor.  They also cleaned the pipe.

Now the stovepipe goes straight up.

During construction I said I wanted the stove centered on the block wall, because that seemed more visually pleasing.  But the offset (or dogleg) looked odd and made cleaning difficult.  We found we could eliminate the offset by moving the stove less than 5 inches to the left, while still maintaining the required clearance from anything combustible.  I'm sure that I will get used to the stove's new position.

There are also two offsets above the second floor ceiling.  I don't know why the heating contractor did this, when it would have been simpler to run the pipe straight up.  My guess is that he thought the stovepipe would be unsightly if it poked through the roof on the front of the house (that is, the side toward the road).  No one consulted me on this issue.  If they had, I would have said I didn't care.  After all, the pipe goes at least a couple feet above the roof's ridge line and is easily seen from the street.

These offsets above the 2nd Floor ceiling — seen here
during construction — were probably not necessary.

In any event, we have two additional offsets in this area.  This complicates cleaning and, at least in theory, should cause a build-up of creosote.

I didn't expect the heating guys to clean the pipe.  When I learned they would do this nasty job, I made a flying trip to the Ace Hardware at Rogers City to buy the necessary equipment — a plastic-bristle brush for a 6-inch round pipe, and a length of 5/16th-inch nylon rope.  Because of the offsets, they lowered the rope through the pipe using a plumbing part as a weight, tied the rope to the brush, and pulled the brush up and out.

Much to my surprise, they found no creosote.  My stove must be burning very efficiently, and the wood I use is well-dried (cut in 2010 before construction).  But there was a lot of black soot in the pipe.  Loosened by the brush it fell into the stove's firebox and blew out onto my floor... and onto just about everything else in the living room and kitchen.  Yuk!  I spent hours cleaning up the mess.

Next time, I'll have light tarps available to cover everything, including the floors.  Live and learn! •••