Tips In Maintaining
Your Wood Stove Chimney Pipe

The maintenance of a wood stove chimney pipe is critical in effectively operating your wood stove. You may have noticed that your wood stove has not been properly operating as of late after all these years, and a probable reason for this is the development of creosote coating the walls inside your chimney pipe. Creosote is a gummy substance that is caused by the burning of the wrong or inappropriate wood materials, among many other factors. In order to prevent this from happening with your wood stove chimneys, here are some of the things that you have to consider.

Using your wood stove would entail you to also use the seasoned wood as fuel. In this case, the wood must be cut and properly stacked in a dry place for at least six months. This would allow the moisture to escape from the wood and encourage brighter and hotter fire during use, a sign of using good, seasoned wood. Other qualities of seasoned wood are its hollowness and the cracks on its surface and corners. This type of wood is easier to burn because it would not take a lot of fire to burn the wood, and is a lot friendlier on your wood stove chimney pipe.

Still, despite following this provision, it is highly improbable for your wood stove chimney piper to not develop creosote due to constant use. Check your chimney every after five months of use, and you will see a layer of black tar sticking to the chimney walls. You may use a brush to scrub away the thin layer enveloping the insides of your wood stove chimney pipe. However, if the layer of creosote is too thick to be removed, you will have to call in a professional Chimney Sweeper to chemically break down the creosote. It would probably take around two weeks in order for the professional to get rid of the tar deposits.

Aside from using seasoned wood, there are other precautions that you must consider in the maintenance of your wood stove chimney pipe. Make sure that you secure your wood stove with a separate chimney pipe, and not connect to a chimney from a fireplace or an appliance that makes use of gas fuels. Also, do not use flammable substances and trash to start your stove, for it may induce fire in your chimney.