Creosote in a stovepipe

I have a outside wood furnace the kind that sets in the yard away from the house. It has not been working properly. It would not get hot and when I opened the door the smoke would pour out in my face. I knew what was wrong so yesterday I took the stovepipe off the top and wow. It was almost completely pluged with creosote.

The wood was dried for two years in a shed it was a good hardwood. The problem was I used it when it was too warm and the burning was too incomplete because of the air shut down too much. This stovepipe was new in October. Anyway I thought I would put it on here so firefighters who may have never seen creosote can see it. It is sticky like tar and even looks like it. If you get it on your hands it will not wash off, Your hands will stay stained. (Alot worse that paint) This is the unburnt stuff not ash that you sometimes see.

I hope this helps someone gain some knowledge . Oh this is 6 inch stovepipe by the way and its a full two feet in the pipe. It weights around 20 or 30 pounds.

If you know of anyway to preserve this I would like to keep it as a training prop for new firefighters. Ideas would be welcome by me.

Will it dry out?

Do you think i could cut it down into slices with a sawzall without destroying it?

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Permalink Reply by Timothy Crowell on December 20, 2010 at 3:10pm

Greenman,

Thanks for correcting me on that. The man I shadowed to learn the trade always described it in reverse order, and then corrected himself five minutes later. I seem to have picked up that annoying habit myself.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on December 20, 2010 at 9:09pm

That would be one nasty dirty squirrel!

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Permalink Reply by Greenman on December 21, 2010 at 11:48am

John,

Wood with high levels of resin or pitch will cause more creosote build up, but I think you were right when you said you were starving your fire by having the air too closed and had to much wood in the firebox. Add the "pitchy" wood and the starving fire and you have a perfect storm for creosote formation!

Greenman

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Permalink Reply by Greenman on December 21, 2010 at 11:51am

LOL, no worries!

Just remember how creosote is formed...by smoke condensing in the flue, along with moisture form the wood which becomes Tar, and as the moisture is baked-out of the tar it becomes drier and crispier!

Kind of like Chocolate Chip Cookies if the baker isn't watching the oven!

Greenman