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OT-creosote

Never have. My solution for cleaning the fireplace chimney has always been to go up on the roof, lower a chain down, carefully whipping (so to speak) it around all the way down and back up a few times. Got the idea from some firemen that did it that way in their part time side business, chimney cleaning. Has always worked for me. Those logs advertised? Might very well work. I know the way I was taught does for sure.

Good luck, be careful.

Mark
 
I don't use wood for heat (never have), but someone told not
Me they hang a pop can from top of chimney, & the chemical reaction with creosote is broken up.
 
I don't see how those chimney cleaning logs could work. I use a chimney brush, my chimney is easy to get to, one story house. Sometimes there's an area where the brush is harder to push through, I run the brush up and down there repeatedly til it's cleared. I catch the soot and get rid of it. (if burned in the stove it makes "clinkers") I altered a bucket to get the ashes, I use a grate, the ashes drop thru and I pack them in one side of the stove. In about a week I take out nearly 5 gallons of ash, have a damp rag over the opening to stop the dust.
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I heated with firewood for a number of years. Always burned seasoned wood, and kept a chimney thermometer in place. Keep your stack hot and you won't get creosote build up.
 
Old wives tail and you can do your own research, but potatoe peelings have as much value as any spray, salve, or log. With that said you still need to physically clean the chimney. I do mine about 4 times a season by dropping a brush down the vertical chimney. I check the pipes to the chimney more often and clean them twice as often. The set up I grew up with had the "sump" of the chimney below the stove pipes T with a clean out door at the bottom. We cleaned that once a year per the old man's specs. The wood you burn and the chimney temp you exhaust make a big difference. I see a few stoves with draft control thermostats and the chimney temp isn't hot long enough to kept the chimney clean.
 
While I might periodically use a chimney brush on the chimney, It usually does not get much build up. In the morning, or when first lighting a fire, I let it roar up the chimney for a couple of minutes, then shut the chimney damper as much as possible. The thermal shock breaks up the creosote.(You can hear it falling back to the stove where it gets burnt up.
 
Been burning wood near 40 years in an airtight stove that is supposed to control creosote. I don't think any of them really does. I doubt those logs will work in a wood stove that's running continuously. Maybe OK for a fireplace that doesn't build up a lot because of open flames. I have brushes and clean my chimney every four or five weeks. Had a chimney fire once, very scary. Old friend told me a long time ago that putting an empty tin can with zinc coating will keep the creosote from sticking but I never tried it. Can't find those cans any more. If you try the logs keep a real close eye on the chimney until you know if they work. Nothing beats a good brushing.
 
If you burn dry wood and run the stove hot you should have very little creosote, I clean our chimneys and stoves once in the spring. I have been burning wood that has been in the wood shed 2 years, it's only 12% moisture, that's pretty dry for MN!
 
I say gimmick. Burning one or a few of those logs every now and then isn't going to remove the creosote from burning logs. It's going to take a brush to take care of that job.
 
I agree with Stephen Newell, why waste money on gimmicks, for $10 I bought a brush and fiberglass rods from Worcester made in USA at a yard sale, I burn my airtight, black box, down draft stove or what ever you want to call it 24/7 from mid October to the end of April if needed, I clean my chimney 1 time a year and get 3/4 of a grocery bag of creosote, I burn dry hard wood, and my chimney is in the center of the house, rather than the outside of the house were its cold.. I fire every night meaning I load the stove and let her rip into the over fire on the stack gage to burn off creosote, I also never have had a chimney fire. I would not use a chain whipping around to clean the chimney either for fear of cracking the clay flue tile.
 

I sweep the chimney every couple weeks all winter long. The peace of mind alone makes it worth it to me. I seriously doubt the logs, aluminum cans, zinc or anything else really works.
 
I've got a '70s era stove and about 30 feet of double wall pipe running up the interior of the house. Try to warm up the chimney every morning, but the top is still gonna be cool. Last week it was -34 F in the morning. About once a week I try to remember to burn a couple of tablespoons of TSP on the coals on a day when we're letting it die down in the morning. Not sure if that helps or not, but I think it does. I can see the rod for my bypass damper when I open it. I like to see a nice grey color (think spark plugs) rather than a sooty black. Still have to brush two or three times a season.

Using dry wood and not being stingy with the heat is key. "Give some heat to the chimney" every morning to get a good draft going ad really warm up the chimney. Control the stove temp by the amount of wood you put in-not by throttling back the air.
 
I used them for 10 years when I lived in NC in a house with a fireplace. Used one every other month all winter. In the summer I would check the chimney and never saw any deposits and never had any trouble.
 
When I had a tile chimney, The chimney sweep chemicals would keep the creosote deposits dry, crumbly and greyish colored and very easy to clean out. If I didn't use the stuff the creosote was much worse and harder to brush out. I have the triple wall SS pipe now and I use the chimney sweep packets about once every two weeks. At the end of the heating season, I have about a quart of dry grey ashes in the two elbows combined. Running a brush down the pipe produces almost nothing. They won't keep a chimney clean to the point you don't have to brush the chimney, but in my experience they help keep the creosote converted to dry grey ash. I've also seen chimneys that the stuff was no help at all in. All you can do is try it in your setup and see if it helps or not.
 
(quoted from post at 12:23:05 12/23/16) When I had a tile chimney, The chimney sweep chemicals would keep the creosote deposits dry, crumbly and greyish colored and very easy to clean out. If I didn't use the stuff the creosote was much worse and harder to brush out. I have the triple wall SS pipe now and I use the chimney sweep packets about once every two weeks. At the end of the heating season, I have about a quart of dry grey ashes in the two elbows combined. Running a brush down the pipe produces almost nothing. They won't keep a chimney clean to the point you don't have to brush the chimney, but in my experience they help keep the creosote converted to dry grey ash. [b:79f84f9f3f]I've also seen chimneys that the stuff was no help at all in. All you can do is try it in your setup and see if it helps or not.[/b:79f84f9f3f]
Click to expand...

Probably the best advice given Don!
 

Creosote occurs when the fire box is jammed full of wood and the air supply checked back when attempting to make the time longer between stove filling.
Running a dampered down full fire box is the same way charcoal is purposely manufactured. Wood under high heat and limited oxygen drives the wood gasses unburned up the chimney. Now these gasses cool below the "dew point" and the vapours condense on the inside of the stack as creosote and tar.
Th way to avoid creosote is burn smaller amounts of dry wood in a hot bright clear fire with air rather than smoldering.
 

Like Jaden and others say, get it good and hot once every day so that you have a "friendly" chimney fire. It may not burn very strong or make any noise but it will carry right up through to the top and clean it out good. Cleaning with brushes is good but it lulls a lot of people into false security. You can plug it back up again in just 36 hours of burning with a low draft.
 
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