Stove & Chimney Maintenance.

[Toepopper]

This is one preparedness action that can be classified as a yearly chore but it must be done to insure proper function of the woodstove. Cleaning the soot and crud out of the chimney pipe is something I don't look forward to doing. I climb up on the roof and remove the chimney cap, then run a long handled chimney flu brush down the inside of the chimney to scrape all the black crud from the walls of the chimney, and there is much of this material accumulated after a 9 month run of burning wood. Then I go inside and dismantle the metalic chimney pipe and clean out the interior of it which usually is about half choked off with ash deposits. The stove loses its draught and won't operate correctly when the elbow in the pipe gets filled with ash and carbon deposits so this is why this chore must be done yearly. A final shop vac clean up of the pipe interior before re-assembly completes this messy job and I am good to go for another year.

[Watchman]

As we speak our local chimney sweep is cleaning our wood stove and chimney. The wife is biting at the bit to light a fire! Today in northwest-central Wyoming the temperature is 34 degrees F.