I Don't Need to Sweep a Coal Chimney?

Hi there!
If I don't need to sweep a coal chimney? then I don't need to incur the expense of a direct vent? Is that right. My guy says that the sulfur will corrode the flue pipe if not clean. What gives?

Thanks, again
Gilmore

Gilmore,

If you keep the flue dry, the sulfur will do very little harm. However, you should still sweep the chimney if you are getting a build-up of soot on the flue walls.

If you do not have a chimney cap to keep out rain and animals, I would suggest that you put one up, and make sure that it is stainless steel.

Direct vents need to be cleaned on a weekly basis, as soot does accumulate in there, and can reduce the efficiency of the unit. Alaska stove company is torture testing one of their direct vents by not doing any maint, on it, and it just keeps on ticking. But why torture something that you paid a lot of money for that also keeps you warm?

Mike

Thanks Mike

I ordered the pipes from Riley Sales in Plymouth Meeting- they had the Hart & Cooley 6" T pipe and a fire stopper that I needed to connect to my existing flue that I have running to the basement level.

Gilmore

I have a direct vent system on my Harman DVC500. I finally shut the stove off for the season and cleaned it up. The vent pipe for this stove is square and it bolts together (it has an inner liner for exhaust and an outer chamber to bring in combustion air supply). Because I have two 45 degree angles, and can't clean the vent easily without taking it apart. But fortunately, the bolts provide total access without much trouble. It is slightly longer than the recommended 4 feet of horizontal distance because of having to go through a closet. After running my stove all winter I had about 30%-40% restriction in the vent due to fly ash. I'm not sure if this really hurts the efficiency of the stove or not. The last few weeks of heating I actually turned the stove off several times when the weather was warmer. I think this probably accumulates more ash and also the extra junk from the wood starting it up.

All in all, I think weekly maintenence is overkill, but perhaps one clean-out in the middle of the heating season would be a good idea in my case.

Troy

Troy,

It probably is an overkill, but it is what the manufacturers recommend.

Mike