Bad Smell in House Harmon Stoker

Hi All,
I pulled the pipe off the stove and noted that a LARGE amount of fly ash was sitting at the bend where the liner turned to enter the house - might have been 1/2 blocked.

I vacuumed it the best I could and took a photo. That is the first one.

From the opening in the wall to where the liner goes vertical is 36". My arm isn't that long, so I had to tie my camera to a stick, hit the shutter and shove it into the liner. It took a while, but I finally got a shot up the chimney - the flash didn't go all the way, but it looks pretty clear. That photo is the second one.

What do you think?

Our house is an 1850's Victorian. Two floors with10' ceilings and a full attic - the chimney has got to be...35 feet? I don't have a ladder that goes that high and I'm kinda scared of heights .

I am going to go down and vacuum some more. My shop vac is kinda wimpy, but it did pull up quite a bit.

Cap if you could come, I'd sure appreciate you teaching me the proper way of doing things - I will pm you and we can discuss it.

Thanks again to everyone for your help.
Dave T.

Duct tape a piece of pvc pipe to the hose and run that in. You can tape a round brush to the end and loosen anything that sticks.

Hi All,

I just re-did the stove pipe. No galvanized.

llama99 wrote:

new pipe.JPG

Hi All,

I just re-did the stove pipe. No galvanized.

Now all you need to do is remove the baro and stick the shop vac up the chimney pipe to clean the fly ash out with out shutting down.First unplug the stoker

Dennis wrote:

llama99 wrote:

new pipe.JPG

Hi All,

I just re-did the stove pipe. No galvanized.

Now all you need to do is remove the baro and stick the shop vac up the chimney pipe to clean the fly ash out with out shutting down.First unplug the stoker

Since I had it shut down and the pipe off, used my shop vac to clean out the horizontal section and up as far as it would reach. The chimney has got to be 35-40 feet high, so I really didn't go vertical. Thinking it should be good. Gonna fire her up.

CAP - Thanks for the support.

Just in case - Ideas on what I should pay for a chimney cleaning?

Dave T.

Do you have that flexible pipe the whole length to the top of your chimney? I thought I heard that was not recommended for coal stoves (because of corrosion?)

Even if not for corrosion, doesn't the ribbing reduce the flow potential?

to check the chimney use a small mirrow lke ladies use in their purses. look into the chimney with it oon an angle during the day and you should see plenty of daylight

llama99 wrote:

Dennis wrote:

llama99 wrote:

new pipe.JPG

Hi All,

I just re-did the stove pipe. No galvanized.

Now all you need to do is remove the baro and stick the shop vac up the chimney pipe to clean the fly ash out with out shutting down.First unplug the stoker

Since I had it shut down and the pipe off, used my shop vac to clean out the horizontal section and up as far as it would reach. The chimney has got to be 35-40 feet high, so I really didn't go vertical. Thinking it should be good. Gonna fire her up.

CAP - Thanks for the support.

Just in case - Ideas on what I should pay for a chimney cleaning?

Dave T.

If you are handy you can go order a chimney brush and enough sections of flexible fiberglass rod with threaded ends to clean your own. Should cost less than 50 dollars....which I think is less than one chimney cleaning.

Joe

Thanks Guys!

All cleaned up, new pipe and running great.