How can you clean pipes from stoves? How to clean soot from a stove chimney - options and remedies

The efficient operation of a wood-burning stove will depend on the condition of the chimney structure. Every owner of a private home should be able to clean a chimney.

Figure 1. Tools for cleaning the chimney: metal brush, brush with metal bristles, holders, scraper.

Professional stove builders believe that a properly installed and equipped chimney can be clean for many years if it is operated in accordance with all existing rules.

If the stove is heated with dry wood without a high tar content, the ashpit is regularly cleared of ash, and various debris is not burned in the stove, then you will only need to periodically remove soot from the cleaning holes located in the room.

You should know that the chimney structure must be inspected twice a year. This must be done in order to find out the condition of the chimney structure. You will need to remove not only soot, but also debris that has flown in from the street, cobwebs, bird nests, and so on. Speaking about how and when to properly clean a chimney, you need to know that this task must be solved depending on how clogged the chimney is with soot.

Reasons why you need to clean your chimney:

Figure 2. Diagram of the cleaning principle.

1. Providing good traction. The soot that settles on the walls of the chimney will partially reduce its clearance. For this reason, smoke will not be able to pass freely through the chimney. A thick layer of soot will prevent the walls from warming up well. This leads to smoke entering a private home, reducing draft and efficiency of the stove. If you have poor draft, you can easily get carbon monoxide poisoning.
2. Safe use of the oven. At high temperatures, soot can ignite and cause cracking of the walls of the chimney structure, which leads to its destruction. Sparks from hot soot that jump out of the chimney can start a fire.

How to clean a chimney?

First of all, you need to figure out what tools to buy. The main device of a chimney sweep is a metal brush that has a large diameter. For square structures, it is more convenient to use a brush with stiff metal bristles.

If during the cleaning process the brush will be lowered down on a rope, the brush should be equipped with several flexible holders that will be connected to each other.

You will need to purchase a scraper and a bucket.

Figure 3. Scheme of cleaning with a ball.

Items required for work:

• metal brush;
• brush with metal bristles;
• holders for brush;
• scraper;
• heavy round bucket;
• additional cleaning products.

A standard set of cleaning devices can be seen in Fig. 1.

Return to contents

Cleaning a chimney pipe using traditional methods

Many stove makers use traditional cleaning methods, because cleaning work is dangerous.

1. The most common method is to sprinkle rock salt on the wood as it burns. You should know that this salt is most often used to prevent the appearance of soot.
2. Potato peelings can help remove plaque on the chimney walls. You will need to heat the fireplace well, then put a lot of potato skins into the fire. The steam that will be released will be able to decompose the soot that enters the chimney. Heavy pieces will fall into the stove, which needs to be cleaned. It is worth noting that cleaning with potatoes is not complete, but only as a means that helps soften the soot and make it easily come off the pipe walls. After such preparatory work, you will need to clean the pipe in the usual manual way.
3. If you have aspen firewood, then cleaning the chimney is quite simple. To do this you will need to burn a certain amount of armfuls. This method is unsafe, because cleaning is carried out by obtaining a high temperature in the chimney structure, at which the soot will begin to burn. If you plan to use this method, you should make sure that the chimney can withstand heavy loads and not be damaged after this. If there is a large layer of soot deposits in the pipe, it is recommended not to take risks and use a safer and simpler method.

Return to contents

How can you clean a chimney manually?

A chimney sweep who has extensive experience will be able to clean the chimney pipe efficiently, and will also inspect the structure for the formation of cracks, evaluate the operation of the heating device and the presence of draft.

Today there are many people who are able to monitor the stove themselves. You definitely need to know how to clean the pipe so that the operation of the stove does not disturb those present.

The sequence of work for cleaning the stove is as follows:

1. First you need to close all cleaning holes in the house. This must be done to prevent soot from flying into the room. The oven door also closes. If the stove is open, it is recommended to hang a wet cloth on the firebox.
2. Chimney cleaning is carried out exclusively in dry weather, and there should be no wind. You will definitely need to use insurance.
3. If the stove has not been used for a long time, the first thing you need to do is make sure that there are no bird nests in the structure. If you cannot remove the nest or debris from the top of the structure, you will need to push it down using improvised means.
4. The chimney must be cleaned if the layer of soot on its walls is more than 2 mm. If there is a smaller layer, complete cleaning may not be necessary. In this case, you will need to use alternative methods.
5. If the soot layer is thick enough, you will need to scrape it off first. Only after this is used a brush or ruff.
6. During the cleaning process, a blockage may be discovered in the chimney structure, which will prevent the tool from moving further. This could be any debris or brick that has fallen out of the masonry. If the chimney has not been serviced for a long time, then the likelihood of finding debris in it is quite high. The jam will need to be broken through with a heavy steel cannonball, which is secured with a carabiner on a rope. It is thrown into the center of the opening of the chimney structure, while trying not to touch the walls of the pipe.

A brush with a weight is lowered into the chimney pipe, it removes soot and removes foreign objects.

It is necessary to select a core diameter that can cover at least 2/3 of the chimney cross-section.

The core can be used not only to clear congestion, but also as a weight for a brush or brush. The cable, brush and core must be connected to each other with carabiners, which allow you to change the design by removing any section from it. The cleaning scheme is shown in Fig. 3.

Instead of the core, it is not allowed to use weights for sports or any other objects that have a lot of weight and a displaced center of gravity. Such objects can turn over and get stuck in the chimney duct for a long time. To remove jammed objects, you will need to dismantle the structure.

Open stoves with a direct chimney can be cleaned not from the roof, but from the side of the firebox. To do this, you will need to use metal brushes on an extendable handle.

After cleaning the stove, you will need to carefully open all cleaning holes and remove any existing dirt using a brush and dustpan or soot scoop. Remaining soot can be removed by using a household vacuum cleaner.

At the end, the fireplace insert and vent are opened and cleaned.

Return to contents

How to clean a chimney using chemicals?

When chemically cleaning a chimney, the bag with the product is placed in the firebox, after which the door is tightly closed.

From time to time it is recommended to use preventive measures. This allows you not to think about the need to clean the chimney in the future. These products are chemicals that are available in liquid form. It will need to be added to the firebox during the burning of wood. When burned, it will release gases that do not cause any harm to humans. These gases will shed deposits from the chimney walls.

The most effective and common chemicals are:

1. Composition against soot. This powder is intended for cleaning chimney structures. It will need to be burned in the package along with fuel. The consumption of the product is standardized: for 1 ton of fuel you will need to use 100-160 g of powder.
2. Kominichek. 1 package contains 5 sachets of 15 g each. This amount is enough for 3 months of preventive work. Kominichek is recommended to be used if there is a small layer of soot. The maximum layer thickness is 2 mm. The product will remove soot and soot. With its help, a reaction will be caused in which the soot will turn into an oxide that can burn at a low temperature.
3. Using the product is quite simple: 1 sachet is placed in the firebox on burning fuel, after which the door is closed. Due to exposure to high temperatures, the granules will release substances that can dissolve soot on the walls of the firebox and in the chimney structure.
4. Log. A product that is a small briquette or bar. During combustion, volatile substances are released that can reduce the thickness of creosote deposits on the walls of the pipe. The deposits will dry out and fall into the firebox. The cleaning principle can be seen in Fig. 2.

Log is the most popular chemical remedy. The product reduces the risk of creosote deposits and extends the service life of the chimney. The timber can be used in stoves and fireplaces of any type.

If the stove is heated several times a week, then it will be enough to burn a log once every six months. If the stove is used daily, you will need to burn 2 bars in 1 season. If you need to clean a wood stove that is being used during the heating season, you will need to burn a log in it once every few months.

In order to be able to achieve maximum cleaning efficiency, you need to place the log on hot coals that remain from the previous firebox. If the timber does not burn, the wrapper on both sides should be set on fire with a match.

The additives that make up the timber remain active for several weeks. During this time, soot will enter the firebox, breaking away from the walls of the pipe. After 2 weeks, you will need to clean the firebox, inspect the elbow and pipe, and then clean them of waste that has fallen out. The smoke damper also needs cleaning. To clean, use a vacuum cleaner or fireplace brush.

Before purchasing any chemical, it is important to carefully read the instructions for use and the manufacturer’s advice regarding the use of the product in various types of heating devices. Not all products are universal; some can only be used in closed fireboxes or stoves that burn wood.

There is no smoke without fire, and also without soot and other products of incomplete combustion that settle on the walls of the chimney. Stove heating has been around for more than a millennium, and during this time people have developed dozens of ways to clean chimneys. There was once a belief that meeting a chimney sweep would bring good luck. This profession was honorable and in demand. Nowadays, many means have been created for mechanical and chemical removal of soot. Using them, the owner of the home can complete all the work himself.

Why does the chimney become clogged?

Combustion is a complex physical and chemical process during which a rapid oxidation reaction of combustible substances occurs, releasing a large amount of heat. The initial substance that served as fuel breaks down into fractions as a result of combustion. Most of it turns into a hot gaseous state and rushes down the chimney, creating draft. Along with the gases, particles of unburned substances rush into the chimney, which are deposited in the form of soot and plaque.

Incomplete combustion occurs for two reasons:

not all substances are flammable;

due to lack of oxygen, without which combustion is impossible.

Soot is carbon in an amorphous state. In the chimney, soot mixes with the oils and resins contained in the wood and becomes greasy to the touch. This mixture itself is flammable. When soot ignites, its flame reaches a temperature of over 1000 o C. This reason alone is enough to regularly clean the entire chimney duct.

There is only one step from a fire in a chimney to a fire in a house.

In addition, soot clogs the clearance, which reduces traction. For this reason, combustion deteriorates and heat generation in the furnace decreases. Even worse, a narrow clearance can create a reverse draft effect when the products of incomplete combustion begin to escape into the heated room. This is fraught not only with a fire, but also with the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The first signs that the chimney requires cleaning appear long before obvious negative consequences. You should be wary if:

the color of the smoke from the chimney changes from transparent or whitish to dark;

it was noticed that instead of a clean fire with a cheerful crackling of coals, dark flames appear with smoke from the firebox;

people with developed hearing will feel a change in the tone of the humming in the chimney.

Often, the chimney design includes inspection windows with plugs; they are called inspection windows; through them you can check the condition of the chimney. In the absence of revisions, the old-fashioned method will do: lowering the brick on a rope into the chimney. If the blockage is severe, the brick will begin to get stuck. By the way the rope loosens and jerks again, you can feel the condition of the chimney. Today's advanced homeowners use a video camera on a flexible cable.

A clogged chimney is a risk factor and a threat to fire safety. This stove cannot be used until the chimney is completely cleaned.

How to clean a chimney pipe in a private house

Any method is good when the clearance in the chimney is restored, after which combustion in the stove or fireplace occurs with maximum heat transfer.

You can hire professional chimney sweeps, but the work itself is not difficult. If you have free time and simple equipment, doing the cleaning yourself will save the family budget and give you skill and understanding of how stove heating works.

Chemical cleaning methods

Industrial chemistry comes to the rescue. The homeowner's efforts are reduced to purchasing the product and filling it into the firebox according to the instructions.

Typically, chemical reagents are added directly while wood is burning. There is a combination of business and pleasure. The chemical assistant decomposes under the influence of high temperature, releasing active components that convert the amorphous carbon of soot into solid fractions that lose adhesion to the walls of the chimney and crumble into the firebox. They are then removed along with the ash.

The following chemical products are popular:

The anti-carbon chemical composition (PCC) is available in powder form and is strictly dosed. When packaged in paper bags, the packaging cannot be opened. One bag is placed along with firewood. There are options for plastic containers that have dispensing spoons attached to them. Usually 200 grams of powder is designed for 1 ton of fuel. Before use, you must carefully read the instructions.

The Czech chimney sweep "Kominicek" is also packaged in sachets of 14 grams each. One sachet is enough for a fireplace or stove, two for a central heating boiler. It is laid once every two weeks.

A log is a briquette made from coal dust and sawdust mixed with active chemicals. They are produced by many manufacturers and vary in size, weight and shape. Can be laid together with firewood or separately.

Dry cleaning is effective as a preventive measure even with a soot layer of up to 2 mm. It cannot completely replace mechanical cleaning.

Photo gallery: chemical chimney cleaning products

Inside the package 20 gram sachets 80 g in one package Powder comes with a dispensing spoon
Effective against creosote deposits

Video: log chimney sweep

Mechanical cleaning

There are traditional sets of professional chimney sweeps - weights, brushes, scrapers and brushes on chains and flexible cables. They are not consumer goods, so they are purchased in specialized stores or ordered directly from manufacturers. Modern industry also offers sophisticated devices for large volumes of work: vacuum cleaners, vacuum units, smoke and ventilation duct punches, live steam generators.

The chimney sweep is depicted on the 1 lat coin

The technique of work is simple, the main thing is to remove as much as possible the accumulated soot and other layers of products of incomplete combustion. The chimney sweep climbs to the roof, where, using cables (chains), he sharply lowers a weight with a brush into the chimney. The brush knocks off the soot and it falls into the firebox. Additionally, scrapers and brushes on long flexible poles are used. If the chimney has openings for inspection, which are normally closed with dampers, they are also used for cleaning and inspection. In fireplaces and in some types of stoves or boilers, there is the possibility of partial penetration into the chimney from the firebox side.

If you don’t have special tools in your household, you can make do with improvised means. Any chain will do; it can easily be replaced with a plumbing cable, hose or strong rope. Instead of a weight, they tie an old barn lock, a dumbbell, a plastic bottle with sand, or a stone in a stocking. You can’t make a metal brush quickly, but the same plastic bottle will help out.

Video: cleaning with a plastic bottle brush

If you create a powerful draft in the chimney, the soot will rush up the pipe naturally. Craftsmen use vacuum cleaners, fans, chainsaws and grinders for this. True, this method is not always practical, since clouds of black smoke rush into the atmosphere, and soot falls on the plot and neighbors. In this case, reasonable care and approval is required.

Devices that can create a sharp shake inside the chimney have a good effect in collapsing soot. They even use firecrackers.

Video: cleaning a chimney with firecrackers

Burn out the soot with fire

For chimneys made of refractory bricks, dry wood from alder and aspen is used. They quickly burn out with a flame temperature of up to 1100 o C. At this temperature, the soot completely burns out. The method is ancient, but is rarely practiced nowadays due to fire safety restrictions.

The procedure is as follows:

Collect aspen and alder firewood and dry it well.

The firebox is cleaned of coals and ash, fully loaded with prepared firewood and ignited.

Fire-fighting equipment is brought to readiness.

During combustion, sparks from the chimney are monitored and care is taken to ensure that sparks do not accidentally ignite the roof or nearby buildings.

If necessary, reload the firebox and repeat ignition.

The work is considered completed if white flakes fly out of the pipe and the characteristic hum from burning soot stops.

This method was developed using other means of burning soot. Gasoline, diesel fuel, and naphthalene were used. But it’s better not to take risks and experiment. Such flammable substances are not safe; their vapors are capable of a volumetric explosion. It will blow away not only the soot, but also the entire chimney.

Folk remedies

It is unknown who was the first to use potato peelings; the method is truly folk and appeared as a side effect of burning household waste in an oven.

It was noticed that after the combustion of potato peelings, soot falls abundantly from the chimney into the firebox, from where it is removed along with the ash. The point, of course, is not the peelings, but the starch contained in potatoes. It is starch that successfully binds and collapses soot.

It is not necessary to use cleaning specifically. Potatoes themselves will do if they are in excess and require disposal. As well as other starch-rich foods that must be soaked before use. These are legumes - peas, soybeans, beans, lentils and cereals - corn, buckwheat, rice. Or directly pure starch.

From a practical point of view, potato peelings are the most profitable material. They throw them away anyway. It is enough to accumulate about the size of a bucket and pour it into a fired oven to get an excellent result.

In addition to starch, you can use table salt and baking soda from what is always on hand. They also act on soot, helping it fall off.

Folk remedies are preventive, allowing to reduce chimney blockage. The same good old mechanical cleaning gives the best results.

Sleeve in the chimney

It has long been noticed that oval-shaped pipes provide better traction, and less soot deposits on smooth, glossy surfaces.

Brickwork, which is most often used for the construction of chimneys, lacks such advantages. This is where the idea of ​​a pipe in a pipe arose, especially when the industry began to offer pipes and connection elements made of galvanized sheet metal, stainless steel and ceramics as a set. In the future, pipes made of heat-resistant plastic that does not decompose at high temperatures are expected to appear.

A lined chimney is a structure in which the outer part is made of brick or concrete as an architectural element for decoration and protection of the internal chimney - the liner.

Lined chimney - a chimney in a closed shaft

The advantage of sleeves is obvious:

improved traction and reduced soot accumulation;

heat conservation;

removal of condensate, eliminating the formation of an aggressive acidic or alkaline environment inside the chimney;

reduction of thermal loads on brickwork;

simplification of cleaning and inspection of the chimney.

Since the sleeve consists of prefabricated elements, its installation, maintenance, and replacement of defective parts do not require the involvement of qualified repairmen.

The most popular material for lining is stainless steel. Ceramics in themselves are good, but only for an individual project. Material and work will be very expensive. You can use galvanized sheet, it is cheaper than stainless steel, however, the service life will be shorter and there is always a risk that the sheet will not hold up and will burn out.

An even greater effect can be obtained from pipes and connection elements made in the form of a sandwich, that is, two-layer with an insulating non-flammable material inside, for example, mineral wool.

Video: pipe lining

When constructing a new chimney, the pipe lining is done simultaneously with the laying. It is more difficult when the chimney has already been built and was in operation. But this is not an insurmountable obstacle, because individual parts of the system are manufactured specifically for installation inside a brick or concrete shaft. Lining is performed as follows:

Mechanical cleaning of chimneys and its inspection are carried out.

The possibility of passing the sleeve from the top of the chimney to the firebox is determined.

When there are no bends in the chimney that prevent the free pushing of the liner, it is assembled by connecting the elements and gradually lowered into the chimney to the firebox.

During operation, it is recommended to be careful not to accidentally drop the unassembled sleeve. This can significantly complicate further assembly.

The sleeve is flexible, allowing for simple bends. If a blockage occurs, you can try to approach the bend from the side of the firebox. The elements are articulated and gradually pushed upward.

If it is not possible to pass the bend, then partial disassembly of the chimney is carried out in the problem area. You can knock out a few bricks or make a technological cutout to provide access to the connection.

In pipe bends, the connection is made by elements such as an elbow or a bend.

The sleeve is secured with clamps, an apron and a fungus are installed on top, protecting the chimney and sleeve from precipitation. Installation on the firebox side should ensure the removal of combustion products through the liner system, preventing them from entering the chimney shaft.

Assembling and disassembling a lined chimney is not difficult

The sleeve elements are made in such a way that they fit tightly into one another and firmly hold their shape. The dimensions are standard, this makes it easy to replace individual parts or modify them if it is necessary to rebuild the chimney.

A hearth in the form of a fireplace or stove not only serves as a means of heating the room, but also creates a unique coziness in the house. However, the use of fire inevitably generates the need for chimney maintenance. Chemical and mechanical cleaning agents are available. And besides them, there are folk remedies that have been proven over centuries. Each method is good in its own way, but with certain limitations. Using them in combination allows you to operate the stove heating system with the greatest efficiency.

Heating a house, cottage or bathhouse is rarely complete without a stove or boiler. For our winters, this equipment is optimal: it can produce the required amount of heat. But both stoves and boilers require maintenance, and one of the mandatory procedures is chimney cleaning.

Why does the chimney become overgrown with soot?

The combustion process of fuel is an oxidation process, and this requires oxygen and high temperature. If at least one of these conditions is not met, soot appears - this is the result of insufficient oxidation of carbon. Externally, the presence of soot can be determined by the color of the smoke - if it is black, it means it contains soot particles, but most of it settles in the chimney, especially in places of turns.

Now a little about what can cause active soot formation:

The rate at which the chimney becomes overgrown with soot also depends on the type of firewood. Resinous spruce and pine are not the best choice in this regard, but not everyone has the opportunity to burn with expensive oak or other hardwoods. In any case, you can make sure that the firewood is dry. To do this, it is worth building a larger one so that it can accommodate a supply for 2-3 years. Then you can use the most seasoned and dried logs, and let the fresh ones lie and reach condition.

How can you clean a chimney from soot?

There are three ways to clean a chimney:

• Mechanical. A brush is inserted into the chimney, with the help of which the soot is knocked off the walls. The disadvantage of this method is that you need to have access to the pipe, which is not always easy. Not everyone is able to climb onto the roof, and cleaning from below requires flexible rods and access. Another unpleasant moment: all the contents fall down, you will have to collect it and take it out, and then spend a long time cleaning the soot from the stove or fireplace. Therefore, before starting cleaning, place some kind of container into which everything will be poured.
• Chemical chimney cleaning - powders and briquettes (logs). When the system warms up, the powders are poured into the fire, and logs are placed under the firebox. The substances they contain soften the soot, it gradually flies into the pipe, but can fall down and block the passage altogether. So it is better to use these products for prevention when there is still a little soot.
• Traditional methods. The problem of chimneys becoming overgrown with soot is not new, and our ancestors knew how to deal with it without chemicals. There were, of course, chimney sweeps, but they worked in cities, and their services cost a lot. Nevertheless, the problem was dealt with using very simple means - salt or potato peelings.

There is another drastic solution - go to the fire department and call specialists. They are no longer called chimney sweeps, but perform the same functions, albeit by different means. The solution is not bad, they know their job, since soot is explosive, as long as they don’t give permission to anyone. The only negative is the cost of such services.

Mechanical chimney cleaning products

Cleaning chimneys using brushes has been used for centuries, and they are still available today. A brush-ruff is attached to the end of a long elastic and flexible cable. Diameter - individually depending on the size of the chimney. A small metal ball can be tied under the ruff to make the tool go down easier. This structure is lowered into the chimney, raised, lowered again and raised again. Do this until the passage is clear. Everything works simply - the bristles knock off the soot from the pipe.

This chimney cleaning has one peculiarity: if there is good draft, most of the soot flies out into the chimney. Therefore, firstly, you need to tie yourself down so that you don’t fall off the roof due to involuntary movement, and secondly, put on safety glasses and a respirator. Gloves would also help, but they are needed to prevent the cable from injuring your hands.

If you decide to make a chimney brush yourself, hang the ball below, and a centered one. Weights or wrenches are not suitable - sooner or later they become a waste in the chimney. You will be lucky if you can remove the tool without disassembling the pipe.

The chimney is not always such that it can be cleaned from above - it can rise several meters above the roof. You can’t put a ladder up to it, you can’t get close to it in any other way. In this case, the chimney is cleaned from below. For this purpose there are brushes on flexible rods. Fragments of the rod are connected to one another, the brush moves along the pipe. In this case, part of the soot is also carried away by the draft, but some falls down and this must also be taken into account. Professional chimney sweeps use special vacuum cleaners for collection (not household ones, since soot is explosive); if you clean it yourself, you will have to collect everything by hand.

If you have a fireplace, everything is simple - access is free, but if it is a boiler or sauna stove, the matter is more complicated. If the chimney has a glass to collect condensate, by removing it, you can run a brush into the pipe without any problems. If there are no revisions, you will have to try to get to the pipe through the firebox. If this is not possible, you will have to disassemble the chimney. Then it’s better to immediately redo it by installing a tee with a glass.

Chimney cleaning products

You can clean the chimney using chemicals while it is not too clogged. If the pipe is brick, these products help make mechanical cleaning less frequent. As an independent product they can be used for ceramic chimneys or those made of stainless steel. All these powders or logs for removing soot from a pipe are preventative. It is not always possible to clean the chimney from a large amount of soot with them. There have been cases when the soot that fell after burning the powder clogged the chimney tightly. I had to take a brush and clean it by hand.

Despite these shortcomings, the products are used and here’s why: during processing, the soot that is in the boiler, sauna stove or smoke ducts also softens. Pulling them by hand is a small pleasure, but regular use does a good job of eliminating the problem.

There are plenty of products for cleaning chimneys from soot in stores, but here are the most popular:

After using all chemicals, the room must be ventilated and the stove or fireplace must be cleaned. Please note that after treatment, the soot may still fall off for a couple of days - the remnants fly off.

Traditional methods of chimney cleaning

The easiest way to prevent soot formation is to heat an already heated stove with aspen wood. They burn with a very hot flame, and the soot in the chimney burns away. The action is effective, but dangerous - if a lot of soot has accumulated, it explodes when ignited and can rupture the pipe.

There are safer folk remedies that make chimney cleaning both effective and safe. Add half a kilogram of salt or about a bucket of potato peelings to a melted and well-heated oven. It is better to dry the peelings or add raw ones little by little - so as not to reduce the temperature in the firebox. The effect is approximately the same as when using chemicals, only a little softer - the soot flies out of the chimney for another three days.

• Brick stove chimney
• Chimney of a metal stove
• Is it time to clean?
• Burning aspen wood
• Chimney cleaning products
• DIY chimney cleaning
• Cleaning the chimney in the bathhouse

More and more city residents are flocking closer to nature - to their dachas and villages. And more and more often they get lost in everyday situations that are unusual for village life. A typical example is caring for chimneys of country, bathhouse, and village stoves. The main question is: “how to clean a chimney?” First of all, it is necessary to understand the essence of the issue. Chimneys differ in design and material of manufacture.

Brick stove chimney

It is no secret for owners of capital brick stoves that pipes are almost never straight-through. Country stoves differ from direct-flow potbelly stoves, the memories of which are still retained by city residents. They represent complex engineering structures - bell-shaped or with several “wells”. Sparks entering the chimney are virtually eliminated. Such a device has two elbows with a horizontal section between them, called a “hog”. "Hog" prevents sparks from flying out into the street through the pipe. The passages are made of red brick, their surface has roughness and the presence of masonry seams - this leads to soot deposits on the walls.

Chimney of a metal stove

Nowadays there are practically no capital stoves being built - they are expensive, take a long time, and are not justified economically.

Many people rarely use warm heating, spending time outside the city exclusively in the summer and on warm days in autumn and spring. Summer residents usually use metal structures that last a long time. Accordingly, the pipe is made less extensive, using sandwich pipes. More often they are direct-flow, high (at least 5 meters - required by operating technology, otherwise the fuel will not ignite). The smooth surface of the stainless pipe does not seem to be susceptible to soot accumulating on the surface. Alas, another problem awaits the owners - it will be discussed below.

Is it time to clean?

A natural question arises: “When should I clean the chimney?”

The first bell is the appearance of a specific smell of burning at the moment of heating. Many people accept it as an obligatory fact accompanying the firebox. Wrong! A properly made stove, without cracks in the masonry, with a clean chimney, does not smell. The next warning factor is a decrease in heat transfer. This is due to the fact that due to a decrease in draft, the flow of oxygen, which ensures the combustion process, is reduced. Firewood burns worse, does not burn out completely, and heat transfer decreases accordingly. Be sure to pay attention to the color of the flame. When decreasing

traction and the required amount of oxygen, it turns dark red. Look at the pipe from the street. If you have loaded dry firewood and black smoke comes out of the chimney, this is a sign of contamination of the chimney and is already a very serious hint that it needs to be cleaned. Many people don’t pay attention and continue to heat until one day smoke comes from the firebox into the house.

You need to clean the chimney pipe in time and follow simple rules when burning. We minimize the formation of soot in the pipe:

Traditional methods of cleaning a chimney

There comes a time when it is necessary to clean. First of all, we’ll tell you how to clean a chimney from soot using folk remedies:

Burning aspen wood

The most common and effective method is burning aspen wood.

Surprisingly, the villagers talk about aspen, chuckling: “Aspen does not burn without gasoline.” Indeed, it is quite difficult to melt aspen, even dry, but then, having flared up, it gives off intense heat that burns out the soot in the chimney. You need to be extremely careful here, as soot in heavily polluted chimneys is explosive. It is said that the Chinese invented gunpowder through observations of chimney explosions. To avoid such consequences, it is better to make it a rule to throw one aspen log into each fire pit - wait until the rest of the firewood has already flared up. Thus, the aspen will burn out the soot gradually and there will be no danger of explosion.

Chimney cleaning with potato peelings

The second popular method will make it possible to clean the chimney from soot in a less dangerous way. We collect potato peelings, skins or finely chopped potatoes in half a bucket, and pre-heat the stove. The firewood is on fire - throw the cleaning materials into the fire. The starch contained in potatoes evaporates with water, gets to the top, cools, and settles on the soot present. It is much heavier than soot deposits; under its weight, the soot falls down, from where, after the structure has cooled, it is removed through cleaning holes. A properly designed stove must have such holes. After the pipe itself has cooled, mechanical cleaning is necessary.

Chimney cleaning with rock salt

As a preventive measure, they use rock salt to sprinkle burning firewood, which leads to a reduction in the deposited soot - it is simply nailed down with salt and does not fly out of the combustion chamber. This method greatly reduces soot accumulation in the pipe; unfortunately, it does not completely remove it.

Chimney cleaning products

Let's look for more modern answers to the question “How to clean a chimney pipe?” Hasn't any modern cleaning product been invented yet? As paradoxical as it may sound, the choice of funds is small. Basically chemical ones - they are added to the firewood and act on approximately the same principle as potato peelings or aspen logs - they raise the combustion temperature, burning out the soot.

Remember, there is no better option than cleaning a chimney with the help of... a chimney sweep.

You can climb onto the roof yourself and clean it the old-fashioned way - using a Christmas tree tied to a rope and lowered to the very bottom, then carefully pulled out by the top. Of course, now there are many devices, but the principle of their operation is not far from the notorious Christmas tree on a rope.

DIY chimney cleaning

Cleaning is best done in warm, windless, clear weather. The oven must cool completely. The frequency of cleaning depends on the intensity of use, the firewood used, its humidity and quality.

Before starting the classic procedure, first close the cleanout doors, fuel doors, and ash door. Try to place a damp cloth on top - it will cover the existing cracks.

Having carefully climbed onto the roof, be sure to fasten the safety rope to a reliable roof element. The main tool of a chimney sweep is a brush on a rope with a weight attached.

How to use it is quite clear from the photograph. There are times when the height of the pipe does not allow you to reach its top. This often occurs when using sandwich pipes. The pipe will have to be disassembled for cleaning. Luckily, they don't get clogged that often. The main difficulty is condensate, but it accumulates below in a specially designated place - an easily opened sump. The condensate is drained and disposed of. Can't disassemble the pipe? Clean from below with a device similar to the first device.


This is the same brush, but mounted on a flexible, rigid wire or plastic fiber. This method is somewhat more unpleasant for the chimney sweep, since all the waste will fall down during the cleaning process. Therefore, when using this tool, prepare the area in advance - fence it off with damp cloth, prepare a vacuum cleaner.

Having finished cleaning the vertical part of the pipe, it is necessary to clean the horizontal part. At the beginning of the article we talked about the “hog”. Cleaning doors are never installed on it. This is due to the fact that it is located in the attic outside the area of ​​constant surveillance. Dust accumulates in the attic, and if it gets on a hot cast iron door, it can cause a fire. When laying a “hog”, a couple of bricks are left protruding outward. You can take them and, having carefully beaten off the clay of the solution, pull them out, thereby opening access to the horizontal part of the pipe. Having cleaned the “hogs”, the bricks are inserted back and covered with clay.
Once the cleaning is complete, the “hogs” move on to cleaning the oven itself. It is cleaned through special cleaning doors.

pechnoeremeslo.ru

Why do you need clean smoke exhaust ducts?

Many in childhood saw how their grandfathers and great-grandfathers cleaned the pipe from soot, but not everyone knows why this not very pleasant operation is necessary. Therefore, I will work a little as a lecturer so that you have something to tell your children on long winter evenings, rocking in a rocking chair by the fireplace.

So, when solid fuel burns, in addition to thermal energy and hot gases, soot is formed in the furnace. With currents of rising thermal air, it rises up the chimney and gradually settles on the walls of the chimney.

As the heater operates, the soot layer becomes thicker. And in the end, all this can lead to very unpleasant consequences:

• the channel for removing gases formed during combustion is greatly narrowed, which reduces the draft in the pipe;
• soot adhered to the walls of the chimney damages the surface of the pipe and reduces the service life of the device;
• the efficiency of the stove (thermal energy production) decreases, that is, to maintain the desired temperature in the room you will have to use more firewood, coal, fuel briquettes or whatever you have;
• the likelihood of ignition of soot deposits inside the stove chimney increases.

Only cleaning the smoke exhaust duct will help you get rid of all the troubles. It is only important to determine exactly when you need to start this not the most pleasant procedure. This is what I will talk about next.

When you can no longer put off this unpleasant task

In principle, based on my own experience, I can tell you that if a fireplace or wood-burning stove was built by an experienced craftsman and he met all the requirements, you will need to worry about how to clean the chimney from soot no more than once every few years.

Especially if you use high-quality fuel. For example, if, in addition to firewood, you throw various garbage, plastic bottles, plastic bags and other plastic items into the firebox, you do not need to count on a clean chimney.

I can also advise you not to use damp wood for heating, especially pine or spruce wood.
Birch logs that have been in your woodpile for at least 2 years from the date of harvesting are most suitable for the firebox.

So, I’ll tell you what signs indicate the need for urgent chimney cleaning:

1. Smoke color change. A clean chimney produces clean, light and transparent smoke. If soot has accumulated there, it will change its color to a darker one. And the smoke itself will become denser.

1. Changing the shade of the open flame in the firebox. If the draft in the pipe is normal and the chimney is clean, the firewood burns with a light orange flame. An orange-colored fire will indicate the need to clean the chimney.

Be that as it may, I advise you to carry out preventive cleaning of the pipe once every 6 months: before the start of the cold season and after it ends. This allows you not only to remove soot in a timely manner, but also to get rid of clogging of the smoke exhaust channel with cobwebs, bird nests, fallen leaves, and so on.

Based on the signs outlined above, you will definitely determine that you need to get to work. But we’ll figure out how to do this below.

Pipe cleaning methods

There are many ways to clean soot from a pipe. You can use both folk remedies and advice, as well as the achievements of the modern chemical industry. Yes, no one has canceled the mechanical method, that is, you can easily work as a chimney sweep.

In my practice, I had to use all available methods, so I can safely talk about each of them in more detail.

Method 1 – Using Grandma’s Remedies

There is no need to philosophize here. Our grandparents have long known that they need to burn in a stove to get rid of soot. I won’t say that these methods are very effective, but they have a right to exist.

Here are a few tools you can use:

1. Rock salt. Regular table salt should be poured onto burning wood or coal.

This method is quite common, but not particularly effective. My grandmother often poured salt into the stove, but she did this not so much to get rid of soot deposits in the smoke exhaust duct, but to prevent its accumulation. Therefore, I won’t dwell for long, I’ll tell you about another method.

1. Potato skins or potato tubers themselves. The quantity is determined by the size of the firebox in the stove, but, as a rule, about a bucket of such waste was enough for me. They need to be poured into an already burning fire.

The essence of the method is that when organic matter burns, starch is released from potatoes, which tends to soften soot deposits on the chimney. After this, the waste layers fall into the lower part of the pipe, from where they are removed through a specially made hole (it was provided when laying the furnace).

1. Firewood from aspen. There's not much to say about the technology itself. You need to chop wood from aspen logs and then light a fire in the stove.

Here's the thing. Aspen firewood burns at a very high temperature, so hot gases enter the chimney, which burns soot deposits. This method is quite dangerous, so I advise you to take some precautions:

• make sure that the chimney material can withstand high temperatures;
• check that soot deposits in the channel are not so large as to ignite.

But in principle, no one is stopping you from buying special chemicals for cleaning soot from stoves. Their price is low, and their effectiveness is proven by practical experience. At least mine. Therefore, the story about them will go further.

Method 2 – Call on science to help

Modern industry produces a lot of products specifically designed for removing soot from the chimney. They can be supplied as:

• powders;
• liquids;
• fuel briquettes.

They are added to the firebox during fuel combustion. The chemical elements contained in the preparations do not cause harm to human health, but have a destructive effect on soot deposits, causing it to collapse into the lower part of the chimney.

Supplements should be used as deposits accumulate or from time to time, as a preventive measure.

I have described the most popular means for cleaning chimneys from soot in the table, which I suggest you familiarize yourself with.

Name	Description
Anti-carbon chemical composition	A special loose powder that must be poured directly onto the firewood while it is burning. This is a very effective product that allows you to quickly get rid of carbon deposits in the smoke exhaust duct. It can also be used for prevention. In this case, the powder consumption is 200 g for every ton of fuel.
Kominichek	Soot remover made in Czech Republic. It is also supplied in powder form, which contains a catalyst that allows the soot to burn out at a safely low temperature. However, the powder is only suitable for removing a not too thick layer of carbon deposits.
Log chimney sweep	The most popular method in our country for cleaning chimneys from soot. It can be used to clean pipes of furnaces and boilers operating not only on solid, but also on liquid fuel. Effectively removes soot accumulation and can be used for prevention. In my case, to keep the chimney of the fireplace in the country clean, one log is enough, which I burn every month.

Considering that most likely you will also use the Chimney Sweep Log, I’ll tell you how to clean soot in a chimney using it:

1. First of all, you need to make sure that the smoke exhaust channel is not completely clogged with soot, debris or foreign objects.
2. You can burn the fuel briquette either with the main fuel or completely independently.
3. To achieve maximum efficiency, I burn wood in the fireplace, then place the briquette on hot charcoal (like a shish kebab, but not on skewers).
4. Before use, you need to remove the packaging of the log, but not the wrapper itself in which the substance is wrapped.
5. Usually the log ignites on its own, but if for some reason this does not happen, light the wrapper on both sides yourself.

The soot-eating chemical itself continues to act for about 14 days. During this entire time, lumps of soot may collapse from the chimney into the firebox or to the bottom of the smoke exhaust channel. It needs to be constantly removed from there.

In conclusion of this particular section, I would like to mention one feature that not everyone knows about. When burned, the “chimney sweeper log” produces gases with a temperature of over 1000 degrees Celsius, which can melt a steel chimney pipe. Therefore, the substance can be used in furnaces with stone and ceramic pipes.

Method 3 – we climb the pipe ourselves

I think you are all familiar with the folk wisdom that you can only do a good job with your own hands. This is exactly what I was guided by when I started cleaning the pipes at a bathhouse in the village. In this case, you get rid of not only soot accumulation, but also debris in the channel.

At the end of the work, you will see for yourself how efficiently and smoke-free the stove will operate. I won’t tell you how I took a steam bath in the bathhouse, otherwise you’ll become jealous.

I will only tell you about the scheme of work when cleaning a chimney from internal soot accumulations. The sequence of actions is as follows:

1. First, we close the holes in the chimneys, which are specially designed for cleaning the stoves from soot accumulation, with doors or bricks. If this is not done, you will then be tortured to wash the interior of the bathhouse (or whatever you have there) from the black unpleasant coating.

If you are cleaning a fireplace with an open firebox, I advise you to curtain it with a damp cloth to, again, avoid a day of cleaning the living room.

1. Then we pretend to be Carlson and go up to the roof. Since you don’t have a motor, I advise you to come up with something as insurance so as not to fall down in the midst of the process. Believe me, no one wants to take you to the traumatology department.

By the way, if it is raining, it is also better to avoid climbing onto the roof. You will either be struck by lightning or slip on the roof. You and your loved ones are unlikely to like both.

1. First of all, you need to inspect the pipe from above. If soot accumulation does not exceed 2 mm, there is no need to complicate your life. Go to the store, buy some pipe cleaner and fire it up in the oven. This will be more than enough.

You also need to see if a foreign object is blocking the pipe. This can often be a bird's nest or fallen leaves. In this case, the plug must either be pulled up or pushed down to be removed through the door.

1. If, as in my case, there is a lot of soot, we clean it with a special scraper. Then it can be replaced with a special brush, which is sold in a specialized store.

To achieve maximum efficiency, I recommend measuring the diameter of the pipe in advance and purchasing a tool whose diameter is slightly larger than the dimensions of the smoke exhaust duct. You will get a kind of brush, similar to the one your mother used to wash milk bottles when she was a child.

1. One more thing. During my work, it turned out that some kind of plug formed inside the pipe, which interfered with cleaning. In this case, you need to use a special weight on a chain, which will break through the blockage and bring it down.

In this case, I do not recommend using a sports weight with a handle. Its center of gravity is shifted, so it may get stuck inside the pipe channel and you will not be able to pull it out. You will have to partially disassemble the smoke duct.

1. If you are cleaning not a stove, but a fireplace, you can partially free the smoke channel from soot by working from bottom to top. For this purpose, special brushes with a long and durable handle are sold. It grows in length, so you can reach very deep inside the pipe.

1. At the end of the cleaning, you need to remove the fallen soot from the firebox and from the pipe through doors specially provided for this purpose. Don’t forget to clean the vent, there is also a lot of soot that falls there and needs to be removed.

At this point, cleaning the chimney could be considered complete. if not for one important stage - quality control of work. You can safely entrust it to your significant other, unless, of course, she is afraid to climb onto the roof.

Work quality control

At the end of the work, it is necessary to check the quality of the work performed and, most importantly, the condition of the chimney itself. This can be done visually, but it is better to rent a special endoscope camera, with which you can see the pipe along its entire length.

If cracks or defects in the surface of the chimney are found within direct reach, they must be eliminated. You can do this as follows:

• dilute clean clay with water and coat cracks and crevices with it;
• after this layer has dried, you need to make a clay-sand solution and carefully wipe over all other defects with it;
• The last stage is whitewashing the treated areas with lime or painting with water-based emulsion.

If in some places you were unable to clean the chimney, you will have to resort to partial disassembly of the stove, since soot residues in the smoke exhaust channel can cause serious trouble.

obustroeno.com

The need for chimney cleaning

First of all, this need arises if the chimney is clogged with soot. This is fraught with the fact that combustion products cannot freely come to the surface, thereby they will poison the air in the house or bathhouse.

Despite the fact that the service life of a stove chimney is more than 10 years, the service life of a dirty chimney is significantly reduced. All accumulated debris and a compressed “coat” of soot reduces the clearance, which significantly prevents not only the release of combustion products, but also makes it difficult to warm up the walls.

In this case, the efficiency and the draft itself drop, and this, in turn, can lead to increased costs for heating and water heating. In addition, soot is very dangerous: it can spontaneously ignite, and its combustion will occur at a very high temperature - more than a thousand degrees. As a result of all these factors, the walls of the chimney will begin to collapse, cracks will appear through which sparks can enter the living space. This may lead to a fire in the room.

In addition to the above factors for the need to periodically clean the pipe from soot, there are a number of points that are worth paying attention to:

1. Stove ducts can become clogged when using household waste as a firebox: bags, plastic bottles, film, rags. This type of debris creates a lot of soot.
2. During seasonal operation of stove heating and a furnace in a bathhouse, the chimney can become clogged with cobwebs, and birds can build nests in it - these factors also affect the entry of combustion products into the room.

In order to prevent such phenomena, it is necessary to regularly check and clean the chimney and clean the stove from soot. It is enough to perform preventative cleaning twice a year. But you should not rely on these recommendations, since the regularity of chimney maintenance will depend on the design of the stove itself, on the quality of materials and the fuel itself.

How to clean the oven

The stove does not become overgrown with soot as quickly and heavily as the chimney itself. This is due to the fact that when wood or coal burns in a bunker, there is constant movement, so soot does not have time to accumulate. When it becomes necessary to light the stove, firewood or coal is placed in it, they are periodically turned over using a long metal rod or poker, then the ash is removed from the stove. All these actions are aimed at keeping the oven clean.

Occasionally, in addition to standard cleaning of the stove from soot, there is a need for deeper preventive cleaning: treating the grate, cleaning the internal walls, as well as the entrance and exit to the chimney itself. All these preventive measures must be carried out only after the chimney has been cleaned. Otherwise, a lot of debris may end up in the oven.

How to clean a chimney

Currently, there are several methods for cleaning soot from chimneys. Soot cleaning is carried out using the method that our grandmothers used. They poured dry potato peelings into the hot oven. It was believed that one bucket a day would be enough to neutralize soot. The starch found in dry potato skins, when heated, can decompose soot, which will fall off the walls of the pipe directly into the oven itself. It is necessary to carry out such actions within three days, so a lot of potato peelings need to be dried.

This method of cleaning a chimney is currently considered not the most effective, since it is advisable to also use physical cleaning. This can be done using a metal brush.

Classic cleaning

It involves getting rid of accumulated soot using a special structure - a brush with a load. This device is a metal brush with a rope, at the end of which a wire or cord with a weight is attached. Any heavy metal object can act as a load: a weight, a bearing or a piece of metal. The weight of the load must be at least three kilograms, and the length of the rope is equal to the length of the chimney pipe plus a little more so that the end of the device reaches the stove, cleaning the channels well.

To clean the chimney from soot yourself, you need to lower a metal brush into the chimney and clean the walls with rotational movements. This must be done as carefully as possible. To prevent falling from a height, it is advisable to tie a rope around your torso and tie it to a skate or smoker. You can also take a stable position on the roof and lower the brush into the chimney. Just 30 minutes is enough for the chimney to be cleared of soot. But, if it is very clogged, then you will have to be a coward for much longer. At the moment when the brush rises and falls, it scrapes accumulated debris and soot from the walls of the chimney. All debris and dirt fall down into the oven.

After the pipe is cleaned, you need to return to the room and carefully remove debris and soot from the stove, clean the windows (views) and the walls of the stove.

This method of removing soot is considered the most common and effective.

High temperature cleaning

There is another way by which you can also clean soot from stoves and chimneys yourself - high-temperature cleaning.

Its features:

1. A very dangerous method. Because you have to work at high temperatures.
2. Suitable for very heavy contamination, when stoves and chimneys have not been cleaned for several years in a row.

In order to clean the chimney and stove, it is necessary to prepare aspen firewood. The logs are placed in the stove and set on fire. When the fire engulfs all the wood, you need to open the dampers, thereby causing the stove to “burn out.” This will ensure that the furnace is blown through with hot smoke.

This method is considered effective only for high-quality stoves. If your oven is old, after such cleaning, cracks may form inside, and this is unsafe.

Chemical method

For preventive purposes, cleaning chimneys and stoves, country houses and baths, special soot cleaning products are widely used. Chemicals help remove the thin layer of accumulated soot.

There is a wide selection of chemical products on sale, which can be sold either with or without a set of brushes. The following products received a good recommendation: “Kominchek”, “Chimney Sweep”, “Log”, “Anti-carbon chemical composition”. All these products can be used for chimneys that are not equipped with smoke circulation. Otherwise, on the contrary, soot can severely clog all channels.

“Log Chimney Sweeper” powder is especially popular among summer residents. It consists of salt mixtures, which, entering into a catalytic reaction, cause complete disintegration of soot. This product is added to the firebox along with firewood. The duration of the log is about half a month.

This figure shows diagrams of chimneys that can be cleaned using chemicals.

Important: you need to be extremely careful when working with chemicals. Wear gloves. You also need to know that chemicals leave behind an unpleasant odor, so staying indoors for five days after cleaning is undesirable. Immediately after treating the chimney and stove with chemical components, you need to ventilate the room.

The concept of cleaning the chimney and stove means removing soot, but do not forget about other parts of the stove. They can be washed with soapy water without alcohol, and then wiped with a soft cloth or old towel.

If lime deposits have formed on the stove or chimney, they can be removed with a 10 percent vinegar solution. After completing the work, all surfaces are thoroughly rinsed with clean water and left to dry completely.

Cleaning the furnace from soot by calcination can be seen in this video:

recn.ru

Reasons for repair

The furnace needs work to eliminate defects in the following cases:

• Cracks appeared in the plaster applied over the bricks and in the area of ​​masonry joints. The fact is that certain areas of the stove always have to work hard, since they are exposed to the high temperature that occurs during the burning of wood. All materials that are heated or cooled change in volume and, consequently, crack.
• Plumes of smoke do not go into the chimney, but into the room, which is due to poor draft. Because of this, not only the stove deteriorates, but also people’s health. The draft, on which the heat supply depends, may disappear as a result of overcooling of the smoke exhaust pipe. This means that the chimney is clogged with soot;
• Combustion products are poorly discharged into the chimney, and a certain area of ​​the furnace remains unheated. This problem occurs due to the formation of cracks in the chimney or stove walls, which disrupt the combustion process and lower the temperature.

It happens that the defects of the stove are not visible, but the house smokes. Certain violations can lead to this:

• incorrect location of the chimney or stove nozzles, which is caused by poor quality workmanship or burnout as a result of long-term operation;
• fragments of bricks or pieces of clay mortar getting into the smoke riser, creating a blockage;
• incorrect connection of the steel pipe to the chimney;
• blowing out the final section of the chimney with heavy winds;
• dampness in the room or warm temperature outside, the influence of which can be eliminated by opening the direct stroke valve.

Do-it-yourself stove repair: types of work to eliminate defects

Repairs aimed at eliminating the causes of damage to the stove can be divided into 3 groups:

• current, which is a regular check of the furnace’s performance, that is, cleaning it, filling up cracks and attaching fallen bricks;
• partial, involving the replacement of some elements of the stove structure, repair of the chimney and cleaning of the channels;
• capital, implying that individual sections of the furnace need to be dismantled or reconstructed.

Dropped Bricks

Before covering with plaster and carrying out other repair work, it is necessary to inspect the structure, because bricks could fall out of it. If you do not put them in their place, the oven will malfunction.

To detect fallen bricks, you need to do the following:

• examine the channels through which smoke escapes;
• having found a brick protruding a few mm, pull it out, first scraping off the mortar around it;
• prepare a new clay mortar and use it to place the brick in place.

As soon as the heating season ends, it is recommended to overhaul the furnace in which the bricks fell out. It will not be possible to postpone this task for another year, since next winter the collapsing stove will most likely not be able to work.

It happens that some bricks crack so badly that they are no longer suitable for reuse. To replace them with new ones, you need to find the following materials and tools:

• new bricks;
• chisel (to easily remove damaged bricks);
• a brush that removes old mortar;
• a sprayer filled with water and necessary to moisten the material before placing it in the masonry;
• brush;
• the raw materials from which the solution is made, that is, purified sand, cement and clay;
• a trowel, a spreading compound that holds the bricks together;
• sieve for sifting sand;
• hammer;
• fireclay powder (optional);
• a wooden trowel, the function of which is to level a new layer of plaster.

Repairing a stove with severely cracked bricks is carried out in several steps:

• removal of the damaged element;
• cleaning the area from under the brick with a brush;
• wetting the new masonry element with water;
• brick installation;
• applying a solution, into which it is recommended to add a little water to avoid the formation of cracks in it;
• plastering (after the solution has completely hardened).

How to seal cracks

If cracks are found in a structure, which tend to gradually increase and lead to the collapse of some areas, then the first step is to determine the cause of their appearance. Most often, cracks form next to a door that is installed incorrectly and therefore contributes to overheating of the brickwork.

Since it will not be possible to dismantle the oven door, because it is installed in the compartment for storing firewood during the bricklaying process, proceed as follows: the clay-based solution that was applied around the perimeter of the door is removed, and then the seams are closed with a freshly prepared composition. Thanks to this, new cracks will not appear on the stove, and the soot that forms along with the cracks around the door will disappear.

Plaster coating

Sometimes the oven is not treated with a special finishing compound, which cannot but affect its operation. Over time, an unplastered brick structure for heating a room becomes covered with many cracks through which smoke can pass. To return the stove to its proper appearance, it must be treated with a special composition only after creating a preliminary screed of the structure.

Repair work aimed at eliminating defects that appeared due to the lack of a layer of plaster implies the following:

• Channels are created in the furnace that are horizontal and 1.5–2 cm deep. These grooves must surround the entire structure so that it is possible to create a strong frame;
• Steel wire is laid in the channels. Then it is tensioned, for which a simple thick nail or metal rod is used;
• The reinforced structure is covered with plaster.

The repairs done are a guarantee that the cracks that have formed will not become wider. A stove with reinforcement and plaster serves the owner of the house much longer.

Strengthening or replacing parts

If it is noticed that the oven door has become loose, then the masonry around it will have to be dismantled. Once this is done, the door is secured in place using steel wire. And if it is necessary to replace the grates, you need to know one thing: the cast-iron grate for fuel is installed at a distance of 5 mm from the brickwork. The gaps left should be filled with sand.

Sheets may need to be replaced before firing. Typically, this need arises when holes or rust stains appear on these parts. The operation of replacing pre-furnace sheets is carried out as follows: the old material is removed, the nails are removed, a fragment of felt treated with a liquid clay solution is placed under the bottom, and a new sheet is nailed on top.

If the firebox lining breaks or the chimney is damaged, repair work will be more difficult. When replacing the lining in the firebox, you need to keep in mind that the new lining must be made from old bricks, since the coefficient of expansion of the stove from heat must remain the same. Taking this rule into account, bricks are also placed in the chimney area.

Connecting a new stove to an old chimney

If the pipe is in good condition, then, when starting to build a new stove, you can get by with the old chimney. To do brickwork without touching the chimney, you need to do the following:

• Use a hammer drill and a chisel to make 2 holes in the pipe in the attic, stretching a steel channel through them, which is pressed to the chimney with wedges almost at floor level;
• Create additional support by fixing in the original position 3 rows of masonry passing through the ceilings between the 1st floor and the attic;
• Use wooden blocks with a cross-section of 100 x 50 mm as support posts, because the weight of the masonry is relatively small - no more than 60 kg;
• Dismantle several rows of chimney masonry under the ceiling, place a beam under the pipe and support it with racks, well fixed and located so as not to interfere with further work - dismantling the stove down to the foundation.

Improving performance

To ensure that the stove always provides good heat, you need to follow some recommendations:

• ensure that soot does not accumulate inside the furnace, that is, clean the structure once a month;
• keep control of the dampers, which should be closed tightly;
• do not leave the door open, as this may cause heat to escape;
• clean areas that provide traction from soot and ash every year;
• sometimes load aspen or alder firewood, as they help burn out soot deposits;
• avoid overheating the walls of the stove, which often leads to heat escaping outside the house;
• Do not throw garbage like polyethylene into the firebox along with firewood, which increases the amount of soot.

Video: repairing a brick stove with your own hands - cleaning and lining

How to clean soot from the stove yourself

It is recommended to clean the chimney, grate and stove wells in the summer. Any parts can be cleaned either manually or with special means. It all depends on how badly the oven is clogged. When getting down to business, you need to fully open the damper and close the vent and firebox doors tightly.

Removing carbon black from the chimney

To clear soot from a chimney, you can use folk remedies, such as rock salt. It is thrown into the firebox when the wood is already burning in it. Salt will help push soot out of the chimney, but it is unlikely to clean the chimney perfectly. Instead, if you want to achieve a better result, it is better to use potato skins.

A bucket of cleaning material is usually enough to remove soot from a chimney. The potato skins need to be poured directly into the fire. The starch, which rises along with the evaporated vapors, softens the soot, as a result of which it comes out of the chimney on its own.

And yet, it is much better to clean the chimney with special chemicals in the form of powders, liquids or briquettes. They are also placed in the firebox during the burning of wood. When burned, the chemicals destroy the soot deposited on the walls of the pipe and do not cause harm to humans. Typically, an anti-carbon chemical composition is used as a chimney cleaning agent.

Soot can be removed from the chimney mechanically. To do this you need to perform certain actions:

• climb onto the roof using a ladder;
• inspect the walls of the pipe and decide whether they need to be cleaned, because it is advisable to do this only if the thickness of the deposits is at least 2 mm;
• check if there is any debris in the chimney, which must be removed with a stick;
• remove soot from the top of the pipe using a scraper;
• in the middle and bottom of the chimney, remove soot using a large-diameter brush.

Well cleaning

Wells, that is, chimneys in the furnace cavity, are supposed to be cleaned every 3 years. These structural elements are usually located on three sides of the stove, but not in the place where the stove is installed. The wells are located next to the bricks, which lie on edge and act as a kind of doors.

Cleaning of chimneys in the furnace cavity is carried out in several stages:

• plaster is removed from the area where the wells are located;
• the halves of the bricks are removed;
• wells are cleaned of light gray ash using a scoop;
• the removed bricks are returned to their place and covered with mortar, which dries quickly.

ultra-term.ru

When and why is stove repair necessary?

Most often, stove repair is required when the draft suddenly deteriorates. The following signs may also indicate the need for repairs:

• formation of cracks in the masonry;
• smoking the stove;
• loosening of the combustion door;
• burnout of the grate;
• cracking of seams in masonry;
• poor fuel combustion;
• leak at the junction of the roof and the chimney;
• damage to oven appliances.

It is worth remembering that a stove is not just a technical structure in a private home. The design must comply with sanitary standards and fire safety requirements. If you do not pay enough attention to maintaining the stove, a fire hazard or carbon monoxide poisoning of the residents of the house may occur.

Stove repair is essential to human health and property. If it is necessary, then do not delay. Particular attention should be paid to maintenance before the start of the heating season. If you do not have experience in repairing furnaces, it is recommended to entrust this task to a qualified specialist.

In some cases, the cost of repair work may make it impractical to carry out the repair, so it is important to identify the damage first.

Types of repairs

Repairs can be divided into 3 types: initial, medium and major.

Tools and materials needed for work:

• brick in the required quantity;
• special hammer;
• pick;
• building level;
• Master OK;
• plumb line;
• container for preparing construction mixture;
• roulette.

Some repair stages can be done with your own hands with the proper approach.

Initial structural repairs

It happens that the stove cannot be lit due to lack of draft. The problem may occur for the following reasons:

• long break in operation;
• lack of air supply that can support operation;
• presence of cooled air in the chimney;
• strong gusts of wind outside;
• chimney clogged with soot.

To solve the problem, for ignition you need to take not paper, but a piece of rubber or a small amount of dry fuel. The use of kerosene and other flammable liquids is not allowed.

The quality of draft is primarily affected by the correct construction of the chimney. If the stove initially functioned normally, but after a while it began to heat poorly, this indicates that the smoke exhaust channels are clogged.

One of the most common repair jobs is chimney cleaning. If excess soot is observed, the problem must be addressed immediately. First of all, you should try to burn off the soot using improvised means. For this:

1. First of all, pour a small amount of coarse salt into the hot stove.
2. Then quickly close the damper. If this is not done, the structure will begin to crack, as soot will fly out through the chimney.

If these steps do not help, you need to use another method. The presence of soot can be identified by how long ago the stove was lit. It is worth remembering that the structure must be cleaned at least once a year, preferably in the summer.

You can try to get the soot out of the special door. If there is no such part, then you will need to disassemble the chimney masonry.

How to find a knockout brick

In some cases, craftsmen leave knockout bricks that are not fixed with the building mixture. If a private house was purchased along with a stove and it is not known where such bricks are located, you will need to perform the following steps:

1. First of all, you need to carefully inspect the stove.
2. The main emphasis should be on the places where the chimney channels pass. Knockout parts are most often mounted with a slight offset outward in relation to the main masonry.
3. When the brick is found, you need to remove it by removing the plaster in this place. This way you can provide access to the channel.
4. Next, you need to pull out the stuck stone and clean out the soot, mount the knockout brick in place and coat it with the mixture.

If you managed to remove a stuck stone from a chimney, you should try to mark the place from which it fell. If repairs are made in winter, the stove can be used until spring. However, with warming, it is necessary to carry out major work to repair the stove. A fallen stone is the main sign of the beginning of destruction.

How to replace brickwork

If the structure begins to smoke heavily, the brickwork is damaged. This may lead to the formation of gaps that will have to be repaired yourself. To do this, you need to prepare a mixture of clay, sand, asbestos fiber and salt. Fiber will be needed for elasticity.

The mixture should have a medium viscosity, since a thick mixture will crack, and a thin mixture will not be able to provide the necessary strength. If it is not possible to prepare the solution yourself, you can buy a ready-made oven mixture at a construction supermarket. Before use, it is important to read the instructions. With the ready-made solution, it will be possible to complete repair work faster.

In some cases, it becomes necessary to replace burnt bricks.

Replacement instructions:

1. First of all, the places of old bricks need to be cleaned of clay and dust.
2. Next, moisten the surface with water.
3. Place a clay cake, which must be prepared in advance.
4. Dip new bricks in water and coat both sides with a clay mixture. This is necessary for reliable fixation of the seams.
5. Place the bricks in place of the fallen elements.

The mixture used is the same as when sealing gaps.

Average stove repair

The process consists of repairing and strengthening structural parts.

Repairing cracks and replacing the door

1. The firebox doors are mounted together with the bricks during the laying process, so there is no need to remove them when performing repairs. It is enough to scrape the mixture around the door down to the brick and seal the gaps with a mixture of cement and clay.
2. To strengthen a loose firebox door, you first need to dismantle the brickwork nearby, and then secure the part with steel wire.
3. To make the solution, mix 2 parts clay, 9 parts sand and 1 part cement. The components should be mixed well and diluted with water to the consistency of sour cream. This mixture can be used to cover the seams around the firebox door.
4. The same mixture can be used to seal cracks in the structure. If the stove is plastered, the crack must be cleared down to the brick and covered.

It will not be difficult for a stove maker with extensive experience to make a mixture that will be securely fixed at the joints. However, for a beginner this can be a big problem. Various methods for determining the fat content of clay and the quality of sand in most cases do not give the desired result. Using a heat-resistant sealant will not completely solve the problem. After a certain time, cracks may appear again, and therefore repeated repairs will be necessary.

To solve the problem, it is recommended to use fireclay mortar. This product is a finely ground fireproof mixture containing fireclay and special clay. Seams made from fireclay mortar can withstand temperatures of more than 1700 °C. The mixture will need to be diluted with water. If necessary, you can add a small amount of Portland cement.

Video: door replacement process

How to strengthen the frame and replace the grates

Sometimes the number of gaps is so large that the oven can collapse at any moment. Covering up won't help in this case. The ideal option is to completely replace the brickwork. However, if the stove is functioning properly, and there is no time to carry out relocation, repairs can be done in this way:

1. The first step is to tie the frame structure with metal wire.
2. Make horizontal openings 16–18 mm deep in the masonry. The grooves should cover the entire stove so that the mounted wire tightens the frame structure.
3. When the wire is laid in the grooves and fixed by twisting, it must be tensioned. This can be done by carefully twisting the loops of wire in one direction using a thick nail. It is important to monitor the tension of the wire so that it does not break.
4. Next, plaster the stove.

When replacing grates, it is important to take into account that they should not be located close to the stone laying, but at a distance of 5 mm.

The gap must be filled with sand.

If the pre-furnace sheets are rusty or have holes in them, they will have to be replaced. Such elements cannot be repaired. Replacement instructions:

1. Dismantle the old sheet.
2. Pull out the nails.
3. Soak a piece of felt in a liquid clay mixture.
4. Place felt under the fasteners.
5. Nail a new sheet at the top.

From time to time the stove needs to be whitewashed with lime mortar.

Lime has properties that perfectly protect against bacteria.

Video: preparing lime whitewash

Replacement of lining and tiles

A structure that needs a major overhaul is:

• the lining of the fuel chamber is broken;
• chimney pipe is damaged;
• the brick “under” requires re-laying.

In the process of replacing the lining, it is important to take into account the fact that the outdated and updated masonry must be made of the same brick so that the thermal expansion rate is identical. The same method is used to replace bricks in the chimney structure.

Particular attention should be paid to repairing a tiled stove.

1. The tile must be carefully dismantled.
2. Clean the installation site.
3. Prepare a mixture of clay and crushed stone.
4. Place the new element on the prepared solution, making adjustments.
5. If the masonry turns out to be uneven, it can be leveled by hand.

All repair work in this category can be done with your own hands, even if you do not have the appropriate skills.

How to carry out a major renovation

Major repair work may include restoring full functionality, replacing or upgrading parts that have failed. You can do this work yourself.

To repair a chimney, you need to plaster the outside of the masonry.

If the masonry is damaged, it will need to be sorted out.

Video: chimney repair and plastering

When completely replacing the lining, it is not allowed to disassemble the main brickwork of the stove. Sequence of actions for replacing the coating:

1. Disassemble the wall of the structure from the bottom of the ash pan to the height of the fuel chamber; the ribs of the stove should not be touched.
2. Remove the crushed stone that appeared from the dismantling of the previous lining.
3. Lay out new lining.

There is no need to tie the finishing layer with the brickwork of the walls. The optimal thickness of the seams is a maximum of 2 mm.

In most cases, repairing a brick structure involves restoring the collapsed vault. During the process of heating and cooling, this element expands and contracts, the mixture spills out of the seams and some bricks may settle or fall out.

The oven floor is subject to destruction due to the influence of elevated temperatures. After some time, cavities may form in the brick, which will interfere with placing the dishes. It is quite difficult to repair a vault with your own hands, but almost every stove owner can repair it on their own. To do this, you need to replace the burnt bricks. If the material is in good condition, it can be turned upside down. At the end, whitewashing can be done to strengthen the structure.

In some cases, it becomes necessary to switch the stove to another fuel. Each master has his own methods, but there is the most popular of them:

1. Line the walls of the fuel chamber with refractory bricks. A fireproof mixture should be used for fixation.
2. Make small slopes around the sides of the chamber so that the coal can roll down during the combustion process, and the grates can be closed with hot coal. It is important to use only high-quality masonry material.

A sauna stove is repaired in the same way as an ordinary one. The only difference is that preventive measures should be carried out more often, since the temperature of the bath structure is much higher than usual. It is important to use refractory bricks and a special mixture when laying. Do not use a stove with a broken cooking surface. If this element fails, it must be replaced immediately.

How to disassemble the stove with your own hands

First of all, you need to inspect the product and the ceiling near the chimney. The pipe can be made of iron or brick. The necessary dismantling actions will depend on the characteristics of the furnace device.

Previously, the Russian stove was often used to fix the load-bearing parts of the ceiling. The stove can be disassembled only when it is clear that there is no support for the chimney structure, and the ceiling and roof will not collapse. When completely dismantling a Russian stove, you first need to find out whether its body is supported by any important element. First you need to dismantle the floor base around the stove and inspect the foundation.

In some cases, it is possible to remove the lower part from the support and dismantle it without damage; in this case, there is no need to disassemble the structure. However, in this case, additional labor will not be superfluous, since the work is complex.

It is important to prepare the room in advance for disassembling the stove. Furniture and decorative items should be covered with film, since the soot accumulated on the inner base of the stove will be difficult to remove from the surface.

To disassemble the stove, you should prepare the following tools:

• sledgehammer;
• pick;
• respirator;
• gloves;
• steel wedges;
• perforator;
• chisel.

The structure is disassembled from top to bottom. First you need to dismantle the section of the roof near the chimney, after which you can begin dismantling the brick. A metal chimney is dismantled by loosening it from side to side. The brick pipe is disassembled sequentially. You need to start with the chimney, and then move into the house. If the masonry was done using a solution of sand and clay, then the tools you will need are a hammer and a chisel. It is most convenient to disassemble the masonry in horizontal rows in a circle.

Difficulties may arise when disassembling a stove whose bricks were laid on a cement mortar. In this case, a hammer drill is needed. If used correctly, time costs can be reduced. The hammer blade should be directed along the seam between the bricks. To preserve the material for reuse, you need to try to avoid significant chipping.

Using a crowbar it is quite difficult to carefully dismantle the masonry horizontally. Impacts of the crowbar can cause damage to a large number of bricks, since it is difficult to hit the seam accurately.

To disassemble brickwork that was laid on durable cement mortar, wedges made of steel or plastic are used.

Sequencing:

1. In several places in the extreme part of the masonry, drive the blades into the seams horizontally.
2. If the masonry is strong, then the blades will need to be hammered into the seams vertically.
3. Using a hammer drill or crowbar, disassemble the masonry. If the work is carried out in the attic, then the sledgehammer should be used carefully so as not to damage the walls and beams.
4. The bricks must be separated and dismantled in rows from top to bottom.
5. Fill the recesses in the ceiling with bricks.
6. When the chimney is disassembled, carry out the work gradually in a circle.
7. Remove the hob, doors and grates as they become free.

The final stage is dismantling the lower part and base of the stove.

If the structure is made in such a way that the foundation can be removed from the supporting parts and carried away, then this should be used. Helpers will be needed to complete the work. If the stove base is still needed, for example, to build a fireplace, then there is no need to dismantle it. Holes in the floor must be patched with wooden planks.

Video: process of dismantling the stove

How to disassemble a stove without dismantling the chimney

It is better to entrust such work to specialists. If mistakes are made, smoke may enter the house after assembling the stove. If you want to dismantle the stove yourself without touching the chimney, it is important to adhere to the following instructions:

1. Secure the bottom of the chimney. To do this, you need to place a strong and stable metal support element under it. In most cases, corners are used.
2. Make a groove around the perimeter of the pipe that passes through the masonry seam, and place one of the corner shelves there.
3. Secure the structure at the corners with tacks.
4. Install fasteners at the bottom, resting them on the floor.
5. After this, disassemble the required section of the product.
6. Install a new stove with its pipe leading into the old chimney device.
7. Lay brick to secure the new structure and the old chimney.
8. Using a grinder, cut off the tacks and fixture from the corner around the perimeter of the pipe.
9. Dismantle the racks.
10. The places where the new stove is fixed to the chimney and all the old masonry should be whitewashed.
11. When the whitewash has dried, perform a test fire.
12. If the masonry was damaged during the repair process, soot will be visible where gaps appear. These places should be reinforced with a clay mixture. Old masonry joints must first be cleaned.

In order not to disturb the masonry of the chimney, it is important to ensure that there are no deformations or subsidence.

It must be remembered that using unsuitable fuel to fire the stove is not allowed. If you burn household waste in it, it may have a negative impact on its functioning.

How to clean the stove from soot

Soot does not accumulate in a stove as quickly as in a chimney. This is due to the fact that when the fuel burns out in the bunker, there is continuous movement, so soot does not have time to accumulate. When there is a need to light the stove, firewood is placed in it. From time to time they are turned over using a long metal rod or poker. After this, the ash is cleared from the stove. Such actions are necessary in order to keep the structure clean.

In addition to minimal cleaning of the stove from soot, there may be a need for thorough preventive cleaning. This includes:

• grate processing;
• cleaning the walls inside the structure;
• cleaning the entrance and exit to the chimney device.

These preventive measures are carried out only after cleaning the chimney.

Instructions for cleaning the chimney

Today, there are several options for cleaning soot from chimneys:

• standard cleaning;
• high temperature cleaning;
• chemical method.

Chemical method

Chemicals are used for preventative cleaning. They help remove a thin layer of soot. Products that can be found on sale may come with or without brushes. The most popular are:

• "Kominchek";
• "Chimney Sweep";
• "Composition against soot."

The substances can be used in a chimney that is not equipped with a smoke circulation system. Stove makers most often recommend the “Log Chimney Sweep” composition, which contains salt mixtures. They enter into a catalytic reaction, which can cause the soot to decompose. The powder should be added to the firebox along with the fuel. The product works for approximately 30 days.

Gloves must be used when working with powders. It is not recommended to visit the house for 5 days after cleaning, as an unpleasant odor will remain. After treatment, the building requires mandatory ventilation.

High temperature cleaning

Another method that can be used to clean soot from a stove and chimney is high-temperature cleaning. Features of this method:

• is dangerous because it is necessary to work at elevated temperatures;
• suitable for significant contamination when the stove and chimney have not been cleaned for many years.

Sequencing:

1. First of all, you will need to prepare aspen firewood.
2. The logs need to be placed in the oven and set on fire.
3. When the fire has consumed all the fuel, open the dampers to let the stove burn out. This method can ensure that the pipes are blown with hot smoke.

The method is effective only for high-quality stoves. If the device is old, cracks may appear inside after cleaning.

Classic cleaning method

You can get rid of soot using a brush with a weight.

The tool is a metal brush with a rope, at the end of which there is a wire or rope with a weight. Any iron object can be used as a weight: a weight, a piece of metal or a bearing. The weight of the part must be at least 3 kg. The length of the rope should slightly exceed the length of the chimney pipe. The outermost part of the brush should reach the stove so that it is possible to thoroughly clean the channels. To clean, you will need to lower the brush into the chimney device and clean the walls with rotational movements.

This must be done with caution. To avoid falling from a height, it is recommended to tie a rope around your torso and tie it to the roof. If the chimney is not very clogged, the cleaning process will take approximately 30 minutes. When rotating, the brush will scrape debris and soot from the pipe walls. Once the pipe is cleaned, you will need to remove debris from the stove. You should also clean the view and walls of the firebox.

Video: instructions for cleaning the chimney

Cleaning the well and coil from soot

Wells need to be cleaned at least once every 3 years. They are located on three sides of the stove, except for the one where the hob is installed. At the entrance to the well, half of the brick lies edge-on.

1. You will need to find voids by tapping the structure with a trowel or spatula.
2. Next, remove the plaster and take out the part of the brick that is the door to the well.
3. Ash often settles in wells, which needs to be removed with a scoop or deep shovel.
4. After cleaning the wells, they need to be covered with bricks and covered with a quick-hardening mortar. Plaster or a mixture of clay, lime and water is suitable.

A lot of ash accumulates in wells. It should not be thrown away, as ash is a good fertilizer for the garden.

The grates can be cleaned with household chemicals for washing various products.

To clean the coil, a mechanical or steam-air method is used. It is difficult to do this work with your own hands. The steam-air method involves burning fuel in a closed coil by supplying steam or air and heating the structure to the temperature required for burning. Mechanical cleaning is a labor-intensive operation that is performed exclusively by specialists.

How to clean the oven using folk remedies

The simplest option is to use table salt. In this way, it will not be possible to clean a thick layer of soot, so the method is most often used for prevention. To clean, salt must be added to the firewood and allowed to burn.

Another way is to use potato peelings. The released starch will begin to interact with the soot, after which it will break down. The consumption of raw materials depends on the size of the stove; on average, 1 bucket is used.

In rural areas and cottage villages, stoves and fireplaces are again gaining popularity. And sooner or later there comes a time when the stove and chimney need cleaning. Chimneys and stoves are cleaned of soot at least once every 2 months.

Why clean the chimney and stove?

A soot deposit forms in the stove and on the walls of the chimney. Gradually, the draft becomes too weak and it is no longer possible to operate the stove normally. Fumes enter the room, which is very dangerous.

Soot and dust are the main causes of fire. Often a fire starts in the chimney. Combustion products fall through the cracks onto the wooden floor structures. That's how it goes.

Soot inside the chimney

The chimney can also become clogged from the top. Especially if the pipe is not covered with a deflector. In summer, birds or wasps can easily build nests there.

An increased soot content in the smoke exhaust duct may be a consequence of errors in the construction of the furnace. Somewhere the pipe narrows, somewhere there is an extra turn. The slightest mistake increases the formation of soot in such places.

Regular cleaning is necessary to remove all combustion products and other debris from the chimney. This will avoid narrowing the smoke exhaust channel and avoid a fire.

Frequency of chimney and stove cleaning

How often should I clean? This information can be found in the table:

Type of work and equipment	When to do it
Prevention of smoke ducts and chimney (visual inspection):
Any equipment	After installation, before start-up or after repair
Seasonal equipment	Start of the heating season
Gas furnaces and boilers	At least 2 times a year, after 2 years - at least 1 time a year
Brick chimney	At least once a quarter
Other types of chimneys	At least once every 12 months
Chimneys of heating and heating-cooking stoves	Beginning, end and middle of the heating season
Chimney cleaning – elimination of deficiencies identified during inspections and additionally:
B for heating and cooking (intermittently)	At least once a quarter
In continuous furnaces	At least once every 2 months
In ovens for continuous cooking	Every month
Cleaning the heads from ice – at least once every 2 months

How to clean soot from a chimney when it is already clogged? Below are step-by-step instructions.

Mechanical and manual cleaning

For mechanical cleaning of chimneys today, the same tools are used as 200 years ago. The technology itself has also not undergone major changes. Cleaning is carried out from the roof side and from the stove side.

Tools and materials

To clean the roof side use:

It is important that the load has the correct center of gravity. Otherwise it may get stuck. It is ideal to use a round metal core as a load. It is they who break through the blockage. And only then do the brushes come into play.

If you don’t have a suitable brush at hand, you can make one yourself from an old plastic bottle. Step by step instructions below.

How to make a ruff with your own hands?

There is another option for making a brush with your own hands:

DIY brush in the form of a brush

Roof side cleaning

The whole process consists of 6 stages:

Cleaning the chimney from the stove side

The previous method will allow you to clean the channel only up to the first turn. Another tool will help you further clean the stove from soot without disassembling it. You can't use gravity.

The oven must have special hatches for cleaning. To do this, use another tool. A special brush with a rigid but flexible fiberglass cable will help you clean an area 3–5 m long. This set is sold in hardware stores.

There is also a more specific tool:

Chimney cleaning tool

This device allows you to clean a longer area. It is easiest to clean the external chimney. But only if it is assembled correctly.

Step-by-step instruction:

Chemical cleaning

Regular preventative maintenance using special chemicals will help simplify the mechanical cleaning process. The principle of action of these funds varies. But the essence is the same: to clean existing deposits and prevent the formation of new ones.

The principle of cleaning a chimney with chemicals

These chemicals are discussed in more detail below.

"Smoke"

The most common remedy in this group is called “Smoke”. Manufacturer: Ecolas company, Russia. There are 3 products produced under this brand name:

Using these products is very simple: just place them in the firebox and set them on fire. When they burn, they clean the chimney. As a result, some of the soot and other deposits will fall off, and the other part will fly out into the chimney along with the smoke. Moreover, the chemical will remain active for another 14 days. And the effect of its use lasts for 3 months.

HANSA products

The German company HANSA has focused its efforts on the fight against creosote. This is the very sticky base on which the soot sits.

The drug has a double effect. On the one hand, it promotes more complete combustion of fuel. Due to this, practically no soot is formed. On the other hand, at high temperatures it reacts with creazote. As a result, it loses moisture and all growths crumble.

In our country, these chemicals are better known under the brand name “Chimney Sweep”. This product can be purchased in the form of a bulk mixture or already packaged in bags.

Use it as follows:

• Used for prevention: 1 - 2 measuring cups (included in the kit) are added to the fuel during startup of the furnace every 4 - 5 fires.
• Used for cleaning: burn the required amount in the firebox.

There is also a Chimney Sweeper log. It is placed in a heated firebox and set on fire. It should burn completely. It is recommended to carry out such cleaning every 30 days.

These chemicals can even handle a brick pipe. Usually it is its cleaning that poses the biggest problem due to the porous structure of the brick itself.

Cleaner Kominichek

Country of origin: Czech Republic. The product is also popular in Russia. This is a crystalline mixture in 14 g sachets.

Kominichek cleaning agent

• The product turns soot into a substance that burns even at low temperatures.
• This product will not cope with heavy plaque. The soot layer should not exceed 2 mm.
• Carry out the treatment only with the combustion chamber tightly closed. The product is toxic.
• This product is not suitable for cleaning a fireplace.

Other means

There are many such tools. Experts recommend trying several and choosing the best one for yourself. In addition to those already described, the following are in demand:

Folk remedies for cleaning chimneys

It is also possible to clean the chimney from soot using folk remedies. And their effectiveness has been proven by many generations of our ancestors.

Boiling water

The simplest way to clean soot from a pipe is regular boiling water. It can handle even very heavy raids. To do this, before lighting the stove, it is enough to pour several liters of boiling water into the pipe from above. The remaining soot will fly out into the chimney along with the smoke.

Salt

Another old-fashioned way is to add a couple of handfuls of ordinary table salt to the firewood. But this remedy is only suitable for prevention. He is unable to cope with strong growths.

Naphthalene

Regular mothballs will also help. It is enough to throw 1 - 2 tablets into the fire. The soot will fall off and burn. Or it will go up the chimney along with the smoke.

But this method has one significant drawback. Naphthalene has a very specific smell. It won't be easy to get rid of it later. And not everyone likes him.

Potato peelings

Another effective remedy for preventing the formation of soot build-up is regular potatoes. Usually only peelings of this root vegetable are used. But you can finely chop the potatoes themselves.

The peelings are placed in a well-heated firebox and burned in it. The starch evaporates and effectively dissolves soot build-up. It also prevents the formation of new ones.

A mixture of coal, copper sulfate and sulfur

The recipe is as follows:

• copper sulfate - 5 parts;
• coal - 2 parts;
• saltpeter - 7 parts.

This composition is used in small quantities, burned together with fuel. Only 200 g of product is enough for a ton of firewood. This cleaning method is not suitable for a fireplace. Vapors are toxic and should not enter the room. Therefore, the firebox door must be tightly closed.

Using special firewood

Another way to deal with carbon deposits is special firewood. For this, alder or aspen is used. Wood burns quickly and emits special fumes during combustion. They contribute to the peeling of soot from the walls and combustion.

Despite the fact that such firewood cannot be used for heating due to low heat transfer, it is still necessary to have a supply of it. From time to time, the furnace is completed by burning several of these logs.

Sparks may fly from the pipe. They can fall on neighboring buildings and cause a fire. Therefore, the pipe is protected from above with a deflector, and the combustion process of such firewood is controlled.

How can I avoid or minimize clogged pipes in the future?

To reduce problems to a minimum, just follow a number of simple recommendations:

• When softwood wood burns, too much resin is produced. Therefore, it is not recommended to use it for heating.
• The moisture content of firewood should not exceed 12%. To do this, they are first dried indoors for several days. The use of raw fuel contributes to increased soot formation. And reduces heating efficiency by 30 - 40%.
• To fire the stove, it is advisable to use wood that is at least two years old.
• The stove or fireplace should not be used to burn waste.
• From time to time it is worth completing the firebox by burning an armful of aspen or alder firewood. This is a good prevention against soot formation.

It is important to follow the schedule of preventive examinations given above. These measures will help to avoid contamination of the chimney and the creation of an emergency situation.

Prices for chimney sweep services and where to find them?

The profession of a chimney sweep is again in demand due to the fact that recently cases of fires in private homes have become more frequent. And they are connected precisely with the contamination of the chimney, as well as with its improper design.

It just seems that everything is easy. In fact, this profession takes several years to be trained. Where can you find such masters? This is where the Internet comes to the rescue. Similar announcements can be found on bulletin boards. You need to search in the services section for your region.

Another way is to contact a furnace equipment service company. Some of them provide similar services.

Prices vary depending on the specific region and the popularity of the specialist. On average, a full range of services will cost 1000 rubles per 1 m 2 of cleaned pipe. Vacuum cleaning of ovens will help you get rid of soot and dust.

Let's sum it up

The main reason for poor draft is soot in the chimney. If an accident occurs and the chimney is clogged, you can turn to a professional for help. But it happens that in a given area no one provides such services. Or they cost too much.

Then you can clean the chimney yourself. And for this you do not need to disassemble it. It is enough to stock up on tools and master some simple skills. For your own safety, you should comply with all regulatory requirements.

Cleaning a furnace chimney is a rather dangerous task. Safety must come first.

If the pipe is already clogged, then it is best to clean the chimney mechanically. He is the most reliable. And it will fix the problem as quickly as possible. It also minimizes the consequences.

But as a preventive measure, it is better to use chemical cleaning. Then an emergency situation can be avoided. Whether to use chemical reagents or folk remedies - here everyone chooses for himself. The main thing is to do this regularly.

←Previous article Next article →

Return