Creosote Crisis - Major Problem with my Outdoor Wood Boiler
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- Опубликовано: 13 апр 2024
- The past few days there have been signs of something wrong with how the outdoor wood boiler has been working. I think I found the problem...and it was a major one.
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READ THIS WHOLE REPLY IMMEDIATELY!!! So, you need to check those horizontal tubes where the smoke passes through before it goes out the chimney. I don’t know your specific design, I have never worked on a Woodmaster. But I have repaired and built many boilers. Any horizontal surface smoke has to pass through. Will build up with creosote Faster than a vertical pipe. It builds up a little at a time and stacks. Also, and most importantly, you need to take the tin off the front of the boiler, like today! That creosote that has oozed from around the bypass lever has probably saturated the insulation surrounding it. There is a very good chance it will catch fire. I have seen wood boilers Catch fire under the tin because they have had creosote leaking onto the insulation underneath! The fire inside the stove has followed the path of the creosote and ignited the creosote soaked insulation! Mine caught fire years ago because the creosote Ran down the chimney and got under the roof where the chimney goes through it. Just the heat of the stack ignited the creosote. It was not fun, trying to unscrew the tin off the roof while the insulation was an inferno underneath! I also didn’t have water at the boiler other than what was inside of the boiler, to put the fire out. And to make matters worse, it was in the fall and I had no snow on the ground. Do yourself a favor and pull that tin off ASAP to check it out where that creosote was oozing out in the front!
Yes very lucky it didn't flash over and melt everything 12 years no cleaning what how sapie is your timber just wow
No kidding wow just wow
Not getting hot enough is the easy answer.. 🙄
@@vocvocitus6100 Not only sapie but burning green/wet wood will do this also.
Seriously? 11 YEARS and you've clearly not done a speck of maintenance on it? 11 Years and you're only now noticing the tar dripping out of every crack? I'm only thankful it didn't burn down your house or building. The type of wood you burn matters. Some put out more tars, some put out less. I strongly advise against burning any Cedar in anything other than an open fire pit.
Way to not watch the video, he says he does every year and there were no such build ups.
@@TheBaldr I've heated more than one house with wood. Even if you're burning Cedar 50% or more of the time, you're not going to get that kind of build up in a single season. How many YEARS does it take to build up enough to be dripping onto the floor? And apparently he never noticed the drips until at some point he was tracking tar all over the house?
Wet wood. Fire temp to low. Exhaust temp to low. Nasty stuff. Any time I see these boilers on videos. You can see the build up in the fire box. No wonder it’s plugged up. Need 500 F exhaust temp to keep the flue hot all the way to the top of the flue outside to stop condensation. Just my thoughts.
Spot on, low smoketemp build tar... wet firewood... ☠️
Burning pine does that too
Maybe just thoughts but 100% true and factual nonetheless.
It amazes me when people use a wood stove or fire places then burn their house down.... then when asked about the condition of said wood stove or fireplace and the last time it was cleaned.... they say "what do you mean cleaned, I scooped out all the ashes before I started a roaring hot, crackling fire. Same way i have done it for the last 8 years sence i bought the place" "I mean the chimney" "what about it"..........
They are easy to use and maintain. Just have to keep them clean and understand the very basic function and operation of a wood fire and wood stove.
👍🏻👋
I was just looking for the reply - green wood and low temp.
In my sixty years of burning wood and 20 years on the fire depth. I have never seen a chimney that bad. The good thing is now you if you see that build up you will know what is going on. I think you should be up checking that chimney every month. I've seen people standing there watching their house burn down, helpless feeling.
I don't have any suggestions other than the other comments. Just glad you found the culprit and took care of the matter before anything major happened.
This is the main reason I finally did away with my boiler. But my chimney caught fire and thought it was gonna burn my garage down. The only way to clean that up is a super hot fire and scrape everything out.
My brother had same problem years ago. He ended up changing out his stack .. he found that it was one load of fire wood that caused the problem ..
He did have a tar problem when he first bought the property, the previous owner changed out the shed doors and they were airtight.. the vent ( makeup air) was blocked over with sawdust from the mill behind it.. cleared it all out.. and relit.. off it went like an atlas 5 in reverse.. flame about 4ft out of the chimney like plumbers torch.
Second time, was that load of wood.. this time the service guy told him they needed to replace the flues.. some wood is more prone to create creosote ..
Eye opener and educational…surprising the amount of buildup with your seasoned wood…a good reminder we all need to do yearly preventative maintenance…Thanks 👏🏻🇺🇸👍🏻
More than yearly. You are told that when you buy those stoves, they are supposed to be cleaned and inspected monthly. Under heavy use, weekly.
This stove hasn’t been preventatively maintained in 10 years.
Holy smokes! Glad that you caught that before something bad happened.
Good find. Glad it wasn’t worse. I hope that you can figure out the cause
Thanks Dan.
Heading out to check my chimney now
I believe you are correct with the warmer temperatures I have heard a few other people have the same thing happen but once they got it cleaned out they were able to burn it all out with a really big fire and it helped
Fun fact: automotive engines do the same thing.
I can tell when i take one apart if it was driven in a city or seen a lot of highway use. The cleanest and easiest to clean are out of race cars.😉👍
I guess you mean the highway engines are cleaner than the city engines.
@jakebredthauer5100 : Yes. A city engine will be packed full of carbon just like the boiler today. However, an engine ran on the freeway for long trips will be cleaner and less carbon build up.
Dan both boilers I’ve owned the manuals recommended keeping water temp range between 185 and 170 to reduce creosote buildup. You might try that and see if it improves that. That said with the warm weather this winter I had creosote issues as well, just not as bad as you did.
This year has been rough with the warm temps. I had the same problem.
That’s crazy you even properly season your wood! I had to clean my chimney for the same reasons also this year very unusual.👍👍
Wow! That's some crazy buildup! I've been cleaning my chimney on my indoor wood burner on a monthly basis during the heating season. Usually the spark arrestor shows buildup before it gets too awful. My brother has had two chimney fires so I really stay on top of it! 😊
I tried a spark arrestor cap one year and it didn't take long for that to get almost completely clogged up as well.
It is a symptom of not hot enough fire , period . I burn green hard maple every year for 24 years now and never have had any buildup. My boiler is set to shut off at 185° and refire at 160° . I have never had any buildup issues as it burns out every day . And we burn 12 months every year as we heat all our potable water with the boiler. Also my boiler is a pressurized fan combustion Royall
Most people don't realize you are not supposed to burn soft woods (pine, spruce, cedar, etc) in any wood stove/fireplace/boiler... Only burn hardwoods... Also helps to get the fire nice and hot and throw an aluminum can in on occasion with a nice hot fire if the can melts right away and burns away the burning aluminum will clean the creosote out.
Looks like you need to do a deep clean of all the creosote throughout the boiler. Stay safe.
I have a 5ft section of pipe on top of my outside boiler that I replace each year. It gets a build up of pitch and creosote. I also have a removable panel at the bottom of the stack on the boiler for checking and cleaning. I do a little maintenance all through out the heating season.
Maybe the Owners manual could give you some ideas on how it should be operated !!😊
Hi, LA I didn't call boiler. And when I purchased mine, they told me to run it at 185 I never Torun it under 180. Just this suggestion, that's what the manufacturer told me. He's been doing it record a while.
Brother in law was getting creosote problems too. Was keeping temps down and burning more wood than required at a lesser temp.
He started only using the boiler on weekends and run it hot. I suggested burning lower btu wood in milder temps. This helped a lot.
Burning green wood also accounts for your brother in law's problems.
@@Str8UPdyeabolick wasn't green wood. Not enough heat.
@@Str8UPdyeabolickboy you tried, now sit down and stay quiet you may learn something
Tell him to stay away from pine and other conifers as they tend to exacerbate creosote buildup.
@@ianbelletti6241 only burn hardwood. No softwood or evergreen.
WOW. Thanks for the video!
You had a lot of tar creosote, and then you had a chimney fire. The tarry stuff when burned puffs up into the black glass like crusty stuff that was at the top. So there was like a one inch layer or tarry creosote in the chimney pipe, then you had a hot fire and the creosote burned and expanded in the pipe. Take some of the tarry gooey stuff and burn it with a torch. It will turn into the crusty stuff.
Put a chimney sweeping log in there beginning middle and end of season, it’s a csl log, so after you clean all that creosote out use the csl log to maintain it and you’ll never have this problem regardless of the wood you burn but pine is a major producer of creosote that’s why you hear people only burning hardwood, but if you use the chimney sweeping log it drys out that creosote and it’s able to flake off and not accumulate as it did but after all that build up your probably going to have to do an initial thorough cleaning then use the chimney sweeping log to maintain and you’ll never have this problem
All The Best
Fabrizio
hi there so you have a constipated boiler .i take 2 -5 gallon buckets out of my boiler each season , you boiler is like a engine ,it likes running most efficient at higher speed or under load ,with the warmer temp. your running it with the chock on . the top in where the hot wet gasses meats the cold , glad you are back to normal. that may be the wrong word for you , good show , best to all ,john
YEARLY MAINTENANCE IS REQUIRED!!!
I had more creosote this year than normal too here in WI. I check the chimney 1st of every month to avoid issues. Saves a lot of work.
A word of caution don't burn large amount of plywood. I clogged up my woodstove's chimney one year. The stove worked fine for years, until one day the stove would just smoke out of every little hole like air was being blown into the stove.
I checked the pipe and it was completely clogged minus a small 1/4" hole where I could see light. I had burned plywood scraps for a few months prior and all those resins were sticking to everything. It was easily cleaned and since then I have moved to a pellet stove.
That creosote is a crisis! That is a major problem with your outdoor wood boiler.
This requires a follow up video. What is causing the problem? Is there an equipment problem or is it the wood? Or is it just due to the warm winter or combination?
I heard this never happens to firewood produced in OHIO, but only Wisconsin!
@@garylaszewski7380it happens because you're burning unseasoned "green" wood
I have found when my boiler does that it is because its not burning efficiently or my wood isn’t as dry, cured as much as it should be. A hot fire will help clean that out. Have a great day!
You are so lucky all that creosote caught fire and burned. My chimney pipe is like yours and when I installed they suggested to clean at shutdow , with a chimney brush.
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Good you caught it, a couple days and it would have been a chimney fire!
Systems where additional water storage is heated probably don't have this problem, since they basically burn at full blast when they are on
Dan good 👍 thing you checked ✅ the problem with the wood boiler because it might have started a massive fire 🔥 in the long run thank goodness it didn’t happen 😮😊❤
I have swept chimneys and cleaned and worked on furnaces and boilers, Both wood fired and Oil fired. With wood fired boilers and furnaces you need to clean them more often. Oil fired units create soot while wood fired units create creosote. The creosote is caused by moisture in the exhaust gases/smoke that binds with the soot causing it to coat/cover all the surfaces and build up reducing the exhaust flow. It can be worse when burning soft woods with sap as the sap boils off creating more moisture in the form of steam, That is why they say never burn soft woods in fireplaces and woodstoves. The boiler needs a good cleaning and maybe replacement with how thick it is. With the creosote seeping out through the seams you need to replace the insulation . Clean it once a year with brushes to keep the flow of exhaust clear.
That's the stuff that causes chimney fires with a regular wood stove. Just be careful and stay safe.
Bill
We have had the same open the doors in the house will help with the differents temperatures. We had a spar arrestor on our flue an it plugged up.
Stay safe and be warm
With such a mild winter, the fire is not burning very hot causing creosote build up. It would be better to build much smaller fires so the fire burns hot enough to get to your water set point, minimizing creosote.
I would think smaller wood also. Big chunks just take forever and they lay in the firebox and smolder.
Warm winter, burning too cold. Taking a wild guess you're burning fir.
Be sure the door is 100% sealing because if the firebox gets any air between firing, the OWB just becomes a creosote generator if allowed to smoulder.
I had the exact same thing happen to me mid winter but the moisture content in my wood leaves a bit to desired. This season has been kinda crazy so I clean mine every sunday night.
My buddy did this years ago to his central boiler . He had burned poplar trees he cut down that spring. Burn dry hard wood an use a product called ash troll from central boiler. It works
I'm not convinced it's a wet wood problem. Check your blower to see if it's putting out enough cfms. Check the door seal as well. Both will effect total burn. Maybe check the temperature regulator to make sure it's accurately kicking on and off. Since this is the 1st time this has occurred, something has changed. Weather definitely will effect how your boiler will cycle. Definitely need more heat to clean out the creosote. Good catch before it was to late 👍
That boiler has turned into being a serious safety hazard instead of being a go to for heating efficiently. Last spring it was clogged up bad with creosote in one of your videos.
I have found that mine gets buildup on top like that when we get snow
It plugs up at the top because the smoke instantly condenses when it hits the cold air. A better rain cap may help and can be removed and cleaned on the ground.
After you've removed as much as you physically can, Anti-creo-soot is commercislly available spray you can apply to glazed creosote which will convert it to the ashy creosote, which can be removed with a wire brush.
I've thought about making my own creosote spray as if you look up the msds it's basically just vinegar+magnesium salt (lookup the msds/sds) and a binder (coconut oil).
Likely going to have one of my chimneys rebult next year when I replace the roof anyways, so might try my own juice and see how it goes. Lol.
Insulate your chimney above the roof.. What happens is that when it's cold outside, the exhaust gas cools in the chimney and creosote forms on the inside, and when it gets tighter, the pressure in the furnace increases. That's where the problems start..
Hey dan thing i do is i throw aluminum pop cans in my stove every once in awhile. What that does is put aluminum oxidation in the stove and the creosote build up will be kept down due to it not able to not stick to steel also i burn a hotter fire to burn off the crud inside.
that's crazy! never heard of doing this.. might have to try it!
I've burnt for 2 yrs in my outside boiler and never have more than a few flakes inside my stack. It's practically clean for the whole season. I also turn my aquastat to a 5 degree difference so the burner kicks on more during warmer temps
Wow, that’s got to hold the record for most creosotes without having a chimney fire. I have heard that a lot of people have way more issues this year. I can’t believe your wood is dry. Do you open up some of those big chunks and check the moisture ? Many factors here that could be causing the problem. Good luck Dan. Hope everything gets back to normal.
Definitely has been an off year for burning wood. Wood is dry but think the long periods of time between burns is main factor.
What is the temperature cycle time, I run mine at 180°, 15 degree cycles
do you sweep your flue? in the UK it's recommended to sweep our chimneys at least once a year (more if burning regularly) over time the flue can clog and slow down the flow - the last part to see this is are the entry and exit points.
Might be worth getting a proper chimney brush in there.
The very top of chimney has a little temp drop. Creosote starts to built. Only way to get clean would be to burn hot. Might have to remove pipe and burn it out on ground. Then brush clean.
I used to have that same problem with my log burner. I turned the fan off and burn it like an open fire. Now I never have to clean the chimney just a handful of dirt each year. There's a video of it on my youtube
First of all if it gets hot enough, it will burn the tar, so if your not worried about burning anything important down go for it,
Wet/damp wood, cold burn/not enough air at all time, leaking heater core is letting water or steam mixing with the smoke forming tar
Sounds like you need to check the blower every fall as well as the stack. Should likely clean up the inside top as it's likely quite coated and needs it.
need more airflow for it to not gum up like that. good job on cleaning it off though back40 :)
You’re doing the same thing my dad does, running your fires too slow. Don’t worry about conservation of wood. Run it so that stuff burns up and goes out the chimney. But 11years of use your doing pretty good. Dad dampens to much and his gets like yours about every 2 years. Then I get the pleasure of scraping and cleaning and brushing and clearing. If you can’t hear air roaring into the intake it’s running too slow.
It’s a wood stove basically and you need to at least clean the chimney with pole and brush to bare metal once a year every year, you have all the makings for a chimney fire and as the individual pointed out creosote soaked boiler insulation perhaps. Chimneys need to be cleaned at least yearly especially if your burning lumber and pine. You also need a hood top on the chimney while it’s burning to help with draw and creosote depositing. At the least it keeps rain/snow out of your chimney/ boiler.
I LIVE IN NORTHWEST WISCONSIN (DOUGLAS COUNTY) AND HAD THE SAME WARM WINTER WITH THE SAME PROBLEM WITH MY PORTAGE AND MAIN OWB. DUE TO LONGER PERIODS OF THE UNIT NOT FIRING, WHEN IT DID START UP THE BURN CYCLE IT HAD TO START FROM ALMOST NO FIRE LEFT. THIS WOULD RESULT IN ONG PERIODS OF LOW FIREBOX TEMPS CAUSING THE JUICIER ASH. AT THE TOP OF YOUR CHIMNEY IT MET COLDER AIR AND FORMED THE RIM OF CREOSOTE. THIS IS JUST MY OPINION AFTER USING AN OWB FOR 25 YRS.
I think you are correct...pretty much exactly what I was thinking was the main reason for this.
Creosote is formed when the wood is a higher moisture content than desirable. Dry wood burns easier. The chimney needs to be cleaned out on a regular basis. The normal in a chimney is a soft flour like soot. , cleans easy, with a brush and vacuum. (Buy a dedicated shop vacuum, messy. Chimney brush, sized for your chimney with rod extensions suitable for the height of the chimney.)
Clean regularly.
What you are looking at inside your chimney are the remains of a chimney fire. Chimney fire. You are lucky all the good construction and good materials kept the fire in the chimney. DISMANTLE the sections and check for damage (too much heat), clean with a wooden stick to break up the cinder, clinker, and then use the brush to finish the clean, inspect,, reinstall or buy new.
Clean regularly. Lucky you kept the building.
I can see a major cleaning this summer, chimney swept clean. Burn hotter fires. Dry wood. Good luck .
QQQ Hi Dan did you use Any of your Dry Pine Logs in your Broiler And Could that be the Cause of All that Build Up of Creosote
Wow! Your first indication sighs have been the creosote accumulation inside the fire box. Whatever you are seeing inside the firebox is going to be repeated inside the flue and intakes, as well as other airflow passages that combustion gases go through.
I know, his door was caked with it.
The problem with these wood boilers is that you put in too much wood and it burns upwards and too little air gets in during combustion and then the result is amounts of tar in the upper part of the wood boiler and the whole chimney :O
Better would be a wood boiler where the same amount of wood is burned down through ceramic plates with holes so the fire travels down and on through the boiler's several passages and up the chimney! Then you get secondary combustion on the exhaust gases on the lower part and very good combustion with clean ash and almost no tar at all in the chimney. That's how my combustion works here at home and never any complaints and only small amounts of gray ash at the bottom :)
Hello Dan, What Rod said😂 good Podcast🤘🏻🪵🇺🇸
Since i have an energy efficient home my boiler idles a lot. Fortunately my boilers design allows easy access for weekly cleaning of the chimney system and yes it needs it.
If timber is dried properly there shouldn’t be such a build up of creasote in any appliance.
Dan, I would or wood? recommend TSP or trisodium phosphate. Bet you have seen it in the plastic container labelled as creosote remover. If added to coals, creates a catalytic reaction drying out and turning creosote into flakey material and reduces that sticky, nasty tar. Results in easier removal. Fairly inexpensive.
What kinda wood are you burning? I have never seen anything like that but i only burn wood for a little bit every evening just to get the lump coal burning then i switch to coal the rest of the time it's burning
This should be cleaned every down season. What did you think? That it would clean itself?
That chimney reminds me of a picture of a fleshlight that my friend used throughout a 6 month deployment in Iraq back in 2005.
Heat it up super hot a couple times per season to keep it clean. Probably need to add a bigger blower to do that, I use a leaf blower
Invest in a sooteater mate,it’s a really good chimney sweep,just goes on a cordless drill
That is am IMPRESSIVE amount of creosote! What type of wood are you normally burning your own heat? That amount of creosote I wouldn't think could build up in that short amount of time especially in the fire box
You’re pretty lucky you caught it. Thst stuff burns like crazy for a long long time.
Only time i have issues with creosote build up is when i burn pine or spruce. Keep temps above 175 and burn hsrdwoods
How did you not notice anything sooner?
Cold exhaust temperatures allow the creosote to stick to the pipes , keeping exhaust temperatures around 450 degrees will help decrease the build up , burning wet wood is another issue to.
You where partly right.....
3 things cause creosote buildup.
1. Low fires. Fires that smolder for long periods of time. If the gasses and waste are not heated to a high temperature it's not properly carried through the chimney as exhaust smoke, steam, and gasses. It condenses making the "goo" and buildup you discovered.
2. Wet wood. When you burn damp or wet wood you get smouldering plus extra moisture. This makes the soot and smoke heavy, damp, and easily condensed oh relatively cooler surfaces.
3. Lack of proper inspection/cleaning/maintenance.
This one is bad. With proper, regular cleaning, you would never have got to the point of "this door is stuck, there's drips on the floor, what's all this gunk".... yes larger stoves like yours sometimes have large ash traps that are easy to remove and dump, but it's just a fancy wood stove.
It works on the same principles and requires the same attention and maintenance. Regular chimney cleanings, regular soot removal. More inspections for cracks and damage.....
When you get those kind of stoves you are told to inspect monthly, under heavy use, weekly.
I hope you stop being lazy and careless, start doing the basics you need to do, before you burn your house down or get somone hurt.
hope you have metal roofs on any buildings within 100+ ft if that creosote catches fire.
My guess is you have an inch of that gumbo on the bottom of the fire box too.
Have yet to find a spark arrestor that stops flaming liquid creosote
Been running my Windhager logwin 25 log gasification biomass boiler for 10 years- all hot water and heating as no gas since installation. No creosote or build up. Huge variables of wood species burnt with Flue Clear additive added to each burn. Wood all fully seasoned and almost too dry at times I was told by Windhager! All about that fuel management. 👍….I batch burn and heat 3000ltr of water per day in the winter time which is held in the two 1500ltr accumulator tanks.
Gasification burners also don't have issues with creosote build-up either. The wood has to be seasoned properly, and all the stuff that would otherwise make the creosote (like you get with Pine wood) burns up as fuel because of the higher operating temperatures.
You’re getting enough brilliance coming to you from the comments so I won’t add to it. 😆 Have a great day Shifty!👍🏻
I DON'T HAVE A WOOD BOILER. SO I BOIL ALL MY WOOD ON THE STOVE. PEACE...
I mean, you burn fairly seasoned wood, right? I know a few boiler burners don't care and they'll throw fresh cut stuff directly from the woods into their boiler box. But I think your assessment of a mild winter was the culprit. Nice save and something other boiler burners should look out for. Keep cuttin' Dan!
You need to run your boiler at 185 or higher to stop it from building up on you
Guess I'm not sure how that would help...the temp is the temp of the water so even if it is set to a higher set point the fire will still smolder in between burn cycles.
Annual maintenance is a thing. Been a thing for at least .......eternity. smh. Mandatory chimney inspection and cleaning should never be ignored and its simple to do. Just wow
Wood boolers require yearly maintenance. And not just the chimney, all the passages need to open up.
Bro what are you feeding it, or when did you last clean it?
The blower is what caused the problem. When you know it’s going to be warmer put less wood into it. Increases cycle times
Were you not doing any maintenance to it?
Hopefully it will burn its self clean. I wonder if one of the chimney sweeping logs work? Did that tar/creosote get into your fan motor? How free spinning was your fan? May want to have one on the shelf. Great content
I have the same style fan in my greenhouse and they do go bad over time. The one on my wood furnace looks the same but has 2 spots to put oil to oil the bearings.
Man that was a major jam, I'd definitely blame it on yhe warmer Temps, and it not calling for heat as often... heat your pool year round😂😂, it will definitely call for heat then!!!!
One year of heating a pool would probably use up the 2 years of wood I am ahead...hahaha
You get what you deserve!!!!! For 3 years or more people have been trying to get you to do something about the creosoke and you keep saying it’s ok it’s ok nothing is wrong
Well for 3 years or more this has never happened so I'm not sure it's a carry over from year to year. You have to understand how this system works...creosote is something you can't avoid.
@@Back40Firewood
It is if you sweep you chimney at a minimum of twice a season
@@Back40FirewoodWrong, your wood is "green". Seasoned wood, never makes creosote
@@RJ1999x nope, 2 year seasoned wood. I'm far enough ahead so I don't need to burn green. The issue is when the blower shuts down for long extended periods of time and the wood smolders. That smoke then slowly goes up the stack where it it met with cooler temps and creates the creosote build up at the very top. This is not a conventional 'wood stove', this is an outdoor wood boiler and is designed to work that way. But with a warmer winter the cycle times of when the water temp dropped to 160 was longer. So water temps drops to 160, blower turns on...air forced in, fire burns. Water temp reaches 170, blower shuts off....fire barely burns, smolders. Now if it takes 4 hours for that water temp to drop to 160 again then for 4 hours the fire was putting out a slow, almost cold smoke. That smoke makes its way up the stack, hits cooler air, and creosote is formed. Nothing to do with how seasoned the wood is.
@@Back40Firewood completely wrong. Your door alone shows you're wood isn't seasoned, or you're burning bad wood. Been involved with wood burning furnaces for over 50 yrs, including the boilers.
It's the fuel doing it, not the climate
What have been burning in that, rarilroad ties? LOL!
You may need to change your wood supplier. Lol. I have had that same problem.
Get a large log chain down the hole and rattle it around and add a lot of creasote remover in the fire
Call the company that made your unit and explain your problem. As homeowners are supposed to have their chimneys cleaned you need to do that to your unit as well as service it by cleaning all the creosote off on the inside and out.
Funny nobody uses the age old remedy of putting a handful of dried potato peels in the fire once a week when in heavy use. I had a wood stove for years and burned any and all types of wood especially pine . Every spring when I would take the cap off the chimney to use a chimney brush when shining a light down it all I found was a light dust on the walls when I wiped with finger all i got was the dust like from wiping it on a piece of charcoal.
Check the moisture content in your wood 🪵 a lot of rain and warm weather this year