WOODBURNER

[BULLDOZER]

HELP! MY WOODBURNER STARTED TO 'SMOKE', I RE-SEALED WITH PROPER CEMENT BUT WOOD TAR HAS SEEPED ON THE STACKPIPE. COULD THIS CAUSE A SMOKE SMELL IN THE HOUSE AND CAN IT BE REMOVED?
TRISH

 

[masona]

You would need specialist advice as it require fire & safety regulation + sometime building control.Pop down to your nearest Fireplace merchant for a advice.

 

[Antwerpman]

I am not sure if this helps, but when I installed a woodburner in my UK house a couple of years ago, the supplier had a product which you could add to the fire and which then reacted with any tar which had collected in the flue, causing a chemical reaction and the tar then foamed (I believe) and fell off

Maybe something like this would help

 

[oilman]

As Antwerpman suggests, there are several chemicals available which might help, Stovax produce one for soot reduction, but their website is one of the fancy dynamic graphics type and I gave up trying to find detailed info.

If you don't have a local fireplace merchant, you could contact the stove manufacturer.

However, there is a problem here as you should not get ANY tar if you run the burner correctly. I speak from experience here, I caused three chimney fires in the days when I knew even less than I do now. The wood should be dry, preferably dried undercover for at least two years, not too big ie not more than 4 inches across, and you should have flames in the burner all the time there is wood in the combustion chamber. If you don't have flames, you will have lots of smoke going up the chimney which will condense into tar. This stuff would have provided you with heat, and it contains a tremendous amount of heat. What ever you do, dont try to put a large log on to keep the fire going all night. Wood does not work like that. At the end of it's combustion it becomes charcoal, and this can be burnt slowly, but for the rest of the time it burns as a gas. Indeed a wood burner with a glass front will look like a real gas fire when it is running properly.