Ash Vacuum Review, Chimney Sweeping & Cleaning our Wood Stove

[@flatheadfletch]

Very well done. Adds to my mental growth and has given me many more ideas I never considered. Thank you for this. Well done !

[@tfhummer]

Check your owner's manual usually most all stoves recommend leaving an inch of ash in the bottom of the stove instead of completely cleaning it out. Helps keep coals and insulates the fire brick from them. I have the Blaze King King Ultra model myself. Ash vacuum gets used at the end of the season for me.

[@MANaboutTOOLS]

Good tip! Thanks!

[@ChrisFredriksson]

Old video now, but so very current information especially as we're moving to a house where we can and need to burn wood to save on electricity. Love the fire starters also, going to try that when possible. Great guide video all through! ❤

[@MANaboutTOOLS]

Glad it was helpful!

[@thegreenman4898]

i would reccomend putting a small cyclone connector between the hose and ashvac, it will prolong the life of your machine and wont clog the filters, giving you full suction for the whole job, check out the dust deputy or a similar brand on youtube. cheers

[@captainkangaroo4301]

This looks like a good product but it should come with a pellet stove cleaning kit (like some other brands) to include a very narrow hose attachment to reach the very small areas like the fines catcher.

[@167curly]

Congratulations to the stove installation team for working so well on that nasty weather day. I am curious about where the creosote build-up in the stove comes from as you use natural lumber as fuel, or is creosote a natural byproduct of wood in your area, and not a chemical preservative for wood as I know it?

[@MANaboutTOOLS]

Thanks Phil. From what I understand, creosote is a nature by-product of burning wood. I think it can accumulate more when the wood is burned slower and longer. I have tried hotter burns and indeed had less creosote buildup. Either way, I have to sweep my chimney at least twice a burning season.

[@cosmintoma5197]

Hi.How about the fine black dust behind this vacum.I have a problem with the black dust from all arund the house after use the vaccum.Ofcourse another brand of vaccum Can you tell me if you notice a black dust around the house?I have pellet stove and i have to clean it every day.Thank you and happy hollydays.

[@bradpayn8058]

Good video! lots of information about several topics. I like your fire starter bags, I'm going to try some. I learned how to make another fire starter about 100 years ago when I was a Boy Scout. Yours look easier to make, but the Scout hack I learned was pretty easy too, and give you a lot smaller unit to store many away, or even take in a backpack. We would save toilet paper tubes, and paper towel tubes, and gift wrap tubes. We cut the toilet tubes in half, so you get two short tubes a little under 3" long, and cut all the paper towel and other tubes this long too. Then someday when you are chainsawing anyway, you take some cardboard flats like canned goods would come in, and old candle stubs, or some paraffin, whatever wax you have around, and a metal coffee can or old pot or bucket you are not attached to. Melt the wax, you don't need a double boiler if you don't care about the vessel and don't go too fast. By a little camp fire is fine, and you can warm your hands once in a while too. Stand all your short tubes on end in the flats and fill them with chainsaw sawdust - that long sawdust you made in this video would be perfect. Get as many tubes per flat as will fit snug, you don't care it they are out of round. Then poke the sawdust in just a bit. A little compression to get some more in, but not tight. Then with a tablespoon pour a little wax over each. A while later, after it sets up a little, do the same to the other end. You can turn them all over at once with one extra flat. The wax and waxy sawdust will sort of cap the tubes, but where sawdust protrudes through the wax, it's like candle wicks. There's just sort of a wax sawdust wafer on the ends, and the rest is sawdust and cardboard.

[@davidb9547]

Love yor fire starter. Nice hack.👍👍👍✌

[@lastingbuild1373]

Very good info!👍

[@SuperDeath000]

quick tip blow out air filters with an air compressor and air gun ... quick tip two do it with a strong wind at your back not the other way around haha

[@kansaIainen]

If you start the fire on top of the kindlings instead of on the bottom, there would not be so much smoke which creates creosote.

[@tl7209]

personal I just use my regular shop vac with a filter bag on it. although it should go without saying you cant suck up hot embers with a regular shop vac

[@bob_frazier]

Thanks!

[@BigMacBook1300]

Can we get a link for the fan thanks.

[@MANaboutTOOLS]

Sure: amzn.to/2U6BUEs I really like these fans. Moves enough air and almost silent.

[@timtation5837]

Excellent video!!! I’m not sure some people understand burning firewood in the Pacific Northwest… Creosote is gonna happen with any stove or wood, as it tends to stay pretty wet on Vancouver Island (I grew up on Orcas island, just south of you). I’m not seeing any real benefit to the tin can shop vac… I just have a long hose on my regular shop vac, so the vac part is outside and the business end of the hose is inside… I always run a long hose on my shop vacs, unless I am using them on liquid… But it is nice to have the dusty-noisy part outside, while I have the suction end inside. Allows me to run cheaper filters (or no filter) and not worry about breathing in any crud. You can usually fit like diameter hoses together to make a long hose, or find a similar diameter flex pipe, like from a water pump (which is what I use most of the time)… It’s one long piece with no chance of coming apart and leaking. Works great for cleaning out the wood stove… And no, I don’t leave a layer of ash on the bottom, and have never had an issue with fire bricks going bad because of it (have been doing it for 60 years)… I hear the cat screens on those stoves can be a bit touchy and easy to damage if cleaned wrong, but I don’t know enough about your particular stove to say. Overall it was an excellent video that showed folks how to properly clean a wood stove and chimney (which should be done every year).

[@MarkMettler]

This video was made in Winter 2018, two years and a few months later, what say you about the vacuum now? Problems, features, contentment?

[@hazman440]

Are you still liking the shop vac ash vacuum ?

[@MANaboutTOOLS]

Yes. Still working well.

[@mikedoingmikethings702]

EcoFan made it a WOW FACTOR! 😅😅😅 Hey Ken! you thought about installing a thermodynamic fan on top of the stove? 🤔

[@sweepbjames]

If your Catalytic Combustor is functioning, you should not be experiencing creosote. Period. Cat units require you to revisit your burning techniqes as it's not entirely intuitive. You might reread the owners manual section on operation for tips. Probably a longer warmup and once operational, closing the bypass and waiting a substantial amount of time to assure 'light off' before dialing it back for your operating temp. There's going to be a decrease in temperatures of the exhaust immediately upon closing the damper as gases are rerouted, enough so that the cat can actually lose activation-shut down. When discussing, I recommend for Catalytic stoves, a probe thermometer. Placement in the stove is usually a function the stove manufacturers have made allowances for; a knock-out or hole cover of some sort, putting the probe close (.75"-1.5') to the output side of the combustor, for reliable monitoring. Conversely you can go outside and look for smoke, when the combustor is 'activated'. If you see smoke .... it's not working. The catalytic combustor, when working, consumes smoke as fuel producing heat. During your sweeping, you didn't show checking the catalytic combustor. I'd bet the input side would be partially plugged with fly ash and a little creosote judging from the shots inside the stove. You'll want to inspect, and address that with a soft brush (paint brush) before you get into the burn season for real, for your optimal performance. Careful in handling, the substrate is expensive to replace before its time.

[@JoshEmmons]

When running a chainsaw, your thumb should be wrapped around the front handle rather than off to the side as yours is. Should the the saw encounter kickback with your thumb off to the side like it is, it's possible for the saw to be knocked out of your forward grip, at which point you would have no control of it, and less likelihood of the chain brake being activated. With your thumb wrapped and gripping the forward handle, the saw will rotate in that hand during a kickback event, and the chain brake will be actuated by the back of your hand/wrist, stopping the chain immediately.

[@MANaboutTOOLS]

Good safety tip. Thanks for sharing.

[@DonCurrier]

I had a business come and clean my woodstove flue with a vacuum, They did not use a brush to clean the flue first. They said the vacuum would get it all. Was I lied to and duped? Because they charged $350 for the job. I could buy two vacuums for what they charged and do it myself.

[@flatheadfletch]

Yes. The Sad truth is very few people left that provide a true and honest service. They do as little as possible and charge as much as they can get away with. I do everything myself because you can’t trust anyone these days. Common sense and effort go a long way, even if you have to do it 2 or 3 times to get it done. This way it’s done right, piece of mind, and cheaper !!!

[@DonCurrier]

@ that was my experience with the people I hired. Little to no effort and not a great job. I only hired them because I didn’t want to have to climb onto my roof and clean it properly myself.

[@clocknack]

What 6.3 amps

[@MANaboutTOOLS]

What do you mean?

[@reallywontsufferfools1620]

why does your stove create more creosote? it shouldnt.

[@MANaboutTOOLS]

I think the lower stovepipe temps can cause that. But it could be more than that. Could be wood selection or damper settings. So... probably just me. ;o)

[@reallywontsufferfools1620]

creosote is caused mainly by damp fuel . i dont burn my timber until 2 yrs after its cut. i get soot in chimney but very lttle and i do mean miniscule bits of creosote. most of soot falls into stove dry powdery , l once went outside one morning and black papery soot was around floor below chimney very dry and almost like burnt paper,only happened once. good luck .ps can you attach a drill to your rods and push from below.

[@sweepbjames]

If your Catalytic Combustor is functioning, you should not be experiencing creosote. Period. Cat units require you to revisit your burning techniqes as it's not entirely intuitive. You might reread the owners manual section on operation for tips. Probably a longer warmup and once operational, closing the bypass and waiting a substantial amount of time to assure 'light off' before dialing it back for your operating temp. There's going to be a decrease in temperatures of the exhaust immediately upon closing the damper as gases are rerouted, enough so that the cat can actually lose activation-shut down. When discussing, I recommend for Catalytic stoves, a probe thermometer. Placement in the stove is usually a function the stove manufacturers have made allowances for; a knock-out or hole cover of some sort, putting the probe close (.75"-1.5') to the output side of the combustor, for reliable monitoring. Conversely you can go outside and look for smoke, when the combustor is 'activated'. If you see smoke .... it's not working. The catalytic combustor, when working, consumes smoke as fuel producing heat. During your sweeping, you didn't show checking the catalytic combustor. I'd bet the input side would be partially plugged with fly ash and a little creosote judging from the shots inside the stove. You'll want to inspect, and address that with a soft brush (paint brush) before you get into the burn season for real, for your optimal performance. Careful in handling, the substrate is expensive to replace before its time.

[@lilbird1962]

👍

[@GladiatorReid]

Maybe season your logs for longer, you shouldn't have creosote in ur stove or pipe

[@MANaboutTOOLS]

They were well seasoned for years. I think It might be the lower burn temps from the catalytic converter.