Does the nature of the soot tell you anything about the quality of your fuel or combustion?
I swept my chimney the other day and the soot wasn’t fine black dust but rather coarser gritty brownish stuff. Is this good or bad?
Tim
Yes, dry hard wood burns hotter, wetter wood burns cooler and results in more soot. A hot fire will burn off the tar products more efficiently. Different woods can also burn at different temperatures Burning scrap wood that may have been treated or painted releases more shit up the flue that can stick to the sides.
The point is, that if you could get to zero soot then its very clean. Back in the old days of chimneys and sweeps. If you burned wood often there was a brown kind of sticky stuff left. If you burned nutty slack coal, it was black but glued up a lot, as it had more sulphur in it. I've never had a wood burner myself, but some people say that a resin residue occurs if you burn old fir type tree wood, and has has been said elsewhere, you can get a lot of smoke from damp or treated wood. Brian
Sorry, don't see the OP.
Beechwood fires are bright and clear If the logs are kept a year, Chestnut’s only good they say, If for logs ’tis laid away. Make a fire of Elder tree, Death within your house will be; But ash new or ash old, Is fit for a queen with crown of gold. Birch and fir logs burn too fast Blaze up bright and do not last, it is by the Irish said Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread. Elm wood burns like churchyard mould, E’en the very flames are c old But ash green or ash brown Is fit for a queen with golden crown Poplar gives a bitter smoke, Fills your eyes and makes you choke, Apple wood will scent your room Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom Oaken logs, if dry and old keep away the winter’s cold But ash wet or ash dry a king shall warm his slippers by.
But what about Willow?
Not safe on an open fire. Inclined to explosive splitting.
>
Willow wood takes years to dry, Burns your eyes and makes you cry
Not if it's two years old and dried outside.
(Nice!)
I'm burning Apple, Rosemary and Bay - purely because I have all three available in my own garden. The Rosemary is just a one-off uprooting and the strands are twisted together to form a "trunk" about 5" dia but the other two are regular prunings and loppings. I air dry all the logs for at least a year before burning but the Rosemary - and especially the Bay - seem to burn fiercely because of their natural oils.
Nick
I take care to burn well dried wood. There's **** all soot up there - in fact the only real reason for having it swept it to keep the insurance company happy about having a woodburner and a thatched roof.
Any
Our enclosed *clear view* log burner produced white/grey puffy stuff on the sides of a 7" insulated flu. Ten years Winter use with no sweeping. About 4mm thick. Mostly dry Oak but some Birch and other softwood.
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