Ti Stove Cleaning

[fair-chase]

This spring I've been less selective of the wood that I burn in my Ti-Goat stove, and now I'm paying the price. I have developed a fairly thick layer of creosote that is in the "tar" stage throughout the entire length of the pipe, and to a lesser degree coating the inside of the stove body itself. It's thick enough that it is beginning to effect the ability of the pipe to maintain shape, not to mention the high potential for a chimney fire.

Looking for some wisdom as to the best remedy; that potentially saves me from hours of laborious scrubbing with a wire brush. Anyone deal with this problem before? I was considering oven cleaner, but thought it best to ask here first.

Thanks.

 

[Shrek]

I'd be careful about oven cleaner. Titanium is corrosive resistant but that foil is thin and expensive to replace. I'm interested in a good answer myself since I have a titanium WiFi.

 

[michaelc10]

I'd be careful about oven cleaner. Titanium is corrosive resistant but that foil is thin and expensive to replace. I'm interested in a good answer myself since I have a titanium WiFi.

i don't have titanium but had the same problem with my stainless pipe. I used oven cleaner and 409 it loosened the creosote within a few minutes then i took a bowl of warm water and wiped it right off. Came out great.

 

[Shrek]

Titanium is actually a reactive metal but as it oxidizes it seals itself. I worry that the chemicals in oven cleaner could maybe somehow eat through and keep reacting. I would try it on a small spot on the top of the chimney to be safe.

 

[fair-chase]

Thanks Shrek. I had not considered the posibility of oven cleaner being too corrosive. I have already tried a citrus based degreaser. Results were less than impressive; but then, it's one of those "green" cleaning agents that rarely work on anything.

 

[Mad Mountain Mike]

Get it hot, extremely hot to the point that the creosote / tar starts to burn ( I use a tiger torch ) the creosote will turn to powder and will fall off your pipe as you take the rings off and role it up the other way to put it away. If it doesn't just fall off it will come off with a light brushing ( I've never had to use a brush ).

 

[VernAK]

I burn mostly spruce with a high pitch content in my Kifaru with Ti pipe.....I never experience any buildup unless burning plastic wrappers. Maybe I'm just burning it hotter.

 

[BIGHORNtracks]

Ha! Chimney fires are not fun!
You only have to have one of those in your tent before you start to pay attention to it. Been there, done that.
Typically when you disassemble the pipe and roll it the other way, the buildup sluffs off.
If its gone to the tar stage and you want easy options, just burn it out.

Set just the stove up in the back yard, build a fire in the stove, let it burn hot, and heat the pipe with a torch until a pipe fire starts.
Thats the lazy way to do it.

Other than that, I would do exactly what you are saying, scrape the tar off and scrub it clean.
Thats a lot of work, and its going to suck. But its safe.

I am surprised that you are seeing that type of buildup. I have only experienced that kind of thing when I have burned for at least five days in a row. Even then, its rare. But you may be burning some very heavy pitch wood.

 

[camping1601]

Get some nice dry seasoned hard wood and burn it hot.

 

[mtswampfox]

Every year when living in the northland would hear of chimney fires burning down a house, then it happened to me. Sounded like the proverbial freight train and scared the shit out of all but was lucky it was contained in the chimney a brick lined cement block one. Cant imagine one in a tent

 

[dotman]

I have always just wiped it off at the end of the season. Seems like folding it always breaks stuff up and it is easy to clean.

How did you get this thick of a build up? Did you assemble it and just leave it up all year never folding it back up? I don't burn a ton in mine each year, maybe 10-14 days a year.

 

[Laelkhunter]

Not sure if it would work in your case, but they have fireplace logs that are designed to clean the chimney and fireplace. It is available at Home Depot and possibly on-line. They are called "Creosote Buster" or something similar to "Creosote Sweeping Log". It is about as big as a roll of papertowels, and you put it in the stove, and light the edge of the wrapper, which in turn ignites the artificial log. The burning supposedly helps remove creosote, soot and other residue from the inside of the chimney, which they say (on the wrapper), could cause a chimney fire. Might be worth a try.

 

[fair-chase]

Thanks for all the advice gentlemen.

Typically, I use Larch limbs as my kindling and Douglas Fir as my main heat source. Although I have had to resort to using Alpine Fir on a few occasions. I've never experienced buildup to this level before. As mentioned previously, I've been less selective of the quality of the wood this spring and it's highly possible I just ran a bad batch through it and was not paying close enough attention.

Further adding to the problem I now suspect, is that I am not running this stove wide open. There really is no need to be running it at all this time of year, except that my two sons (who both drew spring bear tags) have developed an affinity for hot tenting, and I've been told that it's no longer hunting if you don't have a warm tent to crawl into. Makes me feel old when I tell them "back in my day, we didn't have hot tents, we slept under the truck or a downed tree". In reality, I'm good with whatever gets them outdoors. Even if the tent is more akin to a sweat lodge than an ultralight tipi because were burning a wood stove when it's 60* outside.

I will try burning it out in the next day or two and report back with results.

Thanks again.

 

[fair-chase]

Thanks again for the advise gentlemen.

I went ahead and burned it as hot as I could get it with some quality wood in the backyard. Results were good. Managed to get it glowing red almost the entire length of the pipe. After cooling, I unrolled it, shook it and bent it in every possible direction. This removed roughly 80 percent of the buildup that had accumulated.

While this was enough that I would feel safe running the stove again in the tent, I was determined to find an actual cleaner/procedure that would remove the remaining debris and leave the pipe sparkling clean. Call me OCD, but I feel compelled to maintain all of my gear beyond reasonable levels. Back on track... Sadly, I have found no easy remedy. The best I could come up with was metal/jewelry clay powder + sponge. Takes a little bit of elbow grease (roughly 2 hrs for 7' pipe). Not terribly laborious, and now it looks like a brand new stove.

Thanks again.