Smoke Rings

I guess with a place like this there will always be a new problem to fix and new learnings for regular preventative maintenance. This is one of those occasions.

During last weekend, the wood oven in our living room (our main source of heating) started blowing somke rings, like this



Now, especially in the damp heavy weather we have had, this oven can be difficult to get going and can smoke a little whilst the metal is not up to full temperature. On my way home from a meeting in Stavanger this Tuesday, Mrs Longship rang to complain that the oven was filling the house with smoke.

M. LS rang the local chimey sweep (this activity is organised by the local council and everybody should automatically get there chimneys sweeped every 2 years). She was informed that a new company had taken over the contract and things in this area were in disarray and they couldn't say when our chimneys were last cleaned. They then stated that they were hoping to get to everyone this year.

This evening I started the process of investigation by taking a couple of the insection holes off the oven. Heres what I found



And the view into the outlet pipe was like this



Fotunately this material which I guess one would call slag came off relatively easy and with the help of various tools I managed to get it all cleaned out, collecting half of this stuff in the oven and half in the cleaning insepection hole in the basement.



I also had a quick look and cleaned what I could reach through the inspection door in the loft, fortunately the chimney itself isn't so bad although it is well due a clean.

In total I cleaned out a remarkable 7.5Kg of this hard black soot/slag. I shall now make this an annual event.

The end result a wood oven which lights much easier than before, generates almost no smoke and gives off a lot more heat.