Best Way To Clean Out A Wood Burning Fireplace

Old newspapers to clean and polish the glass.

Best way to clean out a wood burning fireplace.

You can use a wire brush to completely clean out your chimney. When the fireplace or woodstove has had a day or two to cool gather some ashes. Spray bottle containing a vinegar water ammonia mixture or commercial glass cleaner. You will need to clean out your fireplace regularly.

Use a vacuum to clean up the remaining ashes in the firebox and on the hearth. To clean it you can use a homemade or store bought cleaner. If you burn wood inside your wood stove often you ll realize that the clear glass door that gives you such a great view of the beautiful fire dancing inside easily turns into this smudged glass that has a layer of film over it. If you see moisture bubbling out the ends of the logs when they re burning the wood is wet.

If your fireplace has an ash dump push the ashes through the metal plate in the floor of the firebox. This green wood doesn t burn cleanly and sends a lot of unburned particles smoke up the chimney where they build up as creosote and soot. You want it to completely cover all areas that are dirty. Once it sits take your brush or other scrub tool and pick up some of the paste.

Well you don t want that. After you get the area sprayed down let it sit for about 10 minutes. Make the door shiny. Mix the ashes with enough water to make a paste.

Have your wood burning fireplace and chimney cleaned and inspected by a certified sweep at least once a year at the end of the burning season or more often if you notice creosote and soot build up over 1 8 inch on the inside of the chimney. Apply the paste to the glass with a microfiber cloth to remove soot and dirt. Screwdriver to disconnect the stove pipe where needed. Metal ash container to collect the ashes in for disposal later.

First sweep the fireplace then apply your cleaner and scrub the fireplace down. You can also use plain water for this part but if doing so warm or hot water will help you out. If you burn mostly green wet logs have your chimney cleaned or inspected every 50 burns. To remove simply shovel up the ashes place them in a bag and dispose in the trash.

Remove all the ashes and dust from the fireplace using a small shovel or hand broom to collect it on a dustpan. When you re burning regular fires clean the glass each week with an ash paste. You can also clean the glass insert if your fireplace has one.