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Even to my own Dad I suggested he take out the woodstove and have a gas furnace installed. Back when I was just a pup and entered the trade, Dad decided to install a wood stove and asked me what he needed to do. Well with me not having any experience, I asked the guys I was working with what was needed. Wrote my Dad out a detailed install and operation list. Went to see Dad&Mom that winter and Dad had installed the chimney 3ft short of recomended code and this didn't let the stack draw very well. Dad says " That SS vent pipe is just too dam expensive" He lit a fire that night and after a few seconds after lighting the fire he dampered the vent down to almost nothing. I said " are you not going to burn off the creosote of the stack?", " "Na, it don't need it, I did that last week" The second year I'm over for another winter visit and Dad had replaced the woodstove with a gas furance. Seams like the chimeny caught fire from the 1/2" of creosote build up inside the stack. He says when he kicked over the vent pipe on the roof and put the water to the hot vent pipe "the creosote chunks and flames were shooting out of the stack like roman candle". The fire burnt the entire corner of the attic and roof outside support walls in the livingroom before he got the fire out. I tried to once again explain to Dad that this was just what would happen when I tried to explain to him the year before of the reason he didn't want a short vent nor refuse to burn the creosote out of the vent on each fire up. I've been using a woodstove for the past 25yrs and have yet had to clean any creosote out of my stack and have never had a uncontrolled fire of any type. Yes I do my yearly inspections and if I burn more than 5 cords in one year, I reinspect. I sleep very well at night. T_Bone
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