# Tar in woodburner



## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

To cut a long story short, my woodburning stove has a thick layer of a tar like substance covering all the firebox surfaces.

Can anyone recommend something I can use to get rid of it or failing that a specialist cleaning company in the Pedrogao Grande area that could do the job please?


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Most supermarkets, hardware stores sell a block of inflammable material that burns at a high temperature and will remove a build of tar in fire and chimney, can't remember name I'm afraid but buy the dearer ones seem more effective


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## wink (Aug 23, 2011)

I had recommended and use FUEG NET, €5.75. It is a tube that you place on the hot embers of the fire after the fire has been burning and both it and the chimney are hot. It is extremely effective but very toxic, so best to ensure that your fire door is tightly closed and the room well ventilated.


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## Maggy Crawford (Sep 18, 2010)

One way to prevent the build up is NOT to burn pine.


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

I've just spent the morning cleaning the flue and the top part of the woodburner and removed 4 large bucket loads of soot and sticky carbon deposits etc so I hope that will help the fire draw a bit better.

I've tried to avoid pine but think the previous occupant might have used it but the worst of it seems to have come from using olive wood that (I suspect) hadn't been seasoned for long enough. 

If I ever get the damn thing clean again, I think I'll try to use briquettes instead of having to burn whatever the wood deliverer has handy.


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

OK. I've just been to Brico Marche & bought something called Ramonax for about €9. 

All you need to do is light a fire in the woodburner & once everything is good warm take the Ramonax out of the box & chuck it in the fire complete with it's paper wrapper & then close the doors & leave it for 2 hours.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Hi from Spain
The problem orientates around wood that hasn't been sufficiently dried. Some woods are worse than others but in general the major cause is lack of seasoning.

We have our load of logs delivered in March and it is stacked and left to dry out during the heat of the summer (also allows the wood-boring pests to escape so that they don't get taken into the house!).

Every other year we use a similar artificial log that removes any tar build up in the burner and flue.

We use, almost exclusively, olive (€100 per tonne, cut to length, delivered and stacked in our store) because it is readily available (this area is the world's largest producer of olives!) and our burning it at high temperature means that there is less pollution than from the stuff they burn out on the hillsides (it i burnt to stop the spread of pests and diseases.


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## BlackBeardie (Feb 22, 2012)

YES, burning at a higher temperature will help get rid of the tar but of there is too much tar it can ignite explosively. In the UK we have access to coal so burning a mixture of wood and coal gets the temp up and keeps the flue pipe clear.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Coal not an option in Portugal we achieve similar by burning a mixture of wood the longer seasoned the better. olive attracts a premium here and we only use in an established fire as it burns longer than other woods


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

The Ramonax seems to be working. 

I swept the flue a couple of times last week and then burned 2 Ramonax logs 2 days apart and then gave it about 36 hours and have just swept it again and I was getting lumps of carbon etc the size of cricket balls coming out. 

I'll light another fire this arvo and see how it performs.

Quite honestly, I'll be bloody glad to get rid of the woodburner and get the pellet burning boiler installed.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

travelling-man said:


> The Ramonax seems to be working.
> 
> I swept the flue a couple of times last week and then burned 2 Ramonax logs 2 days apart and then gave it about 36 hours and have just swept it again and I was getting lumps of carbon etc the size of cricket balls coming out.
> 
> ...


I'd love to change to a pellet burner but the economics of it just make it impossible. I get three tonnes of olive wood (enough for about 18 months) for €310 versus the initial cost of installing the pellet burner and pipes/radiators (€8500) then the cost of the pellets (approx €2500 per year). True we'd probably be warmer but these old houses aren't built for withstanding a few months of cold weather so to get the best out of central heating, I'd have to completely dry-line the whole house with an insulating barrier between at who knows how much.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Like me but I can't find a pelletstove to replace backboiler without it looking like an industrial unit in a contemporary lounge, but conversion unit in basement working well


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

The only reason we're converting is that we're renovating the barn into living accommodation & the existing woodburner won't have the output to heat both the barn & the house so we have no choice but to upgrade.

We also have a large diesel boiler that is easily big enough for both zones but that'll cost a fortune to run so will be used as a back up only.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

i'll go back to my diesel boiler conversion we've converted it to pellet because they're more efficient and cheaper to run than diesel, we've not found a replacement pellet fire for wood backboiler because anything with *sufficient output* looks like an industrial unit and neither can find a design that would actually go in lounge and look right without removing existing chimney breast, a step too far


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

I agree completely. The larger pellet burning boilers are truly fugly but the good news is we'll have ours in one of the workshops rather than in the living accommodation.

If our diesel burner could be converted to pellets, I'd have chosen that option because it'd be cheaper than buying a new boiler but unfortunately, that ain't possible.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

That's a shame other manufacturers do make conversion units as the burner is generally a "bought" in element of boilers, for us we still would want a "fire" as a focal point apart from a local heat source as our lounge is too large for just the radiators to heat adequately


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

A fire in the lounge is always a nice thing to have but we're a bit short of good locations for it because SWMBO also wants lots of opening glass on the front and sliding barn doors all over the place....... 

Personally, I reckon the latter aren't such a good idea between the lounge and bedrooms if only because of the noise issues so we're still negotiating that one.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

If you do go for sliding barn doors, consider UPVC plenty of finishes available, even thermal break ali has major condensation issues here and non thermal break a real issue


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

They'll be internal doors & every room will have radiators so condensation shouldn't be an issue....... However, I reckon noise insulation between bedrooms & lounge will be.


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Best product we have found is SILEX from E.leclerc. 

We have the fire and chimney cleaned once a year which keeps it is good working order


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## skercat (Nov 9, 2013)

I am just about to buy a wood burner, thank you for this useful information


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

It's very cold here and today is the first day of this years fire lighting season. We haven't had to light the log-burner this early in the year before. We are getting down to negative temps at night and might, with a struggle, just manage to get into double figures on a couple of days this next week.


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

baldilocks said:


> It's very cold here and today is the first day of this years fire lighting season. We haven't had to light the log-burner this early in the year before. We are getting down to negative temps at night and might, with a struggle, just manage to get into double figures on a couple of days this next week.


AHHHH but you don't live in Portugal


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

siobhanwf said:


> AHHHH but you don't live in Portugal


So how cold/warm are you? 

Don't forget that you are much nearer the coast than I am and the ocean will normally keep you warmer but more into the mess of Atlantic weather systems. They have even had snow in Madrid already.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

And the Serra Estrela here looks like a good skiing season this year


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

Primeira neve de Outono cai na Serra da Estrela > TVI24


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