Cre-Away Creosote Modifier (16 Oz Squeeze Bottle) - The Original Creosote Remover for Chimneys, Wood Stove Cleaner, Wood Burning Fireplace

We use our fireplace several times a week during the winter. Every autumn a chimney sweep comes out to clean the chimney and inspect it. We have an issue with creosote building up and we could solve the problem by inserting an expensive chimney liner or we could address it by having our sweep apply an expensive coating inside the chimney to eliminate crevices where creosote accumulates. We prefer to address the issue less expensively. Some years ago our sweep at the time suggested we try using this product, so we did. Initially it came with a durable plastic straw for applying it, you have to squeeze the canister to get some of the powder to fly up into the flue once you have a fire burning hot enough for the hot air to carry the powder up into there. This is a technique you have to learn by trial and error. I have gotten fairly good at it. You need to make sure the heat from the fire is sufficient for it to carry the powder up and not down. You do not want to get a faceful of this powder or inhale any of it. Be careful, this stuff is not meant to get on your skin or into your eyes.After we used up our first plastic container of this product we ordered another one. The chimney sweep told us it seemed to be effective in crystallizing the creosote accumulating up there to allow him to then remove it. The second bottle had a different applicator, it no longer came with the straw. Now I found that without the straw it really makes it more difficult to get the powder up there into the flue. You really need that extra 9 inches or so provided by the straw to deliver the powder into the hot gases rising up the chimney when you apply it. Without the straw the powder just flies out in a cloud and it doesn't rise up easily into the heated air the way it is supposed to do. So I rigged up my own straw and taped it to the nozzle so I could still apply it that better way. Much more effective and easy to apply. I do not understand why the manufacturer stopped using the applicator with the straw? It works much better and is safer in my view. I do not want that powder squirting forth in a low flying cloud and coming right back down onto me. The straw makes it so much more effective to apply. By the way, I have now gone through several of these containers and I'll keep using my own improvised straw method, thank you.The chimneysweep who initially sold me this product is now retired so I started buying it on here. It is actually less expensive to buy it on Amazon. Apparently my sweep was really marking it up and gouging me on the price. We now have a new chimneysweep, a young guy who works for a big company. The first time he inspected the chimney he complained about the creosote and told us we needed to have them apply an expensive coating inside the flue to cover up any crevices where creosote can accumulate. Well, I wasn't having any of that so then he said we needed to burn a "creosote log" product once a month during the winter when we use the fireplace. This struck me as strange because I have a good friend who lives in the Pacific Northwest who is a retired chimney sweep and he has always told me that this product, the powder, is far more effective than burning the special chemical logs. There are numerous versions of the logs available. The difference as he explained it was that you are applying this powder every time you make a fire so you are consistently dealing with the creosote issue whereas burning these special logs every month is simply inadequate by comparison. And I believed him. Even so, we started burning the creosote logs anyway because our current sweep told us to do that.Last year when he came out he observed that the creosoting situation seemed to be improving and he took credit for that, he said burning the creosote logs was making the difference. At that point I pointed to the container of this product next to the fireplace and I said, yeah, well, I also apply this stuff every time I make a fire. He looked at the bottle of powder and said; "oh yeah, that stuff is good, too."Like he had never noticed it sitting there next to the hearth. This guy notices everything else! So we will keep burning the special logs once a month AND applying this powder every time we make a fire.

I have used this product in the past to prep a chimney for a new insert. After several days use and some hot fires, the creosote and heavy ash buildup in the chimney was virtually gone. This year, after 22 months without cleaning and having burned 4-5 cords, I noticed a lot of buildup on the chimney top cap and screen. The flue insert was covered with a heavy buildup. Used the product for about a week, every other day, then reinspected. All of the creosote and residue from top to bottom on the flue had been converted to fine ash. A couple of quick passes with a chimney brush was all it took to take it down to bare metal.

I can't really tell if it is effective in reducing/eliminating creosote (time will tell). However, it is very difficult to squeeze the product hard enough to have the contents move up high into the chimney flue; therefore, I do not know if it is effective throughout the flue.

I use it every week when burning wood and as used as directed, it does the job.

This product really does work. I thought I was going to have to replace my stove pipe because the creosote was so glazed over a wire pipe cleaner would not touch it. I used cre-away for two weeks and I just cleaned the pipe with a nylon brush and everything came off.

This terracotta chimney was rebuilt a couple years ago, and had grade 3 creosote build up which has a high probability of catching fire. I was looking for a solution other than the $2500 cost of a metal pipe re-line, since I knew the chimney had been rebuilt a few years ago. I came across this product and saw that it has a fire retardant and would break down the creosote. I applied it as directed, fired up the woodstove and then checked the chimney and was amazed that the creosote at the top of the chimney had turned from a glazed level 3 to flaky removable creosote. After three applications and fires, I swept the chimney. I had 4 inches of dried creosote in the clean out which I vacuumed. I have reapplied the fourth time, still using the same bottle. I have applied this with each new fire, and will continue until the entire chimney has NO creosote, and then switch to once a week. We are coming into the heating season and I feel much better knowing that the chimney will be clear of all level 3 glazed creosote!!

The item seem to work,but it did not remove creosote from the flute,internal it looked better,will buy some another remover.

We got this product because our chimney service company referred us to it. I have only done one application so far. I will edit this review later after some more uses. We have a wood stove.