Stage Three Creosote on Outside of Pipe

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WayTooManyHobbies

New Member
Mar 10, 2014
10
Long Island
Made a newbe mistake and thought I could kill a fire by closing off the air in my VC Vigilant before going to bed. Instead I made a creosote factory. My chimney is lined with stainless and has good draft but how do I clean this mess from the outside of the stove and the outside of the stove pipe. It seeped through the joints on the 90 degree elbow and since the stove pipe has the connections in the wrong orientation, it also dripped outside of the pipe instead of inside the stove.

I'm pretty sure I can use something like Third Stage Remover for a while to get rid of anything on the inside of the chimney, but how do I clean the stove and the outside of the pipe? Should I just buy new stovepipe?

Thanks,

John
 
Let the stove cool and try windex.
 
Change the stove pipe and get a chimney sweep to clean the chimney. Or you could ignore it and burn the house down. If it is seeping out of pipe joints the whole chimney is packed with it.
 
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Assuming his pipe joints are installed correctly....pointy end on top, big (flared) end on the bottom.

Edit: At each joint, the flared end is on the lower pipe, so the creosote does not drain out of the pipe.
 
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Did you just now notice that the pipe is installed wrong? If you have the black single wall inside I would just replace it and of course install the new stuff correctly. (it is cheap enough and sure beats trying to scrub off the mess).

As for the chimney pipe,:oops: call a chimney sweep to clean it properly. They have the ability to do it better since it is so messy. Then the next time you should be able to do it yourself. Live and learn I guess. Good luck.

Of course , DO NOT burn in it until you have it remedied.
 
woodgeek said:
Assuming his pipe joints are installed correctly....pointy end on top, big (flared) end on the bottom.
Click to expand...
I believe what you described would be incorrectly installed.:confused:

The "pointy" end (male crimped) end should be downward...toward the stove. That way any yucky stuff can stay inside the pipe. Right?
 
OP: Just thinking also...

If you have a SS liner in the chimney, then you may have the TEE connector at the bottom end of the liner incorrect too. You should have the horizontal part of the TEE so it can match up to the interior black pipe (or thimble-pass-thru piece). Not sure what set up you have.

If you don't have a TEE and the liner goes straight into the black pipe then you should have an adapter on the end of the liner with a male end.

On mine the SS tee has a male (CRIMPED) end on it so that it slides into the black pipe's female end.
 
CenterTree said:
I believe what you described would be incorrectly installed.:confused:

The "pointy" end (male crimped) end should be downward...toward the stove. That way any yucky stuff can stay inside the pipe. Right?
Click to expand...

We agree....I was trying (badly) to describe a joint between two pipes not the two ends of one pipe. Your description is clearer. :)
 
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woodgeek said:
We agree....I was trying (badly) to describe a joint between two pipes not the two ends of one pipe. Your description is clearer. :)
Click to expand...
Clear as mud. er, uh, creosote.:p;lol

Yeah, the OP simply made a COMMON newbie mistake installing his stove pipe I think. I am sure their are many stoves installed with the pipe bass-ackward. I had to convince my GrandFather that he had the stove pipe at camp wrong. Now THAT was a chore.!!!

My guess is until the OP got the creosote problem he may never have realized the pipe was wrong. All will be fine with a little elbow grease (or a phone call to the chimney sweep);)
 
i think people install them backwards because they look at it as airflow. To make the pipe normal as the rest of the world,,,the small end would point in the direction of flowing air to keep it "funneling". It is only in the stove world that that is different. You have to think about the creosote running down(gravity).
 
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It depends on the appliance as to direction of crimp and a wood stove is the only one that I know of that has the crimp facing the appliance.
 
mstoelton said:
Let the stove cool and try windex.
Click to expand...

Yes, thanks, windex works. Man that stuff stinks!!! Thanks everyone else for your replies. I know the stove pipe orientation is wrong for wood. I've been burning coal for years and did study the correct pipe orientation for wood (opposite of coal installation), however the collar at the chimney was giving me an issue so I went this route. All of this happened in just a few hours. This weekend I'll see how my stainless steel liner did.
 
Well the inside of the pipe cleaned up well with the windex and a stiff wire brush. Most of the stuff came out. The chimney liner itself still looks brand new, so I guess most of the condensation stayed in the stove pipe. There is a 4 foot horizontal run that took the brunt of the black gooey stuff. (that run is installed with a 1/4" foot slope).
 
Glad you got it cleaned.

Now you got to get the connector pipe right.

I have to ask, how green is your wood that one burn would have that much creosote oozing out the pipe? Even burning one year old stuff I never get that kind of buildup,even on a fully damped, almost smothered fire.
 
I don't know,,,Blessing in desguise? do you want that stuff running down into the stove? Will stove burn it up then?

I have no real opinion,,,just asking
 
well you don't want that stuff at all but it it definatly better that it goes down into the stove and catches fire rather than catching fire on the outside of the pipe.
 
bholler said:
well you don't want that stuff at all but it it definatly better that it goes down into the stove and catches fire rather than catching fire on the outside of the pipe.
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Yea, you are right! Didn't think of that.
 
razerface said:
Yea, you are right! Didn't think of that.
Click to expand...

I agree! Seeing it on the outside of the pipe is exactly what scared me. I thought "If that goes up…."

Scooby074, the wood is oak that came down during hurricane Sandy, October of 2012. It was then split April of 2013 so it's been seasoning for just about a year. Maybe that's not long enough?
 
WayTooManyHobbies said:
I agree! Seeing it on the outside of the pipe is exactly what scared me. I thought "If that goes up…."

Scooby074, the wood is oak that came down during hurricane Sandy, October of 2012. It was then split April of 2013 so it's been seasoning for just about a year. Maybe that's not long enough?
Click to expand...
bingo! it will be excellent towards the end of next year i would think.that is assuming it is stacked and covered.oak takes a looong time to give up its moisture.
 
WayTooManyHobbies said:
I agree! Seeing it on the outside of the pipe is exactly what scared me. I thought "If that goes up…."

Scooby074, the wood is oak that came down during hurricane Sandy, October of 2012. It was then split April of 2013 so it's been seasoning for just about a year. Maybe that's not long enough?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think thats a little (lot) green. Got a moisture meter yet?
 
No meter yet, but I'm going to get one. I have to say, coal is a lot easier to deal with:) I have a coal kit for this stove, but it's missing a few pieces. I've seen them on Craigslist. But I'm not giving up on wood yet!!!
 
They are much better wood stoves than they are coal stoves.
 
Pics please....
 
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