Hello!
We have a Tempcast masonry stove that was completed about 18 months ago. It is covered with "cobb," a mixture of clay and sand on all sides except for the top. On top the concrete stove top is exposed. The galvanized double stovepipe goes straight up through a 24' ceiling and the stove draws and burns extremely well.
We initially seasoned the stove according to the manufacturer booklet. As we used it during winter 2006 obviously there was some steam leakage which I attributed to further curing of the stove, and also there was substantial cracking of the cobb covering. This last summer we had a layer of colored American Clay applied with all the cracks filled.
This winter we started it up and have had about 15 nice burns, usually in the morning and at night.
Yesterday we did a burn in the morning and in the early afternoon. At about 6, I loaded the fireplace for either a late-night burn or to be ready for the early morning. However there must have still been coals in the bottom of the stove as the fireplace started itself up.
The fire was a particularly hot one. About 45 minutes into the burn, we noticed a smoke smell. Then we noticed smoke coming from the top of the stove that kept increasing. As smoke started to build up in the house we went through and opened all the windows and pointed a fan out one upstairs to try to blow the smoke out.
The smoke kept increasing and before long there was a good deal of smoke pouring from the seams on top (the seams between the cobb and the fireplace itself. I ended up having to douse the fire by repeatedly throwing buckets of water in it, the house was filled with smoke and breathing had become problematic. The smoke coming from the top of the stove was white, and stopping the fire did not stop the smoke.
My question is, is it possible for a tempcast stove to develop a leak? Did our installer make a mistake by not finishing the top of the stove with cobb (I suspect that should not be a factor since there will always be little cracks where smoke could escape)?
And lastly, there's something in the back of my mind that recalls that the installation instructions called for pieces of cardboard to be between the stove and the cobb overlay, and that the cardboard eventually burns away - is it possible that 18 months into using our stove we only now got it hot enough to burn the cardboard and that this was what took place?
Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Obviously we are very upset because if the stove is actually leaking we have to tear massive amounts of cobb off the fireplace in order to patch any leaks and then pay to refinish. It almost makes me want to tear the whole thing out and put in a conventional freestanding soapstone stove!
Thank you thank you thank you in advance.
We have a Tempcast masonry stove that was completed about 18 months ago. It is covered with "cobb," a mixture of clay and sand on all sides except for the top. On top the concrete stove top is exposed. The galvanized double stovepipe goes straight up through a 24' ceiling and the stove draws and burns extremely well.
We initially seasoned the stove according to the manufacturer booklet. As we used it during winter 2006 obviously there was some steam leakage which I attributed to further curing of the stove, and also there was substantial cracking of the cobb covering. This last summer we had a layer of colored American Clay applied with all the cracks filled.
This winter we started it up and have had about 15 nice burns, usually in the morning and at night.
Yesterday we did a burn in the morning and in the early afternoon. At about 6, I loaded the fireplace for either a late-night burn or to be ready for the early morning. However there must have still been coals in the bottom of the stove as the fireplace started itself up.
The fire was a particularly hot one. About 45 minutes into the burn, we noticed a smoke smell. Then we noticed smoke coming from the top of the stove that kept increasing. As smoke started to build up in the house we went through and opened all the windows and pointed a fan out one upstairs to try to blow the smoke out.
The smoke kept increasing and before long there was a good deal of smoke pouring from the seams on top (the seams between the cobb and the fireplace itself. I ended up having to douse the fire by repeatedly throwing buckets of water in it, the house was filled with smoke and breathing had become problematic. The smoke coming from the top of the stove was white, and stopping the fire did not stop the smoke.
My question is, is it possible for a tempcast stove to develop a leak? Did our installer make a mistake by not finishing the top of the stove with cobb (I suspect that should not be a factor since there will always be little cracks where smoke could escape)?
And lastly, there's something in the back of my mind that recalls that the installation instructions called for pieces of cardboard to be between the stove and the cobb overlay, and that the cardboard eventually burns away - is it possible that 18 months into using our stove we only now got it hot enough to burn the cardboard and that this was what took place?
Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Obviously we are very upset because if the stove is actually leaking we have to tear massive amounts of cobb off the fireplace in order to patch any leaks and then pay to refinish. It almost makes me want to tear the whole thing out and put in a conventional freestanding soapstone stove!
Thank you thank you thank you in advance.
