Why did my stove pipe all of a sudden change color? Chimney fire?

Maybe a fire, hard to tell. How "suddenly" did the color change become apparent to you? Looks like big air gaps, hard to tell from the pics...they won't enlarge for me. If it's drafting well, then it's sucking a bunch of ambient air in through those gaps, maybe that's a factor in the paint "chalking", dunno. The joints need screws, and maybe a bit of stove cement, just to tighten the whole thing up a bit. If the discoloration bugs you, then clean up and repaint/touch-up the whole rig next summer during the warm weather maintenance downtime season. Rick

griz7674 said:

...I don't ever get any smoke smell in the house so long as I am burning hot. Wouldn't I get smoke if the joints were not sealed correctly?

Click to expand...

Not if the system draws well...it'll suck air in through all the gaps, rather than leak smoke out into the living space. That's the way chimneys work...when they work properly, the lowest pressure in the system is at the top (daylight), so that's where all the gases go. If you ever get smoke/smell into your living space, then you've got a draft problem. In any case, you want the joints fastened securely together so that they won't just blow apart in the event of an untoward pressure transient in the flue, and you want the gaps sealed up pretty well so as to minimize the cooling effect on the flue gases from a bunch of room air being sucked in. It's important to keep the flue gases hot all the way to daylight so as to minimize the condensation of creosote in the system. Any further questions, direct them to BrotherBart. Rick

It looks like it may have got hot enough to smoke check the paint, kind of looks like the sides of an overfired stove.