chimney/water problem

[micah78]

I'm having some issues with water dripping out of my chimney onto my basement floor. My chimney is a brand new masonry chimney that is located on the side of my house. My house is a single story so the chimney is only about 18ft. tall. The main vertical part of the chimney is 13 inch square clay tile and it has an 8 inch clay tile going into the side of it from my basement. hooked into the 8 inch horizontal run is my forced air wood furnace. The wood furnace has an 8 inch outlet on the back of it. Everything was going fine for the first couple of fires until I got up one night to add some wood and saw a big puddle of brown water on my basement floor. as it turns out the water was dripping out of the clay pipe sticking out of the basement wall. I called and asked the guy that built the chimney what could be causing this and he told me it was condensation from me burning wet wood. He told me to just make sure that I get a good hot fire going and make sure the wood is dry. Sounded good to me so I went to my wood supply and picked out the splits that were really dry. I've got a good amount of wood that is seasoned well with some stuff that is questionable mixed in. After about a week of using the stove every night after work it started leaking again. This time instead of just dripping it would alternate between a steady stream and dripping! I know the wood I'm burning is dry! The worst part about this water is the smell. I've got my metal ash bucket on the floor now to catch it when this happens but it still worries me. I have no idea where all this water is coming from. Do you guys have any suggestions as to what could be causing this and how to fix it?
Thanx in advance, Micah

 

[cmonSTART]

I guess the obvious question is, "Was it raining at the time?"

Green wood will cause condensation in the flue if it isn't burned hot and will drip out as you described.

If the chimney is BRAND new and hasn't cured fully yet, I suppose there is a very slim chance it could be some residual moisture from the construction.

 

[laynes69]

Which wood furnace are you using? Some require or recommend a barometric damper. Sounds as if your flue temps are too low causing condensation. Having an exterior chimney when its cold out doesn't help. We had a horrible issue with the same thing last year. I lined the chimney and insulated the liner and the problem went away. If your running a barometric damper, that could be whats causing it.

 

[ecocavalier02]

i would line the chimney and insulate it? what does your manual say for a chimney specs?

 

[micah78]

My wood furnace is a Schneider Metal Mfg. Hot Shot 2400 made in 1983. I bought it off of Craigs list last winter and restored it. After restoring it I hooked it up in my garage to a triple wall metal flue and used it for about 3 months with no problems. I basically wanted to learn the furnace before putting it in my house. This summer in July, I tore the old chimney on my house down and had the new one built. I was debating between putting up a new triple wall insulated flue and framing around it, or having a new masonry chimney built. I decided to go with the masonry chimney after talking with my neighbor who is a brick mason. He gave me a great deal on the labor which enabled me to afford the brick chimney vs. the triple wall flue. The chimney drafts really well. I can basically start a fire with the door open and not get any smoke coming out into my basement. I don't have a barometric damper on the furnace. Just 8 inch stove pipe with a manual damper going from the furnace to the 8 inch clay pipe sticking out of the basement wall. The furnace is a manual draft unit that is similar in size and function to the $1000 dollar Hot Blast units sold at Tractor Supply. I guess I forgot to mention that we did have alot of rain followed by cold temps and about 6 inches of snow prior to my last fire that leaked so much water. I'm thinking maybe moisture got inside the chimney and froze to the inside. When I started my fire it melted the ice on the inside of the chimney that resulted in water running back into my basement? I've never had water leak from the chimney without a fire going in the furnace. I know that the wood I was burning this time was very dry.