condensation inside triple wall chimney pipe

[Bingo]

Hello all, i just recently put in a duraplus triple wall chimney system. The past week its been really cold at night. In the morning when i start a fire or when the sun hits the chimney, i start to get a few drops of water coming out of the ceiling support box and some drips from the screws attatching double wall connector to the ceiling support box. I get maybe 10 to 15 drops of water which doesnt really seem like too much. My house is pretty well sealed up, i get condensation on my windows at night which leads me to believe that thats what happening in the chimney. Has anyone else had this problem with the duraplus triple wall, or any pipe for that matter. Any ideas on what to do.

 

[DAKSY]

Your house may be TOO well sealed up.
Do you use a vent fan in your bathroom during showers?
Do you have soffit & ridge vents?
Is your clothes dryer vented to the outside?
What about your range hood?

 

[Bingo]

Your house may be TOO well sealed up.
Do you use a vent fan in your bathroom during showers?
Do you have soffit & ridge vents?
Is your clothes dryer vented to the outside?
What about your range hood?

I have all of the above except for the ridge and soffet vents

 

[electrathon]

As Daksy alluded to, it sounds like you have a humidity problem, not a chimney problem. If you do, you need an air to air heat exchanger, you are running a humidifier far to high, possibly other moisture issues.

 

[bholler]

It is a common problem i see with triple wall chimneys which is one reason i don't recommend them. Yes it is caused by humidity but we all have humidity.

 

[Bingo]

would adding an outside air intake help. my thought would be that its pulling in cold dry air instead of warm moist air from the house.

 

[electrathon]

Unlikely to help. May make it worse. You have excess humidity, some of the humid air is being used as combustion air. The humid air is being drawn out of your house and going up the inside of the chimney. Drier aid is being drawn onto the house from outside through various places. If you use dry outside air as combustion air (your stove will work better, but) then you will have even more humidity inside your house to condensate between the pipe layers.

 

[Bingo]

Unlikely to help. May make it worse. You have excess humidity, some of the humid air is being used as combustion air. The humid air is being drawn out of your house and going up the inside of the chimney. Drier aid is being drawn onto the house from outside through various places. If you use dry outside air as combustion air (your stove will work better, but) then you will have even more humidity inside your house to condensate between the pipe layers.

thx electrathon, my thought was that the cold air going up the chimney from the air intake would be less humid and perhaps not create as much condensation when the stove is cold. i see you r point though

 

[Bingo]

does anyone else have and ideas as to what i could do/what the problem is?

 

[Blowingsmokeupyourchimney]

Since the chimney is triple insulated, starting the stove shouldn't heat up the outside of the pipe enough in the attic to cause frost to melt very fast. How cold was pretty cold outside degrees F? Even if the pipe gets heated up by the sun, water should not run down the pipe into the home. I am assuming the pipe goes straight out the room and through your ceiling and roof.

There is a chance you are getting thermal siphoning and you have a leak in your foundation or basement and it is pulling cold air and lots of humidity out of your basement/crawl space.