Creosote on Back Wall of HarmanP61-A

[Honda]

I have noticed that I am developing some creosote on the back wall of my stove. It starts where the burnpot attaches to the back of the stove and is on one side only. It originates as mentioned before, and goes up the back wall widening as it goes toward the top, much like airwash on the glass looks like. It is a black creosote tar looking stuff. I had to replace the flameguide last year and thought it may be residue from the escaping flame from last year that I did not notice, scraped it down and a week later it is back. My flame guide is in good shape and there are no flames coming out the back. It looks like a burnpot gasket leak to me, but I am not sure, just wondering if anyone has any experience with the same issue.

 

[Delta-T]

well, i suppose this could be a couple things....wet pellets maybe? restricted air intake maybe? do you have this same formation on the brick in the back? the air for distribution flows up the back wall and out, so i guess this could happen if you run the stove very low with the blower very high causing it to cool rapidly. anyone else wanna venture a guess?

 

[Lousyweather]

my money is on the same idea....cool spot on the back might cause differential condensation of creosote there........I dont think a leaky burn pot gasket would be the culprit, because there just wouldnt be enough airflow there,,,,,,try to see if the bolts are snug to be sure though.

 

[Honda]

My pellets are dry and top notch, burn clean. I have the logset instead of the brick, so it is just the metal of the stove exposed behind the logs. I suspected burnpot gasket only because the black starts right at the edge of the burnpot where it bolts to the stove, and is all the way up along the side of the straight part of the edge of the burnpot where it meets the stove. There is no black below the bottom bolt, it starts right at the bottom corner and is all the way up the edge, getting larger as it goes toward the top. Air intake is fine. I'm also getting a bit of whoofing and flutter flame, also made me suspect a gasket. I will check the bolts to make sure they are tight.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

clean the venting all the way. check the stove for air leaks. call your dealer and have him run your serial number. I just rebuilt a feeder assembly on a P61-2 that had some problems. Creosote means you have a problem. Do not put it off.

 

[Honda]

Well, It's getting below freezing here now and had a pretty good size burn on the weekend, low and behold I looked and the creosote was gone after a couple days of hot fire. Must have burned off. Up until this weekend I had only been having a small fire, low flame, for the past month and a half.
Thank you everyone for your input, I will keep an eye on it. Maybe it was nothing. I hate to jump the gun but I like to stay on top of things and keep the stove working in tip top condition.