harman accentra - shiny black stuff

[NothingLikeFire]

my accentra has been faithful for the past nine seasons, but recently i've found shiny black stuff on the outside of the ash box and inside of the door. thought it was creosote, but it has a strange fragile quality to it.

i clean the stove regularly, and use high-quality pellets (I think) Cleanfire Pacific.

has anyone experienced this?

thanks

 

[Bioburner]

That's a form of creosote

 

[womaus]

I'm betting it has the same properties as the residue that sticks to the top of the inside of a Weber charcoal grill? I'm just guessing here...

http://www.weber.com/weber-nation/blog/it-aint-paint

There are many areas of your grill that need upkeep. Keeping the outside of your grill clean tends to be easier than keeping the inside of your grill clean. In particular, one area on your grill that tends to be overlooked when cleansing is the interior of the grill lid. If you’re guilty of missing this area, you may notice that there seems to be what looks like peeling occurring. As much as it may look like paint, it’s not. It’s actually just grease and smoke deposits that have built up over time. Not to worry, they are nontoxic. However, these deposits may start to flake off or peel if they are not removed.