Need help ASAP

[ohlongarm]

This is my third year running a King Ultra up till now no probs got through last week -47 wind chills just fine. Now in the last two days the King started drafting poorly despite whatever setting it was put on ,the coal bed started building up and wood was burning sluggishly.Also we could smell smoke in the house something that has never happened,heat output was poor.This fall I had a four foot extension put on my chimney,I found out that the clown who put it on used rigid chimney liner,and up till now the thing worked as a King should,I'm guessing that the extension has creosoted up ,thus restricting airflow and draft do any of you believe this is my problem,I plan on going up on the roof today to try and resove this problem as a huge arctic blast is headed our way tomorrow,Thanks in advance.

 

[jeff_t]

That sucks. Sounds like that might be the case.

IIRC, you did okay before, but added the extra for low burn performance?

 

[Badger]

Could it just be a clogged cap? Do you have a screen on your cap?

 

[jeff_t]

As long as the thermostat and flapper are working properly, there isn't much else to go wrong.

 

[HotCoals]

Can you pull the flue and shine a light up there?

 

[begreen]

Sounds like you have a suspected cause and a plan. Be careful up there.

 

[DougA]

I checked my cap that has a screen on it and it had quite a bit of charred stuff clogging the screen. I banged it a number of times and the stuff just falls off. It would make a big difference in your draft if that has happened on yours. The extra cold weather has been hard on the chimneys.

 

[Nick Mystic]

As DougA said it sounds like your cap may well be clogged up with creosote/soot/ash build up. A few weeks ago my stove started letting some smoke out the door when I did reloads and since it never did this before I suspected a clogged cap. I had even looked at it a few days earlier with some binoculars, but for some reason I missed seeing the build up inside the cap screen. I pulled the cap and gave it a good cleaning and the stove was back to burning like new.

 

[ohlongarm]

This is my third year running a King Ultra up till now no probs got through last week -47 wind chills just fine. Now in the last two days the King started drafting poorly despite whatever setting it was put on ,the coal bed started building up and wood was burning sluggishly.Also we could smell smoke in the house something that has never happened,heat output was poor.This fall I had a four foot extension put on my chimney,I found out that the clown who put it on used rigid chimney liner,and up till now the thing worked as a King should,I'm guessing that the extension has creosoted up ,thus restricting airflow and draft do any of you believe this is my problem,I plan on going up on the roof today to try and resove this problem as a huge arctic blast is headed our way tomorrow,Thanks in advance.

PROBLEM SOLVED GENTLEMEN YOU WERE ALL RIGHT,THE 4 FOOT EXTENSION WAS ABOUT 25%COATED WITH CREOSOTE CLUMPS ITS ENTIRE LENGTH,THE CAPS SCREEN WAS AT ABOUT THE SAME OR A HAIR MORE,THE REST OF THE CHIMNEY PIPE CLEAN AS AS CAN BE,RAN THE NYLON BRUSH DOWN THE EXTENSION ,SCRAPED THE CAPS SCREEN,FIRED HER UP IT'S A BEAUTIFUL THING AS THE ARCTIC FRONT APPROACHES. THANKS ALL,HAPPY BURNING,I'LL PROBABLY CHECK HER EVERY OTHER MONTH NOW TO PREVENT A REOCCURENCE.

 

[bluedogz]

PROBLEM SOLVED GENTLEMEN YOU WERE ALL RIGHT,THE 4 FOOT EXTENSION WAS ABOUT 25%COATED WITH CREOSOTE CLUMPS ITS ENTIRE LENGTH,THE CAPS SCREEN WAS AT ABOUT THE SAME OR A HAIR MORE,THE REST OF THE CHIMNEY PIPE CLEAN AS AS CAN BE,RAN THE NYLON BRUSH DOWN THE EXTENSION ,SCRAPED THE CAPS SCREEN,FIRED HER UP IT'S A BEAUTIFUL THING AS THE ARCTIC FRONT APPROACHES. THANKS ALL,HAPPY BURNING,I'LL PROBABLY CHECK HER EVERY OTHER MONTH NOW TO PREVENT A REOCCURENCE.

Looks like we need to have a "proper extension pipe" conversation...

 

[HotCoals]

Did you really need that 4' extension?

 

[begreen]

Good news. I'm glad that it went well. This summer I would consider changing the rigid extension to class A for better insulation. Is the liner going up to it insulated?

 

[ohlongarm]

Did you really need that 4' extension?

The extension really made a noticable difference in my case,so I think it's the way to go,at burning seasons end I'll get a better pipe to replace the existing.

 

[ohlongarm]

Good news. I'm glad that it went well. This summer I would consider changing the rigid extension to class A for better insulation. Is the liner going up to it insulated?

The liner is inside a masonry chimney,class a is what I need but I'm wondering if a double wall pipe would be second best?I'm worried about the weight of class a.

 

[jeff_t]

There are chimney caps available to support the additional weight of the class A, and adapt it to the liner.