Black water a running??

[struggle]

Tonight I went out to the farm where my wood is stored and dropped off a botttle of wine to the owners of the farm as a thanks for the wood and storage. On my way back wife calls and said it is black behind the stove. I said leave it alone I will be there in a minute or two. As soon as I walk in the house I could smell it. The creosote/water ran down the chimney pipe and onto the floor. Man does that ever stink/smell. I took the stove out of down draft mode and let it heat the flue back up and problem gone. This has been a reoccuring problem if I let the flue temp get to cool then this always seems to happen as the fire picks back up and reheats the flue I guess.


Flue temp 18" above stove in downdraft mode will run around 2-250 with stove top temp at 450-500. IF it shuts down a bit then this happens with the water thing. If the flue temp stays up consistant no problems. When burning up updraft mode flue temp runs around 400 and no problems.

Should I just avoid downdraft mode? It has been very damp here and raining/misty the last two days with tems around 34-38F

Does those creosote powders (scoop on the fire during ever load) do any good to help keep the flue clean? Or is that a scam?

8x8 tile chimney outside concrete structure

 

[elkimmeg]

there are 3 possible problems going on there and it can be a combination of all three
Firts of all you restred you stove to ist original opperating condition it now no longer has air escaping imto the combustion process from multiple leaks.
This would make it more draft sensitive
first problem is the wood you are using is not as seasoned as you thought to get dripping you need a moisture source. Less than dry wood

second you are dampering down too soon not establishing a good bed of coals and not letting newly added wood reach the second stage of combustion really I damper down at 600 degre
and examine the burn to make sure it is in the second phase the second phase has reached the pointwhere most of the miosture has been burned off or exhausted.
I reminded you that you would have to relearn your stove opperation all over again it acts like a new different stove. If you have less than seasoned wood you will have to wait longer before you damper down to eliminate the moisture the thirs possible solution is the air tight stove now demands better draft chances are its not the stove but due to negative pressureization. however with wetter wood. It could be a combination of the first two factors wood and mode of opperations get that down to a science then it becomes a draft factor

 

[struggle]

It does seem to me that I allowed the fire to get to low before shutting the downdraft door back up(closed). The flue temp dropped and then this happened.

How high of a temp should one allow on the pipe out of the stove safely?

SHould I try and let the stove run at a continous 600 in down draft? At that temp it really gets hot in the basement and it will run that high with out much of a problem.

I like running in down draft mode as it keeps the walls above and to the left upper ceiling cooler. The stove in updraft mode hit 800 in just a few minutes that after I walked away and had opened up the rear dampner dorr some. Flue temp went sky high as well of course.

Stove has been running all afternoon when this happened. I filled the stove up with cold wood (clsoed door for down draft mode) and left the house and then the wife called after the stove recovered from the cooler wood and took off on the heat cycle and then came the drips.

The problem I have I guess is I want to steadly heat all day and with the higher running temps of this stove it makes for a very hot basement . This is where I always wonder if a soapstone might fit better into our situation as we have no active furnace (had gas shut off) so we are self sufficent on heating.

Wood has been split and stacked on concrete going on three years. It is light, mostly elm and ash with mulberry in the mix.

 

[Corey]

Why the heck would creosote/water/condensation leak out of the stove pipe under any condition?

If it is leaking out the joints of the pipe, shouldn't they be arranged to "funnel" any liquid back to the inside of the pipe?

If it is leaking down the outside of the pipe, the storm collar should have a better fit to keep any water out?

If water can get out, I would think flue gasses could get out as well...that doesn't seem good.

Corey

 

[Shane]

Cozy is right. Check to make sure your pipe joints are all male end down.

 

[struggle]

The joints are male al the way to the stove. It seems to me it was a matter of me filling the stove completely full and then switching the door right away to down draft mode and not letting the cold wood get heated up in updraft mode first. The stove temp I am assuming dropped fast but am unsure as I left the house right after filling the stove and did not want to bother my wife to tend to the stove and then the flue temp dropped as fast and with it being so cool and damp with the misty rain that when I got back the stove started to burn real hot as wife said and that burst of heat collided with the cooler flue temps and condensation formed and started its way down. That is the best I can describe it as how it happened.

It has not happened since that tonight and stove is running good as it seems around 5-600 on the top. It just seems that it is like ELK said very draft sensitive after the rebuild. I let the draft drop off by letting the stove temps drop to fast. There was never any smoke in the house.

 

[struggle]

The cap on top is completely sealed from allowing rain into it. Has a double baffled sides and a sheild that extends out past the clay tile exit with downward edges that go below the level of the tile.