Excessive Creosote build up

[mando4mary74]

Hi all! Not new to burning wood, have been for 13 years. However, this year got a new stove. EPA certified and to be honest we've been loving the heat it puts out and seem to be using less wood. My problem came a few days ago and I sure hope someone here can help me figure out if I indeed found the problem and fixed it. In 13 years of burning, we never had more than a few cups of creosote at the end of the season. We've been using this new stove for 3 weeks and the other day, I heard "stuff" falling quite rapidly down the flue into the stove. So, I decided the next day was going to be very warm, and I would take some stuff down and investigate. Well, it was quite a bit of the flaky creosote. As I was inspecting inside the stove, I noticed a very large air gap where the flue met the flue collar on the stove. After removing the pipe to check it out, almost all of the build up was right there at that spot. I decided to seal around the flue collar thinking colder air was getting in there and causing a problem. I had noticed a loud air rushing sound when I would open the door before sealing it and now that sound is gone. The question is, could this have led to the significant build up in such a short period???? Thanks guys! Rest of the pipe and chimney looked okay for the record....Thanks again!