Just a Minor Creosote Problem?

[snowaggie]

Fresh snow in the yard lately and I've been noticing the small black speckles downwind of the stack. I run my stove hot throughout the day...upper end of the "efficient zone" on the dial. But at night I cool it down with lesser amounts of wood and it burns out sometime in the middle of the night. I have never heard the pipe catch fire and "blow out". I know what that sounds like from my dad's chimney years ago (terrifying!). I suspect that I'm getting 8 or 10 hours of creosote deposit when it's running overnight, and then when the temp spikes the next day it's dislodging and ejecting out.

Is this a reasonable supposition? If not, what else might be going on?

 

[begreen]

If the wood is allowed to smolder and/or if the wood is not fully seasoned, there can be a tendency to carbon up, particularly toward the top of the chimney. Also, black flakes can show up if a lot of paper or cardboard is used to start fires.

 

[gthomas785]

Do you have a cap on your chimney? I get a bit of black buildup on my cap and if a nice gust of wind comes through some of it can get blown loose. I see this a few times a year. I was freaked out the first time but upon inspection it was clear that there was no chimney fire and the stuff just blew/shook loose somehow.

 

[snowaggie]

If the wood is allowed to smolder and/or if the wood is not fully seasoned, there can be a tendency to carbon up, particularly toward the top of the chimney. Also, black flakes can show up if a lot of paper or cardboard is used to start fires.

Ahh yes....I do burn up some paper sometimes. I'll cut that out and see what I notice.

 

[snowaggie]

Do you have a cap on your chimney? I get a bit of black buildup on my cap and if a nice gust of wind comes through some of it can get blown loose. I see this a few times a year. I was freaked out the first time but upon inspection it was clear that there was no chimney fire and the stuff just blew/shook loose somehow.

I do have a cap. And no shortage of wind gusts!

 

[Max W]

Burning any white birch? That bark can burn sooty.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Are you curious enough to look in the chimney to see what’s going on?