Leaking From Chimney

[mknep]

I am technically challenged so I am not sure I am posting this in the right forum or if I will get a response, but it looks like everyone on here really knows their stuff!
I have been burning a Quadrafire woodstove in my house for a number of years, never had a problem, clean the chimney every year.
The issue, and this has happened twice (the first time I thought it was because I neglected to turn the stove down and thought I burned to hot causing my problem.
Anyways, I attached a picture for reference, as you can see in the pic, I seem to basically have "liquid" creosote coming out of the wall where the pipe meets the wall.
I am definatley going to call someone in the morning to come out and look at it as it scares the crap out of me, I am going to let the fire die out, and try and deal with it tomorrow.
If anyone knows why this may have happened it would set my mind at ease, I know there is not a chimney fire as I had one of those in a house as a kid and it sounds like the Space Shuttle is taking off from your living room.
I was wondering since I have not been burning the woodstove for a few days if the heat going up the chimney caused condenstaion,. the liquid is very thin like water, not thick and "tar like" creosote.
The chimney is not lined currently, it is just the masonary (brick) going up the outside of the house.
Any help/advice is very much appreciated!!
Thanks for the time!!

 

[laynes69]

If you haven't had rain, or heavy snow recently its probably condensation. I don't know what your flue temps are, but the chimney is cooling the flue gasses and they are condensing. Having an exterior chimney its hard to keep it the temps up inside. I'm going through the same thing. Alot of moisture in the base of the chimney. As soon as the snow thaws and I can get on the roof, I'm going to measure and order an insulated liner to solve the problem. Our chimney is too big, and its an exterior masonary chimney to boot, so I have the worst possible setup right now. If I were you, I would line the chimney. What is the temperatures on your flue pipe? Maybe your not burning it hot enough.

 

[dougand3]

Welcome, mknep. Possibilities: Your wood is wet, chimney is cooler than it has been, running stove too cool. You need a good sweep and inspection.
Do they still ski at Wolf Laurel? Loved it as a teen.

 

[mknep]

They still ski at Wolf Laurel, and I bet this year has been a banner year for them!
Thanks for the help all of these points make sense, the woodstove had not been burned in a few days before tonight, and it was cold today so the chimney temp before I started a fire would have been pretty cold.
Would a chimney liner solve all of these problems? Other than wet wood of course.
Fill me in on exactly what the benefit of the liner is, the chimney sweep that has been out a number of years in a row has recomended this.
But upon inspection the chimney is in good shape, and none of the tiles are cracked or anything.
Would an insulated liner prevent the condensation issue?

***I must say this is an awesome site, quick responses, knowledgeable, nice folks

 

[mknep]

Sorry .......missed one of the questions.
In the picture you can see where my temp gage is located, I try to keep this gage at 300 degrees, which acording to the gage is right in the middle of "Creosote (200 or below) and "Too hot" (400 degrees +)

 

[laynes69]

Having an insulated liner helps both with creosote and draft. An exterior masonary chimney robs the heat from the gasses, where having an insulated liner will help hold the heat. Therefore reducing the chances for creosote buildup. 300 on the surface sounds okay. How big is your flue in the chimney?

 

[firefighterjake]

I think I know the problem . . . someone installed your woodstove and flue on its side.

On the serious side . . . the most likely candidate for this moisture would be rain/snow, etc. coming into the chimney, although it could be condensation formed from the masonry itself as noted. A liner would benefit you mainly from the standpoint you would get a better draft and by having it insulated it should reduce the amount of creosote build up . . . an additional benefit is the extra safety measure of a having an insulated liner.

 

[nojo]

Do you know how far that pipe is sticking into the thimble? Could it be sticking a few inches into the chimney opening and allowing rain to ride down the outside and collect like that? Also do you have the pipe sealed where it enters the thimble? Im not sure how it should be, im just curious.

 

[savageactor7]

nojo brings up a good point about the flue pipe going in too far in the chimney becoming a water catch. that's the 1st thing I do to put a stop to it.

That fix will redirect the problem down to the clean out. In the future try burn hotter with seasoned wood cause that looks looks like a creosote problem to me. For now it may only require of making of smaller splits to burn a little hotter.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

picture of the cap/ crown??

 

[berlin]

This is NOT a problem with condensing flue gasses. Heavy Rain/Snow is entering the relatively short chimney and either landing on stovepipe inserted too far into the flue or you have a "dead-end" chimney where the water is pooling around the thimble/flue junction and running out because the flue doesn't continue to a clean-out. You can waste money on a liner if you like, but if your flue is sized properly, your draft adequate and you're burning seasoned wood w/ hot fires to prevent creosote- there's no need for an additional liner.

 

[mknep]

I think we might be on to something. A few weeks ago, I removed the pipe from the wall to clean it out.
It has an "adapter" that slides in and out (male end) of the end of the pipe so that it can "go into the wall" (looks like from previous post this is a "thimbel"
I got it in there a decent bit more than usual. I will "back it up" and see if that takes care of the problem.

To Berlin: From one WNY native to another, Gold for Miller all the way
Born and raised Pavilion NY