New Stove Owner and Question about Ash Catch

[Pat88]

Hi all,

So, after reading tons of stories I was able to sucessfully install my annoying Duravent vent which leaks like crazy. I sealed it up with tons of RTV and also high temp aluminum tape. The biggest leaks I found were at the elbow seems. REALLY annoying since these should be expected to be sealed proper from the factory.

Anyway, I have the Ash catch T in the house and I noticed on start up it leaks like crazy at the bottom but then stops. I was curious if this is normal or is this due to the cheap quality of the vent.

For those with the Duravent system, do you find yourself emptying that T often? I'm tempted to seal it up or just deal with the start up smoke.

Thoughts? Experiances?

I know its not lot of smoke and is harmless but its more for piece of mind.

 

[Pat88]

Update, i noticed it leaks each time it gets a new fire going once it turns off when the desired temp is achieved. kind of annoying, its really not a lot, probably similar to a cigar burning up for the first time and then it doesn't leak.

 

[Ssyko]

aluminum tape the seam. don't silicone it. makes it harder to get off to clean

 

[Pat88]

aluminum tape the seam. don't silicone it. makes it harder to get off to clean

Yeah i figured thats the case - thanks for the reply. How often would you clean it out? My schedule is running it all day/night twice a week while i work from home and occasionally at nights. I can probably run a shopvac hose from the exterior cap all the way inside to clean it out once a month. Is that suffient>?

 

[bogieb]

Hi temp silicone tape - easier to remove. Although this pic was taken to show the thermostat wiring, you can clearly see that I have entirely sealed up the cleanout at the end as well as at its "T" connection. I find that elbows and T's seem to leak even though they aren't supposed to so tape them up as a matter of course.

Just to forestall comments that it should be hooked up to a UPS - it is. The cord that is plugged in behind the stove is to the UPS