Plugged chimney cap

[Chas0218]

So I have been burning all season cleaned the flue once for very little build up. Nice flaky stuff. I started the fire the other day and holy smoke. She started to draft into the house not good. Opened all the windows and got the box fan blowing. Decided to let the stove cool and check out what is going on. Pulled the stove pipe, and started inspecting everything. Well after cleaning everything I decided to take a climb up to check the chimney cap. Yup she was plugged not tight as smoke was pouring out but definitely choking out the old fire. Well I'm not sure if it was my wood or my father in law throwing single logs in and letting it simmer all day. I'm guessing latter of the 2. Anyway I added another section of chimney pipe and cleaned the cap. All is good now but figured I would share my experience.

 

[Highbeam]

So I have been burning all season cleaned the flue once for very little build up. Nice flaky stuff. I started the fire the other day and holy smoke. She started to draft into the house not good. Opened all the windows and got the box fan blowing. Decided to let the stove cool and check out what is going on. Pulled the stove pipe, and started inspecting everything. Well after cleaning everything I decided to take a climb up to check the chimney cap. Yup she was plugged not tight as smoke was pouring out but definitely choking out the old fire. Well I'm not sure if it was my wood or my father in law throwing single logs in and letting it simmer all day. I'm guessing latter of the 2. Anyway I added another section of chimney pipe and cleaned the cap. All is good now but figured I would share my experience.

Not necessarily your fault at all. Those stupid filters can clog for no reason at all even if you do everything right. In almost all cases they are removable. My two caps are filterless!

 

[bholler]

Not necessarily your fault at all. Those stupid filters can clog for no reason at all even if you do everything right. In almost all cases they are removable. My two caps are filterless!

Yeah but in some areas you will get a birds nest as soon as you stop burning without that screen. I would always prefer to have no screen but sometimes it just isnt a good option.

 

[bholler]

So I have been burning all season cleaned the flue once for very little build up. Nice flaky stuff. I started the fire the other day and holy smoke. She started to draft into the house not good. Opened all the windows and got the box fan blowing. Decided to let the stove cool and check out what is going on. Pulled the stove pipe, and started inspecting everything. Well after cleaning everything I decided to take a climb up to check the chimney cap. Yup she was plugged not tight as smoke was pouring out but definitely choking out the old fire. Well I'm not sure if it was my wood or my father in law throwing single logs in and letting it simmer all day. I'm guessing latter of the 2. Anyway I added another section of chimney pipe and cleaned the cap. All is good now but figured I would share my experience.

If it was flakey mid season you definatly have room for improvement. Idealy it should be just powder.

 

[Chas0218]

Not necessarily your fault at all. Those stupid filters can clog for no reason at all even if you do everything right. In almost all cases they are removable. My two caps are filterless!

Yeah I would like to do that and might take out some of the screen or replace with something different. It is only riveted into the cap so drill out and add new rivet.

Yeah but in some areas you will get a birds nest as soon as you stop burning without that screen. I would always prefer to have no screen but sometimes it just isnt a good option.

That is the main reason I can't just remove it. I probably could have during the winter but I might look into one of those soot eaters and leave the tentacles long to whip around inside the cap.

If it was flakey mid season you definatly have room for improvement. Idealy it should be just powder.

No doubt. I was doing fine until my father in law came and started putting piece into the fire that would just sit there and smolder with next to no flame. The pipe temp wasn't getting above 200* when he was doing that. But all I kept hearing was "I burned wood for 20 years, you don't think I know what I'm doing?" The last day he was staying with us I told him he didn't have a clue and needed to listen to me on how to run the stove. He got his panties in a wad and wouldn't talk to me, not that it bothered me the peace and quiet was nice.

On a side note adding 3 more feet of chimney seemed to help the cold draft a little. I was 15' with thru the wall thimble and (2) 45* elbows inside so a little short with the elbows. It could probably work use another section but draft was good before now just a little better.

 

[Happy Stacker]

I take the screen out of my cap once I start burning for the season and replace it when I am done.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Yeah but in some areas you will get a birds nest as soon as you stop burning without that screen. I would always prefer to have no screen but sometimes it just isnt a good option.

I cut my screen off but left it on the roof. When I’m done burning I will go up and zip tie it back on for the summer

 

[bholler]

I cut my screen off but left it on the roof. When I’m done burning I will go up and zip tie it back on for the summer

That is an option if the top of your chimney is reasonably accessible and you are comfortable going up to do it. Many are not

 

[brazilbl]

Had a clogged cap last week. I wanted to have a certified chimney sweep look over the system while he was cleaning the flue. He offered to take off the thick mesh surrounding the cap and I took him on his offer, for that reason - not comfortable being on a 8 ft ladder 15 feet off the ground. Call me old.

If for some reason, a bird or other varmit chooses to take a dive down my flue pipe, would I be able to push it out if they became lodged in the flue pipe using a soot eater? Knowing now that I can indeed clean the flue pipe from the inside (took a peek while he was working), I'm just wondering... More than likely the organism will fall all the way down, meeting the baffle... In which case, the thread on birds in flue will be handy!

 

[blacktail]

My cap is easily accessible and didn't come with a screen from the installers. After getting a bat in my insert during the summer, I now pur a wire screen on it at the end of burn season.

 

[bholler]

Had a clogged cap last week. I wanted to have a certified chimney sweep look over the system while he was cleaning the flue. He offered to take off the thick mesh surrounding the cap and I took him on his offer, for that reason - not comfortable being on a 8 ft ladder 15 feet off the ground. Call me old.

If for some reason, a bird or other varmit chooses to take a dive down my flue pipe, would I be able to push it out if they became lodged in the flue pipe using a soot eater? Knowing now that I can indeed clean the flue pipe from the inside (took a peek while he was working), I'm just wondering... More than likely the organism will fall all the way down, meeting the baffle... In which case, the thread on birds in flue will be handy!

You may be able to get a nest out from the bottom you may not. It all depends how much is there and how tight it is.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Had a clogged cap last week. I wanted to have a certified chimney sweep look over the system while he was cleaning the flue. He offered to take off the thick mesh surrounding the cap and I took him on his offer, for that reason - not comfortable being on a 8 ft ladder 15 feet off the ground. Call me old.

If for some reason, a bird or other varmit chooses to take a dive down my flue pipe, would I be able to push it out if they became lodged in the flue pipe using a soot eater? Knowing now that I can indeed clean the flue pipe from the inside (took a peek while he was working), I'm just wondering... More than likely the organism will fall all the way down, meeting the baffle... In which case, the thread on birds in flue will be handy!

I’ve read on here you can also clean the cap with a soot eater from the stove side. So if you felt like having the screen put back on you should be able to unclog it with the soot eater.

 

[Chas0218]

Mine isn't easily accesible, the chimney ends about 5' above the roof line so I will need to get onto the roof and that is around 20' up. With 18" overhangs and metal roof with 5/12 pitch it isn't easy getting up there then trying to stay up there is a whole other feat on its own. My plan is to build an aluminum brace that will allow me to rest a ladder against the fascia without crushing my gutter. So at least the ladder will reach to the roof. Making your way up and around an 18" overhang is hairy with the ladder resting on the side of the house.

 

[blades]

My place Roof 7/12 no screen- budd"s place up north 7/12 roof snow and ice, cap plugged no way were we even going to try - 410 shotgun at about 20 yards as the crow flies - worked just fine- #8 bird shot. Not recommending this - just a redneck way of get er done.. Few dents here and there less than the last hail storm caused. ( golf ball sized hail that time, the baseball sized stuff the time before wrecked havoc all over the county.)

 

[begreen]

Sounds like the plugging was user error. If so, and the chimney is normally pretty clean after a season's burning then I'd be inclined to leave the screen in. Another alternative is to take some wire snips and cut out every other block to double the screen hole size.

 

[Highbeam]

Mine isn't easily accesible, the chimney ends about 5' above the roof line so I will need to get onto the roof and that is around 20' up. With 18" overhangs and metal roof with 5/12 pitch it isn't easy getting up there then trying to stay up there is a whole other feat on its own. My plan is to build an aluminum brace that will allow me to rest a ladder against the fascia without crushing my gutter. So at least the ladder will reach to the roof. Making your way up and around an 18" overhang is hairy with the ladder resting on the side of the house.

I have 24” overhangs and always set the ladder against the gutter. It never gets crushed or dented. I want the ladder to stick up above the gutter line so that I can maneuver from the roof onto the rungs. I hate heights.

 

[begreen]

I had heavy duty gutters put on the house for just this reason.

 

[weatherguy]

Gutters are stronger than you think. I put my ladder on them all the time. I couldn't imagine trying to worm my way over the fascia and on to the roof with ladder below the gutters. You'd have to be gumby.

 

[HomeinPA]

The steeper the angle of the ladder the more likely to crush the gutter when you get to the top and step off. I go up and down all the time and lean it against the gutter every time. The trick is to keep the ladder at just enough angle that it directs the pressure down the ladder to the ground, not against the gutter. Of course, if you only weigh 150 (not my case) it shouldn't be an issue for you.

 

[Happy Stacker]

You can buy stabilizers for ladders that put the pressure on the roof and not your gutters. I personally don't have this problem as my gutters are metal
https://www.guttersupply.com/p-gutter-tools-ladder-max-ladder-stabilizer.gstml

 

[Chas0218]

I have 24” overhangs and always set the ladder against the gutter. It never gets crushed or dented. I want the ladder to stick up above the gutter line so that I can maneuver from the roof onto the rungs. I hate heights.

I tried that on our little porch and crushed the gutter and ripped the aluminum, made quite a mess. I'll add I'm about 190lbs. and didn't expect that to happen, I don't consider myself fat but maybe I should haha. My plan was to make a small bracket that went around the gutter with 2 sides protruding upward to rest the ladder on and won't slip left to right. Just need to attach to the fascia and roof truss ends.

 

[Chas0218]

My place Roof 7/12 no screen- budd"s place up north 7/12 roof snow and ice, cap plugged no way were we even going to try - 410 shotgun at about 20 yards as the crow flies - worked just fine- #8 bird shot. Not recommending this - just a redneck way of get er done.. Few dents here and there less than the last hail storm caused. ( golf ball sized hail that time, the baseball sized stuff the time before wrecked havoc all over the county.)

Well at least it would give me an excuse to buy another gun, I'm thinking the 20 gauge would be a bit much. If all else fails I will have at least one other option.

 

[bholler]

I tried that on our little porch and crushed the gutter and ripped the aluminum, made quite a mess. I'll add I'm about 190lbs. and didn't expect that to happen, I don't consider myself fat but maybe I should haha. My plan was to make a small bracket that went around the gutter with 2 sides protruding upward to rest the ladder on and won't slip left to right. Just need to attach to the fascia and roof truss ends.

I would guess the angle on your ladder was to shallow in that case. I put ladders on gutters all the time and weigh about the same with no issues. I do put blocking in the gutter and padding on the edge if i am going to be carrying materials up though. That extra 100 lbs of brick makes a difference

 

[AlbergSteve]

Almost a decade burning at the last house, never had anything come down the chimney. Sold the house to friends last year and last week he sent me this...two starlings, go figure.

 

[Sprinter]

Sounds like the plugging was user error. If so, and the chimney is normally pretty clean after a season's burning then I'd be inclined to leave the screen in. Another alternative is to take some wire snips and cut out every other block to double the screen hole size.

Exactly. When my stove was installed 6 years ago, my installer told me that I should remove the screen because it would clog up. And it did, a little, but only because I had to use rather moist wood and hadn't quite got the hang of the stove. After the first year, I have had absolutely no buildup at all on my screen, even a little. It's there for a purpose, and other opinions notwithstanding, if you do things right, there should be no problem.

I will say, I'm not experienced with cat stoves and they do burn cooler, so maybe that could be an exception sometimes, but otherwise, if you are getting a buildup on the screen, it's probably due to some kind of operational issue IMO.

It's a controversial subject that comes up frequently here, but my opinion is to leave the screen alone and figure out why it's clogging. It really shouldn't.