Russian meteorite found!!!

[jwalter04]

Not really, however suddenly the other night my Fisher insert stopped drawing and began burping smoke into the house. After work today I busted out the chimney brush and found this stuff clogging up the pipe going up through the flu. Kinda reminds me of those snake things you light and they smoke and grow from when I was a kid. Any thoughts?

 

[ScotO]

You've got some serious issues there. That's creosote, and that's bad to find it in a clump like that. Are you burning dry wood?

 

[jwalter04]

The wood is pretty well seasoned. Most of it at least a year or more. We do use the stove to heat the house and there has been a fire going in it since October. Odd thing is the rest of the chimney was relatively clean. Just the stovepipe was all clogged up.

 

[ScotO]

The wood is pretty well seasoned. Most of it at least a year or more. We do use the stove to heat the house and there has been a fire going in it since October. Odd thing is the rest of the chimney was relatively clean. Just the stovepipe was all clogged up.

Could be a bad airleak somewhere in there, do you choke the stove way down at night?

 

[jwalter04]

I wouldn't say way down. I would admit the connection between the stove collar and the pipe is not airtight by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[WeldrDave]

WTH... Call Ghost busters..... scary, do they move when you poke it?

 

[WeldrDave]

Not really, however suddenly the other night my Fisher insert stopped drawing and began burping smoke into the house. After work today I busted out the chimney brush and found this stuff clogging up the pipe going up through the flu. Kinda reminds me of those snake things you light and they smoke and grow from when I was a kid. Any thoughts?
View attachment 95120 View attachment 95121 View attachment 95122

Hey, I don't mean to spook you but I think you may have some issues, If that is creosote and fires off, it could be a very BAD thing.... Just some friendly advise.

 

[infinitymike]

Take that outside and light it up with a propane torch.
Take a video and post it because its gonna be cool.
But definitely not cool if that happens in the house.

 

[tbuff]

Wow, be careful... How often do you clean your chimney?

 

[gzecc]

The wood is pretty well seasoned. Most of it at least a year or more. We do use the stove to heat the house and there has been a fire going in it since October. Odd thing is the rest of the chimney was relatively clean. Just the stovepipe was all clogged up.

If your burning oak, a year is no way near enough.

 

[pen]

Looks a bit puffed up to me, as in what happens to creosote after there was a flue fire that you probably weren't aware of.

Time to reconsider the standard operating procedure.

pen

 

[fossil]

"...I can't speak for Scotty but I'm sure he feels the same..."

Huh? Isn't that an oxymoron?

 

[WeldrDave]

Huh? Isn't that an oxymoron?

Yes I suppose! Thanks for clearing that up!

 

[Motor7]

You really need to consider sweeping at a minimum mid season....once a year ain't going to cut it. I'm not caught up on wood yet so I am burning standing dead...some is dry some not so much. I swept in early Jan and found nothing scary & will sweep again in March..

 

[pen]

You really need to consider sweeping at a minimum mid season....once a year ain't going to cut it. I'm not caught up on wood yet so I am burning standing dead...some is dry some not so much. I swept in early Jan and found nothing scary & will sweep again in March..

Exactly, even in a system that has never had a problem, a monthly inspection at least is recommended.

I check mine monthly and clean every other month, whether it needs it or not. Never know what the stove could accidentally get turned into a light bulb.

pen

 

[Motor7]

Take that outside and light it up with a propane torch.
Take a video and post it because its gonna be cool.
But definitely not cool if that happens in the house.

That's a good idea because once you see this stuff burning at 2,000+ degrees it has a tendency to imprint and give you a healthy respect. When it gets going it will melt right through metal kinda like the slobber from Sigourney Weavers Alien.

 

[coaly]

Your first post mentions a "pipe going up through the flu" which would be a chimney liner. Next post calls it a stovepipe, which is not normally used on an Insert.... Unless you have an exceptionally high hearth allowing you to reach in and connect a pipe between Insert top and flue bottom. There should be a boot mounted on the Insert top allowing connection of pipe. Unless the Insert is being used as a freestanding stove ?? Perhaps you mean a flexible liner that is connected to the Insert and extends the entire chimney height? If no liner, what is the chimney flue shape and diameter?
Sealing the air leak into flue forces all incoming air through the stove where it is put to use. When fired hard, this air leak can allow oxygen in where temperature is high enough for secondary combustion of smoke particles in the chimney, igniting any deposits there. (hence deposits below the air leak, clean chimney above the air leak) It is imperative for the chimney to draw ALL air through the Insert.

 

[jwalter04]

It is a fisher grandpa insert. The damper on the top had been removed. I welded a steel ring around the hole to accept an 8 inch piece of stovepipe. With the insert in the fireplace there is enough room to reach in and connect the pipe which extends 6 feet or so up past the original flu. The chimney is 8x10 and three stories high.

 

[begreen]

Is there a damper sealing plate in place? If not, that could be the issue. If air can be drawn from the room past the insert and up the chimney, it could be cooling down the flue gases too much. If this is an exterior chimney, the problem could be twice as bad with mother nature cooling the chimney as well.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/why-damper-seal-is-needed/

 

[Defiant]

Can we we get pics of your set-up?

 

[jwalter04]

When I pull the insert for the preseason cleaning ill snap a few.

 

[coaly]

That's a lot of chimney to heat above 250*. As begreen say's, make sure it is air tight where the connector pipe connects to the flue. Any leakage there (or elsewhere into the flue) will cause atmospheric pressure to leak into the low pressure area of the flue, cooling the inside flue temperature.
That is much more inside chimney area than the optimal round 8 inch. The flue outlet being 50.24 square inches should be that size all the way to the top. You have 80 square inches. This square inch area is multiplied by every inch of chimney height to give you the cubic area you're keeping hot. That causes you to leave almost twice as much heat out to keep the flue hot. An insulated liner will pay for itself in fuel savings and stay much cleaner.

 

[jwalter04]

What about installing something like this.

http://www.sandhillwholesale.com/fl....html?osCsid=e8e5eee5797e3b6f3e21b7d57c43cea0

 

[jwalter04]

Thanks for the input coaly. I've decided to go ahead and put in a top to bottom liner. I was wrong about the size of the flu as it is actually 7"x12". This being even larger square area than before (math). Looking at my options in liner kits I see that an 8in round won't fit as the OD is 8.25in without any insulation. A 6 inch liner would fit nicely however the drop to 28 square inches would be too small right? I've found oval liner 6.5x11in that is 51 square inches. That doesn't leave much wiggle room for insulation though. Also, the oval liner appears to be 3 times the price. Any thoughts?

 

[pen]

Go back to 2007 and your story pretty much mirrors why I came to hearth.com in the first place.

I had a fisher grandma bear (8inch exhaust) running into a 7 1/4 x 7 1/4 masonry chimney. Around here, it was generally accepted (for the right or the wrong) that the top tile just always had a crack (since 90someodd percent of the crowns are done wrong) and that was considered normal (locally). I wanted to double check on here what the consensus was and how bad everyone thought my chimney was. I had lots of experience burning wood, but only local knowledge and local practices as my basis. While my chimney wasn't terrible, it might not have been up to protecting us from a chimney fire anymore so it was time to do something.

Long story short, the exterior of the chimney was just too sound, made of brick, and still good looking so I couldn't justify pulling it down to install a new chimney for the fisher (couldn't get a big enough liner down for the old girl) As much as I loved the stove I read stories on here about the gains people were seeing with these EPA units so I took the plunge. I bought my englander 30 1 year used for 450 bucks (I think, maybe 400). I was skeptical as was the wife. She grew up burning wood and her house always smelled of smoke. Ours never did with the fisher and she wouldn't let me sell that until I proved this new stove would keep the house smelling smoke free. I burned the first winter with the 30 on the masonry chimney and thought it did great. I sold my old stove for 525 or 575 to a person who hated new stoves because they wouldn't burn poorly seasoned wood I bought a 6 inch liner and just barely got it down the chimney (should have used a 5.5 in hindsight and would if I had to do it again) and hooked up the 30. Adding the liner woke that stove up like adding a turbo! I poured insulation down around the liner because of the tight fit.

Since then, my house stays warmer on average, I burn 3 to 4 cord a winter instead of 5 to 6 cord per winter, the stove holds coals for FAR longer, the chimney is cleaner, I have a nice glass window for viewing the fire that I never thought I wanted but couldn't be w/out now, etc, etc, etc.

That said, I think you can figure out what I would recommend you start considering

pen