Second opinion after inspection

[ackvor]

Hello, New member here. Thanks for all the great info on the boards. I have had my Jotul F3 installed for about a year now. I called a local company for a cleaning and inspection this week. They came right out and were by all accounts a professional operation. The technician advised my wife that he had sen "signs of a chimney fire" up by the cap. He advised that the cap was "blocked upon arrival with signs of chimney fire on lid of cap with rainbow discoloration.....recommend a 24X36X12 stainless steel multi-flue cap powder coated black"
The current cap covers only the flue in use and the flue next to it that is not in use is open to the elements. Before I get a second opinion or have him do the work, I wanted to get some opinions. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[xman23]

First season of burning wet wood, you can end up with a plugged up cap screen. Best thing for anyone burning is to do is learn how to inspect and clean your own chimney. After my first 2 months of burning my cap was plugged. It was a brown, rainbow colored mess. It just needed cleaning. Small screens on these caps for some and me are hard to keep clean. My screen is gone.

So did you have a fire, don't know, I never had one. I think if you had a chimney fire it could have burned the cap screen clean. A chimney fire, the issue is the condition of the chimney. The cap is just uninsulated metal that for the most part can't be hurt. So selling you more caps for other chimneys, why?

 

[jatoxico]

You don't say how it's installed right now. Liner in a masonry chimney with dedicated cap, pipe into clay tile through thimble?

 

[jetsam]

It sounds like a bigger cap is a good idea, but that's not related to whether or not you had a chimney fire.

Not sure that I grasp the point of paying someone else to come over and put it on unless you need a lift to get up there.

Post some photos of the flue and the cap, and you may get some useful info on the chimney fire or lack thereof.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Agreed, pics please.

 

[ackvor]

You don't say how it's installed right now. Liner in a masonry chimney with dedicated cap, pipe into clay tile through thimble?

Thank you everyone. I will post up some pics tomorrow. It's an SS liner into a masonry chimney. The stove is placed in a fireplace.

 

[ackvor]

For now... here is the inside install...

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Looks really nice, you’ll get this figured out.

 

[begreen]

Is the sweep suggesting this as better protection for the crown too?

 

[jatoxico]

Is the sweep suggesting this as better protection for the crown too?

Yeah I'm not making the connection. How does adding a cap over the whole crown eliminate chimney fires? Is the old one damaged or too constricting?

 

[HomeinPA]

Hello, New member here. Thanks for all the great info on the boards. I have had my Jotul F3 installed for about a year now. I called a local company for a cleaning and inspection this week. They came right out and were by all accounts a professional operation. The technician advised my wife that he had sen "signs of a chimney fire" up by the cap. He advised that the cap was "blocked upon arrival with signs of chimney fire on lid of cap with rainbow discoloration.....recommend a 24X36X12 stainless steel multi-flue cap powder coated black"
The current cap covers only the flue in use and the flue next to it that is not in use is open to the elements. Before I get a second opinion or have him do the work, I wanted to get some opinions. Thanks in advance for any help.

The discolored cap is a sign of overheating and possibly from a flue fire. Another indication would be expanded creosote inside the cap or flue liner. If it was further down the liner it would be noted when cleaning out the bottom of the flue.

The larger cap would be helpful to allow more air movement across the top of the flue and would be less likely to be plugged up quite as quickly. I'm not a big fan of multi-flue caps as they don't always sit on top of the chimney square and you have to drill holes to mount them and in my opinion that's just making another way for water to penetrate the crown and ruin it eventually. I also think some of them look like dog houses on top of a chimney. That being said, the black powder coating seems like an unnecessary expense as the cap will need to be cleaned regularly with a wire brush to remove creosote and it would probably scratch the coating and cause it to peel. Eventually.

 

[EbS-P]

Hi,

The proposed solution sounds like what I have. One unused flue next to the one my new stove is connected to. A flat piece of stainless on top with the sides constructed of expanded metal. I can’t imagine how mine could ever get blocked up as the mesh is pretty large. In 10 years I have never had anything but a few cob webs find their way in. The cap withstood hurricane Florence and 30” of rain and had no water down the chimney unlike others in the area when the storm came through. It seems a popular choice on my street for the large rectangular chimneys around here. My installer said my liner came a little closer to the top than he wanted and if it seemed to draft poorly we could make the cap taller but it seems to be drafting fine. I can see that my mesh is discolored now since we got the stove 5 weeks ago, something you would not notice if it was black.

I hope that is helpful.

Evan

 

[Woody Stover]

Is the sweep suggesting this as better protection for the crown too?

Yeah I'm not making the connection. How does adding a cap over the whole crown eliminate chimney fires? Is the old one damaged or too constricting?

I poured a new crown a few years ago so no protection needed. I just put a piece of sheet metal over the other clay tile flue.