Smoke from pipe joints & cracking / popping sounds

[FIRECONCRETEWOOD]

I've been burning with my PE Alderlea T6 for under one month. Yesterday after I loaded up my firebox after getting a nice fire going with kindling and a few small splits. I left the door open slightly and the air control wide own. I started to get smoke pushing out of the joints in my doublewall stove pipe. The room ceiling had a definite presence of smoke. I started to hear crackling and popping sounds from within the stovepipe about 7 feet above my stove. It lasted about 4 minutes and then stopped. It was awkwardly windy outside. The smoke however didn't push into the room out of the firebox, just from the pipe joint above. Stove temp had yet to reach 450°-500°. I burned the remainder of the day with no issues. This has never happened before. I was worried about a chimney (stovepipe) fire. I checked the attic and framed chimney area in the attic and found nothing obviously wrong and absolutely no smoke. Any suggestions or reasons why this may have happened? Thanks in advance.

 

[begreen]

It might have been a thin layer of creosote burning in the stove pipe. The stove pipe will heat up much faster than the stove top. Is there a screen on the chimney cap? If yes it should be checked for plugging.

 

[FIRECONCRETEWOOD]

I will check the screen on top. I am sure I have one along with the rain cap. Is it normal to have any creosote on a stove/chimney used for less that one month? Would the pressure and heat from a burning layer of creosote push smoke out of the stovepipe joint?

Is this a normal occurrence or is this something I should call back the installer to check out? I'm a newbie wood stove owner.

 

[begreen]

It's possible. We've seen chimney caps plug in a couple weeks if the wood is not fully seasoned.

Not sure about the pipe smoking but one possibility is that it got very hot and what you were seeing is the paint baking. Kind of hard to tell without seeing it. Is there a thermometer on the flue pipe and if yes what was the temp when this happened?

 

[FIRECONCRETEWOOD]

I just have a stovetop thermometer. No device in my stovepipe. I'm burning a mix of red oak, white ash, silver maple, and box elder. All of which have been split and outside stacked for 13-15 months. The wood pile is not covered so sometimes the splits are wet when I bring them in and load them.

 

[FIRECONCRETEWOOD]

It was definately smoke pushing out of the pipe joint.

 

[Jazzberry]

My screen plugged in the first couple weeks I used it and I had the same symptoms. Pulled the screen out threw it away and all is good now.

 

[FIRECONCRETEWOOD]

My screen plugged in the first couple weeks I used it and I had the same symptoms. Pulled the screen out threw it away and all is good now.

You had smoke coming from the pipe and the popping and crackling sounds from within too? It sounded like perhaps something was burning at that particular spot within the stovepipe. My pipe runs 100% vertical.

 

[begreen]

Check the cap tomorrow if possible. Smoke coming out of the joints indicated plugging. I'd also pick up a moisture meter. Firewood should be less than 20% moisture. Test on a freshly split interior face of the wood at room temperature.

Of the wood you mentioned the ash and maple stand the best chance of being drier.

 

[Smoked]

Cover the top of your splits, at least during burning season. You don't want to have to boil off snow or rain water while trying to get the stove and pipe up to temperature. Looks like you are going to be in the icebox for a while now so liquid water is not gona be an issue for you

 

[Jazzberry]

You had smoke coming from the pipe and the popping and crackling sounds from within too? It sounded like perhaps something was burning at that particular spot within the stovepipe. My pipe runs 100% vertical.

Not so much on the popping. Smoke out the joints yes. But a plugged cap could maybe trap heat in the pipe making it hotter than normal to cause the noise maybe?

 

[begreen]

We had a plugged screen from damp maple we were burning a couple years ago. Wood was seasoned 2+ yrs, but the stacks were in a shady spot and water got under the tarp. The two things that alerted me to the issue were reduced secondary activity and the occasional sound of light creosote burning in the stove pipe. It didn't get so bad that smoke was coming out of the pipe joints, but I did hear the crinkling sounds, almost like rice falling in the stove pipe. I knew this sounds from burning pre-EPA stoves with poorer wood many years back so I was alerted to the issue before the screen was fully plugged.