Strange stuff in my Exhaust pipe

[Tonyray]

Harman P61A

was standing on my porch today and happened to look over at the top bend of my exhaust pipe.[picture]
there is a protective metal grill at the opening and I saw all this gungy looking stuff hanging out of the grill... I have only burned ton/half so far as Stove was installed November..I clean the stove every seven days..
I took a long stick and starting banging at the top where it curves down and all this crap came out of it in chunks,.. I did this for at least 3 minutes till it stopped ..looked at it on the ground and it looked and felt like damp mulch which disinigrated in my hand. now here's what I think may have happened? or is possible?

last time I cleaned the stove, I had shut it down and was waiting for it to stop running which sometimes can take an hour...my bright idea was to start brushing down all the ash on the heat exchanger , walls, ledges etc while the exhaust was still running..[it had been shut off for 30 minutes so far but exhaust was still running/] this way all the dust etc was going out the exhaust pipe and not into the living room. I cannot swear to it but it could have been snowing or raining during the time I was doing this and possibly all that crap from the exhaust clung to thewarm/ wet metal grill at top of the pipe.... I refuse to belive that it could get that gunked up after 1/half tons of pellets even if I burned the worst I could find... I burn Energex Premiums and Stove Chows.... anyone think this could have been the cause? exhausting all the dust/ash on a wet day? [PICTURE is before this all happened

 

[hyfire]

I would say its pretty much normal, you need to clean the exhaust more often than you think...

 

[BrotherBart]

And you need to pop the cap on the bottom right now and see how much is built up in there.

 

[Tonyray]

And you need to pop the cap on the bottom right now and see how much is built up in there.

yes.... will do that tomorrow 1st thing. next time I do the clean/exhaust thing, I'll make sure it's not raining or snowing.
.[If most here feel that is how the gunk accumulated so quick]..

 

[DMKNLD]

It's normal that your termination vent will collect the loose fly ash, which I'm sure there is a thermo-dynamic reason behind the hot dry ashy exhaust air contacting the cooler and closer to the relatively ambient level moisture laden air at the end of your vent. No doubt, pulling your cleaning rods and brushing the fire box while the convection blower is running pushed some of that baked fly ash out your exhaust path. I do that also, to blow the ash out the pipe rather than have it inside the house - that stuff is bad for you to breathe in. Like you did, I tap my termination vent periodically with a broom stick to break that stuff loose, trying to time it with the wind direction that will blow it into the yard instead of onto me or my nearby deck or the clapboard on the house.

I don't think it's that big a deal as long as you're regularly cleaning your stove and your vent, to include your termination, to keep it from obstructing your airflow and affecting your burn quality. When you say you have a "grill" at the end of your vent, how big are the openings of it ? The reason I ask, is if that vent screening is too small it can clog up over time from the stuff you released and obstruct your stove outflow.

 

[Tonyray]

It's normal that your termination vent will collect the loose fly ash, which I'm sure there is a thermo-dynamic reason behind the hot dry ashy exhaust air contacting the cooler and closer to the relatively ambient level moisture laden air at the end of your vent. No doubt, pulling your cleaning rods and brushing the fire box while the convection blower is running pushed some of that baked fly ash out your exhaust path. I do that also, to blow the ash out the pipe rather than have it inside the house - that stuff is bad for you to breathe in. Like you did, I tap my termination vent periodically with a broom stick to break that stuff loose, trying to time it with the wind direction that will blow it into the yard instead of onto me or my nearby deck or the clapboard on the house.

I don't think it's that's a big deal as long as you're regularly cleaning your stove and your vent, to include your termination, to keep it from obstructing your airflow and affecting your burn quality. When you say you have a "grill" at the end of your vent, how big are the openings of it ? The reason I ask, is if that vent screening is too small it can clog up over time from the stuff you released and obstruct your stove outflow.

opening are about half the size of standard chicken cage wiring..

 

[Bioburner]

I've found the early season burning and cycling builds up the crud faster than when we get into the non stop burning and venting never cools down much. I do a late fall cleaning now and is good till spring. The Harman doesn't hardly cool down for the mid season monthly cleanings. Shut down for about thirty to forty minutes and brush everything down. Flip the switch on the UPS to shut off all juice as the exaust fan will run for a hour or more. Pull the cover on the exhaust fan, clean it and carefully brush the ESP and exhaust into venting and reassemble. Down time one hour.