My new 6" Sentinel stainless steel chimney is dripping water in my basement. It has a Selkirk Metalbestos 6T-CT 6 inch SS round top chimney cap that surely prevents rain from entering, but I suspect that the first snow fall had snow blowing under the cap and into the chimney.
The flue pipe is straight up from the basement, through a 1st floor bathroom, through the attic and 6 feet extending above the roof line. I have not yet enclosed the chase where the flue pipe goes through the bathroom so I can confirm that the water did not drip down the outside of the pipe which is silicone-caulked at the storm collar, at a second storm collar in the attic and caulked with intumescent fire barrier in the bathroom.
Is there a way to prevent snow from blowing under the rain cap? I was going to look for a sheet of SS and form it into very low cone and pop-rivet it with SS rivets to the top of the existing cap, making a wider umbrella to resist snow infiltration better. This will increase the wind resistance of course and possibly create problems I have not thought of.
Water dripping onto my concrete basement froor is no big deal, but when the regular steel stove pipes are attached, the water would be channeled into the stove, rusting out the stove pipe and the stove.
How do people deal with this? One solution is to always have a fire going during a snowfall, but that is not always possible.
Any tips or ideas would be very welcome.
The flue pipe is straight up from the basement, through a 1st floor bathroom, through the attic and 6 feet extending above the roof line. I have not yet enclosed the chase where the flue pipe goes through the bathroom so I can confirm that the water did not drip down the outside of the pipe which is silicone-caulked at the storm collar, at a second storm collar in the attic and caulked with intumescent fire barrier in the bathroom.
Is there a way to prevent snow from blowing under the rain cap? I was going to look for a sheet of SS and form it into very low cone and pop-rivet it with SS rivets to the top of the existing cap, making a wider umbrella to resist snow infiltration better. This will increase the wind resistance of course and possibly create problems I have not thought of.
Water dripping onto my concrete basement froor is no big deal, but when the regular steel stove pipes are attached, the water would be channeled into the stove, rusting out the stove pipe and the stove.
How do people deal with this? One solution is to always have a fire going during a snowfall, but that is not always possible.
Any tips or ideas would be very welcome.
