Wood Stove Chimney Collar Question

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For some reason I have heavy creosote build up already even though I started the fall with a clean chimney. I am going to clean it and install new pipe today, but it appears the collar for the chimney is loose or something and had creosote dripping down from the screw holes last night. Kind of frightening to consider starting the New Year off with a fire!

My question is, is there is supposed to be some kind of caulking between the inside bottom collar of the chimney and the ceiling of the room? There are no screws in the apparent screw holes of the collar. the pipe runs straight up from the stove with no bends, and it's probably about 5' of pipe before the chimney. The ceiling is actually 1/4 inch plywood over 2x4 rafters. I have been burning super dry oak with some heavier oak that is at least three years old, but still heavy. I use the heavier stuff for the "all night" logs. Any help would be appreciated...and quick would be even more appreciated!!!

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), January 01, 2001

Answers

Hi Doreen:

Can you give us some more info? Is that a masonry chimney or metal? How old is the pipe leading from your stove to the chimney? Have you looked inside the chimney for creosote buildup? Has it rained really hard lately? Could the dripping have been rain getting in your chimney? Are you sure your chimney cap keeps out all water?

This may not be a problem for you. It is extremely unlikely that three year old oak would create a dripping creosote problem in only a couple of months. It really sounds like water is getting in somewhere. As for the screws, they really should be installed, but that isn't causing something to drip from your pipe.

If you find that your pipe is defective or worn out, replace it with good, heavy guage pipe. Don't get that cheap stuff at Lowe's or Home Depot. Go to a hardware store, and get the good stuff. You will have to pay more, and you may even have to order it. You will glad later.

Hope you get it fixed soon,

-- Jim (catchthesun@yahoo.com), January 01, 2001.


Hi Doreen: I agree with Jim, sounds like water not creosote that would be dripping. We don't have calking on the inside but the outside is well sealed where the chimney exits the house. I may be wrong but I think that inside collar is more cosmetic than anything else. Just makes the hole look less like a hole. We burn good dry wood but still clean our chimney pipe once a month to avoid chimney fires. If you have ever had one you don't want to have one again!! I wouldn't heat with wood without a regular cleaning schedule and invest in the equipment to clean the chimney. I don't think ours was more than $50 and we have been using it for 12 years. GL - diane

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 01, 2001.

Well I just got down from the roof and I found the problem. I am very lucky I didn't burn up here. The pipe is metal and goes through to a metal roof. I don't know how old the top part is, but the house was built in the early to mid seventies so I would bet that's the age. The center stove pipe under the cap that comes out of the roof has rusted through. It looked okay from the attic, but where it goes under the flange at the roof it was totaled. Seems that between the seams creosote was bulding up and creating a collar of itself, this was then running down the outside of the pipes down onto the collar and down the inside of the house pipe.

No hardware stores are open today in this area. The closest thing is Home Depot 50 miles away. Since this is Texas, I highly doubt I will be able to find super heavy duty pipe. When I replaced this interior pipe they had to dig through some super old stock in the back of the warehouse to find it. Silliness. I think I will just replace the entire thing so that I don't have any immediate future worries.

How long does a metal chimney usually last? Thanks for your help!

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), January 01, 2001.


Doreen,

Glad you found your problem. That pipe and metal chimney made in the seventies probably did well to last this long. High quality new metal chimneys are guaranteed 20-25 years and will probably last a lifetime.

We installed our stove about two years ago. This is what we used and what I would recommend to you. The pipe from the top of the stove to the ceiling connection is a telescoping double-walled stainless steel pipe painted black. It makes installation a breeze, and it doesn't get nearly as hot as single walled pipe. It never gets red. I believe it was about $70.00 for a piece that telescopes from about three feet to six feet.

The chimney comes in three or four foot sections and it is triple walled stainless steel. We can have a roaring fire that will keep us warm at zero degrees outside and go into the attic and lay our hands on that chimney. Each layer of metal has about a one inch space between the next. Stainless steel is extremely difficult to oxidize. It just won't rust. Galvanized steel is also resistant to oxidation, but it will eventually rust. Stainless is worth the difference in price. I believe the chimney sections were about fifteen dollars a foot. I have never seen this stocked in a Home Depot or Lowes, but they can probably order it.

If you want to learn more about high quality chimneys, go to this site http://www.weyrkeep.com/duravent/

This is the type I installed in our house. I believe it is as safe as masonry; possibly safer in a chimney fire.

Good Luck with it,

-- Jim (catchthesun@yahoo.com), January 01, 2001.


Thanks so much, Jim. I have had to kind of jerry rig it for right now. The thing is clean throughout but the top of the pipe inside the collar is rusted too and I couldn't get a good tight seal with the next section. I think it should be okay for a few days as there is just a little bit of smoke coming out above the roof but under the skirt of the last section of pipe. There is no smoke in the attic though, so that seems a good indicator to me.

I will check out the website and see if I can't order what I need from them tomorrow. If I need to get the hardware store to order it, I guess they can do it tomorrow, too. Thanks again for all the help!

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), January 01, 2001.



Sorry to hear about your chimney.

We read a few years ago in a Mother Earth News that putting potato peels in the fire while its burning gets rid of creosote. We've been dooing it for three years,,,on and off ( we like to eat the peels) and it seems to work!

Idaho Cher

-- Cher Rovang (fullcircle@nidlink.com), January 01, 2001.


Glad your alright Doreen, mind Jim and try to find (might have to order it in ) the stainless steel pipe, it's the only kind anyone uses here in SE OH, it's false economy to use any other! Also, mind your not turning the damper back too far to get an all night fire, there is no such thing (short of a masonary stove) as a SAFE all night fire, the lack of sufficient oxygen allows creasote to form from even dry wood, incomplete combustion occurs, and that means creasote!!!

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), January 03, 2001.

All right, my head is no longer spinning in desperate attempt to regain equilibrium.....From Jennings air in Ohio, $141 for a 3'6 to 5'6 telescoping joint...$72 for a three foot "standard" joint. Simpson has no retailers around here at all (the dura vent people). There is a brand one of the hardware stores in town gets and it is $142 for a joint. Both of the brands for which I finaaly got prices have a 10 year warranty.

Is there something I am not doing right here? It's $35.00 to do it in the metal that is readily available here.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), January 03, 2001.


It's because your buying retail, have someone you know in the home improvement or contractor business order it for you, only cost $300 dollars to line our entire 35 foot chimney with stainless steel pipe, wholesale is much better! To each his own!

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), January 03, 2001.

I guess the process is a tic more lengthy than just having a business license. I have one of those and occasionally have made "out of the norm" purchases for things for the business that way. This guy I know spoke with the company (he has a fencing and pole barn business and is also just a flat out jack of all trades) and I guess you have to go through a waitng period and all manner of corporate silliness. I have encountered that with some companies in my business, seriously old school.

Oh well, I will figure it out. Thanks for all of your input everyone and for your happiness at not seeing me turn into a crispy critter!

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), January 03, 2001.



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