Chimney dripping brown stuff on new metal roof - concerned of damage and root cause

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Ah, the cost of technology.

A low burn would be worthless to me in this leaky old stone house. And wood here is free, less than free, so the cost of replacing those hunks of platinum coated ceramic honeycomb would be a real thorn if I had to pay to replace them every couple of years.

That said, in a tight, well insulated house, it would be worth it, just to decrease the labor involved with reloads and extra wood processing. But, cat stoves don't come in the budget category that I highly favor, so the additional costs are not just the cat replacements. This cost difference is in the thou$ands

I hope the new cat fixes the dripping creosote issue. That's definitely more than just an aesthetic issue.

 

[begreen]

Thread went way off the topic of creosote dripping on the roof. Moved discussion to the Inglenook.

Wood heating isn't free, the good life

EDIT BG: Thread went way off topic (creosote dripping on roof) moved to continue discussion: I doubt any wood is truly free, let alone less than free. Labor involved is worth something. Even though I enjoy processing wood, I am finding every year more things I would rather do with my time.

www.hearth.com

 

[bens_igloo]

So a quick update. A replacement cat is on order and I should have it on the weekend.
I miss running my stove

 

[Smolder]

I'm with you Ben. It is expensive. There is also tax and maybe shipping in that cost to be added. In the past 10 yrs, I've spent nothing on cats. Highbeam, is at #3 or 4? Might make sense where electricity is expensive and one is using resistance heat, but not in our area where it is cheap and heat pumps are very efficient.

I’m in Ontario. I buy wood by the tractor. Cat is still cheap just on wood savings and convenience. When we don’t use wood we our propane bill is $1000/month (when it’s cold), a cat costs a week of propane. Cat economics work (can’t fill my truck twice for the price of a cat)

 

[heavy hammer]

bens_igloo I have a different cat stove than you, I have the Kuma but after year 3 of burning 24/7 for 6 months at a time my cat was on the way out I noticed more buildup in the chimney and poorer burn times. My cat was warrantied, but for the few hundred bucks every few years it is worth it. My annual heating bill for my place is only a couple hundred so I works out. It is a bummer to do it but you will see the difference once the cat is replaced. Like kennyp2339 and Highbeam have shown just keep track and in three years do it again.

 

[bens_igloo]

New cat is in! I forgot just how bright red a “good” cat gets

Thanks for all the tips.

 

[begreen]

Good deal. How are things looking topside, up on the roof?

 

[bens_igloo]

Good deal. How are things looking topside, up on the roof?

Had a chance to go have a look. I am not seeing any new stuff dripping now that the new cat is in place. In fact the chimney cap has actually become much cleaner than it was before, although I'm not sure how to explain it.

I am seeing a lot of other differences in burning too.

First, the glass is getting dirty again. We had actually noticed this burning season that the glass was always staying pretty clean. I assume this is because the wood only needs to smoulder now to keep the right temps.

Second, in the morning there is a lot of wood left in the stove. Before I had only embers, even on a full load.

No smoke coming out of the stack. This picture is from this morning. It is around -10c outside and I have a load going in the stove.


Lesson: Plan to buy a new combuster every 2 burning seasons and all will be good!

 

[MissMac]

First, the glass is getting dirty again. We had actually noticed this burning season that the glass was always staying pretty clean.

Nice to hear someone say this. I have noticed this exact same thing in my Sirocco 30.1 this winter. I'm not sure why it's happening. Would love to hear some speculation from you fellas.

 

[weatherguy]

Had a chance to go have a look. I am not seeing any new stuff dripping now that the new cat is in place. In fact the chimney cap has actually become much cleaner than it was before, although I'm not sure how to explain it.

I am seeing a lot of other differences in burning too.

First, the glass is getting dirty again. We had actually noticed this burning season that the glass was always staying pretty clean. I assume this is because the wood only needs to smoulder now to keep the right temps.

Second, in the morning there is a lot of wood left in the stove. Before I had only embers, even on a full load.

No smoke coming out of the stack. This picture is from this morning. It is around -10c outside and I have a load going in the stove.
View attachment 258064

Lesson: Plan to buy a new combuster every 2 burning seasons and all will be good!

I change every two years too, I clean the older one and keep it as a backup then keep the rotation going. The $100 per year it costs is worth it to me.

 

[begreen]

I change every two years too, I clean the older one and keep it as a backup then keep the rotation going. The $100 per year it costs is worth it to me.

I would have thought that the cat would last longer on a hybrid stove, no?

 

[weatherguy]

I would have thought that the cat would last longer on a hybrid stove, no?

It may, the first cat I got with the stove seems to be of lesser quality but the second one seems pretty rugged, im going to give it the vinegar bath suggested this offseason and see how it performs next year before I order another one. Woodstock cats are under $200 so I dont really mind spending for a new one every couple of years.

 

[begreen]

$100 a year would bug me.

 

[Highbeam]

$100 a year would bug me.

I’d rather not spend that money either but since it saves me 250$ (market value) of wood every year it’s worth the investment.

 

[Highbeam]

Had a chance to go have a look. I am not seeing any new stuff dripping now that the new cat is in place. In fact the chimney cap has actually become much cleaner than it was before, although I'm not sure how to explain it.

I am seeing a lot of other differences in burning too.

First, the glass is getting dirty again. We had actually noticed this burning season that the glass was always staying pretty clean. I assume this is because the wood only needs to smoulder now to keep the right temps.

Second, in the morning there is a lot of wood left in the stove. Before I had only embers, even on a full load.

No smoke coming out of the stack. This picture is from this morning. It is around -10c outside and I have a load going in the stove.
View attachment 258064

Lesson: Plan to buy a new combuster every 2 burning seasons and all will be good!

Your cat has once again become the main source of heat so the firebox can cool off which means smoldering, less air flow, and dirtier glass.

It’s fun to get every last bit of life out of a cat but like engine oil, it’s probably best to change it before failure.

 

[begreen]

I’d rather not spend that money either but since it saves me 250$ (market value) of wood every year it’s worth the investment.

Maybe for some. bholler reports that for his installation there has not been a great deal of wood saved. He's probably running the stove harder though. I would be too for our house.

 

[Highbeam]

Maybe for some. bholler reports that for his installation there has not been a great deal of wood saved. He's probably running the stove harder though. I would be too for our house.

Maybe for some? Ha! You have one data point from a guy who arguably never wanted it to work! Maybe time for a poll? Full time burners that have actually made the switch for more than a year?

 

[charger4406]

Maybe for some? Ha! You have one data point from a guy who arguably never wanted it to work! Maybe time for a poll? Full time burners that have actually made the switch for more than a year?

Well the only reason I save wood with my BK is because it is a second stove,
the F600 does the bulk of the heating with the Ashford and the oil furnace
filling in the rest.
I have often tried the Ashford out as the main heat producer and it ate a load of wood
as fast as the F600, with what seemed like less heat output.
I think it really depends on your house and climate.
The Bk can certainly burn at much lower settings but that amount of
heat is only useful for me to help out the other stove,
when outside temps rise to the 40's, the heatpump is our main heater,
so the cost of the cat every couple of years makes the savings in wood a wash.

 

[maple1]

when outside temps rise to the 40's, the heatpump is our main heater

That point is about -5c for us here. Depending on my comings & goings & whether I want to or have time to make a fire on or not.

 

[Highbeam]

when outside temps rise to the 40's, the heatpump is our main heater

That point is about -5c for us here. Depending on my comings & goings & whether I want to or have time to make a fire on or not.

yes and this type of lifestyle would favor a noncat stove because you only make the effort to burn when demand is relatively high. I would honestly like to have an efficient heat pump that would cut my long shoulder burning season down significantly which is where the low and slow cat stove really shines.

 

[maple1]

yes and this type of lifestyle would favor a noncat stove because you only make the effort to burn when demand is relatively high. I would honestly like to have an efficient heat pump that would cut my long shoulder burning season down significantly which is where the low and slow cat stove really shines.

I still haven't accurately measured and tallied things here but I think our splits cut our wood use about in half. Long shoulders can really use up wood in a long drug out way.

 

[weatherguy]

yes and this type of lifestyle would favor a noncat stove because you only make the effort to burn when demand is relatively high. I would honestly like to have an efficient heat pump that would cut my long shoulder burning season down significantly which is where the low and slow cat stove really shines.

That's where you save on wood, your climate is perfect for the BK so it's no surprise you love it. Dont get me wrong I wish I still had mine during shoulder season but the bulk of our heating season here is all out most of the time.

 

[begreen]

That's where you save on wood, your climate is perfect for the BK so it's no surprise you love it. Dont get me wrong I wish I still had mine during shoulder season but the bulk of our heating season here is all out most of the time.

A decade ago I chose to do above 45º heating with a heat pump. No regrets. For us, it's cleaner and cheaper than wood and no anxiety if we're sick or having someone housesit, or away for several days.

 

[Woody Stover]

I’d rather not spend that money either but since it saves me 250$ (market value) of wood every year it’s worth the investment.

Maybe for some. bholler reports that for his installation there has not been a great deal of wood saved. He's probably running the stove harder though. I would be too for our house.

Maybe for some? Ha! You have one data point from a guy who arguably never wanted it to work! Maybe time for a poll? Full time burners that have actually made the switch for more than a year?

That's where you save on wood, your climate is perfect for the BK so it's no surprise you love it. Dont get me wrong I wish I still had mine during shoulder season but the bulk of our heating season here is all out most of the time.

Don't forget that one of the spiffs of being boss of the board is that begreen gets free firewood for life..he's not worried about saving a stick here and there.
Seriously though, that's where the savings come in for Highbeam and other low-burners: , If you've let your stove burn way down because you don't want to cook yourself out, you have to burn up some wood to get back up to clean-burn stove temp. Especially if you had a big non-cat like Highbeam did (the 30NC, not the Heritage.) I just think he hadn't found a good, well-sized non-cat for his situation, or he might have been able to make it work better.
I don't think bholler has an agenda, I think he was just reporting what he observed in comparing stoves; The Princess ate up as much wood but didn't put out quite as much heat as fast, when trying to recover room temp after being gone all day. And he did say several times that the BK would undoubtedly work better for him once he tightens up his envelope more..
Actually, I could probably burn a non-cat better here in shoulder season than a lot of folks could at their place. I have an inch of thermal mass on the walls, and if I had to run a non-cat a little hotter and longer for efficiency before letting it burn down, I'd think some of that heat would be stored in the thermal mass, to be released later...a buffer effect to offset the heat swings of the non-cat.

Well the only reason I save wood with my BK is because it is a second stove,
the F600 does the bulk of the heating with the Ashford and the oil furnace
filling in the rest.
I have often tried the Ashford out as the main heat producer and it ate a load of wood
as fast as the F600, with what seemed like less heat output.

Yeah, I think you have to run the BKs low for them to work their best. It just seems intuitively that if you try to burn them high and get big heat into the room, heat can't get through the extra internal shielding as fast as it can with other stove designs. I've tossed that theory out there a few times, but nobody's really said much..

Had a chance to go have a look. I am not seeing any new stuff dripping now that the new cat is in place. In fact the chimney cap has actually become much cleaner than it was before, although I'm not sure how to explain it.
I am seeing a lot of other differences in burning too.
First, the glass is getting dirty again. We had actually noticed this burning season that the glass was always staying pretty clean. I assume this is because the wood only needs to smoulder now to keep the right temps.
Second, in the morning there is a lot of wood left in the stove. Before I had only embers, even on a full load.
No smoke coming out of the stack.

Your cap may have just "dried out" now that less creo is making it up there, and flue temp is probably a bit higher.
I replaced the cat several days ago, and noticed much the same..more wood left due to lower air settings, more heat in the house from the load due to the cat burning what's available more completely.
I don't think I was getting smoke during the burn, but I kept the air open more in an effort to keep the cat burning longer. I didn't look at the stack much, later in the burn, but I think I would have smelled smoke, if there was a lot; The wind blows chimney exhaust to where I enter and exit the house, quite often.