Dripping down the flue
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PA_Clinker
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Looks like a blockage in your vent at or after the penetration into the attic. That's a "positive" pressure stove, like my old TP40. Your draft is mostly "natural" not forced. So with that length of vent pipe I'd bet dollars to doughnuts there's a blockage up in there. If you continue to run it without a thorough cleaning you may wind up overfiring that stove (like I did) and there are no replacement heat exchangers to be found.
Joshuabienlein said:
Depends upon what is found at that 45 degree elbow.
I know what I'd do, but then I'm not a patient person when it comes to heating the cave.
I also don't tolerate fools well, at least that is what my operations manual says.
my suggestion would be to shut the stove down, figure out WHY it's producing creosote, and solve that problem first, With a pellet stove creosote is a product of incomplete combustion. Im also guessing that cap is a mess.......IMHO, not a safe situation......if that much is coming out of the pipe, imagine whats inside it?! Chimney fires in pellet vent isnt a pretty sight.......my professional opinion is to shut the thing down, anddont run it until you get some answers!
The old Earth Stove design IIRC has a baffle plate on top of the heat tubes and just below the top deck of the stove.
This area gets full of fly ash and you can't really clean it as there is no access point.
With the door open, using a leaf blower on the suction side and sucking out the entire system will get the crud out.
This is indeed creosote that has condensed out of the exhaust gases.
Make sure that your top cap is in good order and that there is not rain water flowing down the pipe adding to the issue.
A good cleaning of the entire system is in order, then warm that sucker up well to heat the entire pipe system and dry it out.
We used to have a WP-50 EarthStove and it would skunk up the pipe in a similar fashion.
Clean it good and make sure there is not rain getting in.
Good luck
snowy
This area gets full of fly ash and you can't really clean it as there is no access point.
With the door open, using a leaf blower on the suction side and sucking out the entire system will get the crud out.
This is indeed creosote that has condensed out of the exhaust gases.
Make sure that your top cap is in good order and that there is not rain water flowing down the pipe adding to the issue.
A good cleaning of the entire system is in order, then warm that sucker up well to heat the entire pipe system and dry it out.
We used to have a WP-50 EarthStove and it would skunk up the pipe in a similar fashion.
Clean it good and make sure there is not rain getting in.
Good luck
snowy
Snowy Rivers said:
So I also have an Earthstove (TP440) knock on wood never had this happen or any issues venting. So i'm wondering what your talking about using the leaf blower with the door open? I to have the baffle plate above my heating tubes. Never have found an easy way of cleaning that out so if you would explain how to clean this area out? In a nutshell.........Know my stove inside and out and have not found an easy way..... Thanks
Stick the leaf blower suction side on the stack, Open the stove door and Let it rip.
The huge volume of high velocity air up the stack will suck out all the loose fly ash.
The Earth stove is a Bottom feed stove that uses a POSITIVE pot pressure.
This is that the combustion air is blown into the stove rather than an exhaust fan pulling the air out of the stove and allowing free air to flow into the pot from underneith it.
Most stoves today are negative pressure stoves and use an exhaust fan.
On our old WP-50 I carefuly drilled and talled a 1/8" pipe thraded hole in the top of the stove so I could insert an air nozzle into the space just below the top deck and then blow out all the ash that accumulates in there.
Screw in the pipe plug and good to go.
This was before I learned about the Leaf Blower trick.
If you do the air nozzle thing, be sure that the stoves blower is turned on and the door shut before you give it the blast.
wrap a rag around the nozzle too.
The leaf blower is by far easier and cleaner and all the crap goes out the stack.
The Earth stove was one of the Original pellet stoves and if maintained well they were a real good stove. Sadly they were a pain to clean out well.
Buddy of mine has a similar stove and he cut a 4" round hole in the top of his stove just ahead of the vent stack hole and made a cover that bolts on with a gasket.
Makes vacuuming out that entire area a snap.
One needs to be careful if you go cuting holes, to be sure you don't penetrate a heat tube.
The space above the tubes and such is minimal.
Snowy
The huge volume of high velocity air up the stack will suck out all the loose fly ash.
The Earth stove is a Bottom feed stove that uses a POSITIVE pot pressure.
This is that the combustion air is blown into the stove rather than an exhaust fan pulling the air out of the stove and allowing free air to flow into the pot from underneith it.
Most stoves today are negative pressure stoves and use an exhaust fan.
On our old WP-50 I carefuly drilled and talled a 1/8" pipe thraded hole in the top of the stove so I could insert an air nozzle into the space just below the top deck and then blow out all the ash that accumulates in there.
Screw in the pipe plug and good to go.
This was before I learned about the Leaf Blower trick.
If you do the air nozzle thing, be sure that the stoves blower is turned on and the door shut before you give it the blast.
wrap a rag around the nozzle too.
The leaf blower is by far easier and cleaner and all the crap goes out the stack.
The Earth stove was one of the Original pellet stoves and if maintained well they were a real good stove. Sadly they were a pain to clean out well.
Buddy of mine has a similar stove and he cut a 4" round hole in the top of his stove just ahead of the vent stack hole and made a cover that bolts on with a gasket.
Makes vacuuming out that entire area a snap.
One needs to be careful if you go cuting holes, to be sure you don't penetrate a heat tube.
The space above the tubes and such is minimal.
Snowy
Snowy Rivers said:
So my stove is top vented up and then out on the 1st floor of the house....then shoots up past the eve of the house on the second floor.....
I would need to get outside the house and use the leaf blower?
I do like the idea of the drilling of hole........easy access for sure.......but not sure i would want to do that............I've had the stove for over 10 years and works like a champ......everything manual........which i don't mind....less things to break.......
I shall look more into this.........thanks for the info Snowy!
Just to add my $.02, those 45's in the attic are a complete f'd up mess! Looks like someone took a hammer to them to get them to fit and even pop riveted the one end where it came apart. I am willing to bet that they slopped roof cement all over that area to seal it up because it was literally coming apart. And also you can see that the upper pipe is OUTSIDE the lower pipe too. Knowing that flue temps are only in the 140 -200 degree range at the stove, it's hard to believe that creosote is forming that far up.
What does the black goo smell like? Haven't heard that description yet.
Finally, it sure looks like you could use more insulation in your attic. also it looks like the barrier is facing up. It should be down.
What does the black goo smell like? Haven't heard that description yet.
Finally, it sure looks like you could use more insulation in your attic. also it looks like the barrier is facing up. It should be down.
Major91 said:
Yes.. Leafblower goes on vent outside of house. Take the cap off outside the home and place a leafblower that has the vacuum option (leaf sucker) on the vent. This pulls the ash through the vent from outside the house. Openeing and closing the door and using a rubber mallet to lightly rap on the steel helps to loosen things up. Also using an assortment of brushes and some compressed air helps to (air from inside the house, while leafblower runs outside).
I know I WOULD DEFINITELY tear out those two 45's or what ever they are supposed to be and redo it! While the vertical section is the DuraVent, it sure looks like the adjustable 45's are (were) just plain stove pipe beaten into shape to fit the DuraVent.
Yea, I'd like to know what that dripping really was too! Don't leave everyone wondering. Fess up!
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