Is this normal or did I have a chimney fire?

[JohnSanchirico]

Context:
Installed in the fall, 2-3 cords burnt so far
~30ft of flue on all double walls except for the heated space
Never noticed an odd noise so must've been away if a fire happened
Chimney was surprisingly clean. I reused this pipe and it's cleaner than when I installed it. Nevertheless, I brushed it.
Lumps of creosote were flaky I believe stage 2 ( notice how it's concentrated where the mesh is blocked )

Let me know if you need anything else and thank you for your time.

 

[brenndatomu]

If you had a full blown chimney fire that would be burnt clean...but you may have had the start of one though...

 

[bholler]

View attachment 309441View attachment 309443
Context:
Installed in the fall, 2-3 cords burnt so far
~30ft of flue on all double walls except for the heated space
Never noticed an odd noise so must've been away if a fire happened
Chimney was surprisingly clean. I reused this pipe and it's cleaner than when I installed it. Nevertheless, I brushed it.
Lumps of creosote were flaky I believe stage 2 ( notice how it's concentrated where the mesh is blocked )

Let me know if you need anything else and thank you for your time.

Yes you without question had a chimney fire. The discoloration on the cap and puffy creosote is a dead giveaway in addition to the abnormally clean chimney

 

[JohnSanchirico]

If you had a full blown chimney fire that would be burnt clean...but you may have had the start of one though...

Makes sense if It just happened, but I don't know when it occurred. Could've been a month ago and now there is a new build-up. I mentioned the pattern of accumulation in the post because I had a theory. Maybe since the screen was blocked at those sections.... the fire was blocked and couldn't burn those parts? Just trying to make sense of it

 

[brenndatomu]

in addition to the abnormally clean chimney

Where do you see a clean chimney?

 

[bholler]

Where do you see a clean chimney?

We didn't see it. The op said the chimney was cleaner than when it was installed though

 

[kborndale]

If my cap looked like that after 2-3 cords I would be thinking long and hard about changing the way I am using my stove. Why wasn't the pipe clean when you installed it?

 

[begreen]

What stove was installed?
Tell us about the wood that is being burned. Was it bought? If not, what species and when was it split and stacked?

 

[GrumpyDad]

Context:

~30ft of flue on all double walls except for the heated space

Im curious about this statement. Because as far as I know, you cannot mix gauges or single to double or vice versa. The real experts here probably know if this should be a concern or not.

 

[yooperdave]

Holy crap, thats a lot of creosote there. 😲

 

[begreen]

Im curious about this statement. Because as far as I know, you cannot mix gauges or single to double or vice versa. The real experts here probably know if this should be a concern or not.

Single-wall stove pipe is permissible in the room envelope. After that it must be chimney pipe. The use of the term double-wall for chimney is common, but confusing.

~30ft of flue on all double walls except for the heated space

What is the length of single-wall stove pipe?

 

[Eman85]

What stove? If a non EPA that's not bad fo 2-3 full cords through it without cleaning. I've run my stove with no cat and had to clean often or it would look like that.

 

[GrumpyDad]

What stove? If a non EPA that's not bad fo 2-3 full cords through it without cleaning. I've run my stove with no cat and had to clean often or it would look like that.

Yikes!

 

[Eman85]

Yikes!

People have been burning wood for a long time before it became fashionable or the EPA and tax credits existed. If you burn a stove the old fashioned way you'll see black shiny creosote and slobber down the pipe. Of course it's not good and there are better ways through technology. Most old timers threw a large green split on the fire to get an overnight burn in old stoves.

 

[GrumpyDad]

People have been burning wood for a long time before it became fashionable or the EPA and tax credits existed. If you burn a stove the old fashioned way you'll see black shiny creosote and slobber down the pipe. Of course it's not good and there are better ways through technology. Most old timers threw a large green split on the fire to get an overnight burn in old stoves.

You forgot they used any sort of pipe and method to get the smoke out of the house. I've seen some interesting installs.

 

[kborndale]

What stove? If a non EPA that's not bad fo 2-3 full cords through it without cleaning. I've run my stove with no cat and had to clean often or it would look like that.

That certainly is not normal for a non EPA stove unless your running it with wood you split yesterday. With dry wood smoke dragons can burn without smoke.

 

[armanidog]

Another chimney cap with the large diamond mesh is also called for.

 

[begreen]

Another chimney cap with the large diamond mesh is also called for.

No need to replace the cap. The screen is removable. A new one with a larger mesh can then be added using the old one as a template. But that is not a substitute for cleaning up burning habits.

 

[kennyp2339]

John I'm not going to ride you on the past problem, but lets use your situation as a good example for newer burners.
Its important to make sure you have an ideal wood supply, the best is to buy a moisture meter, take a wood split, re-split it and test the fresh face (preferably at room temp) to ensure its dry enough to burn, ideally you want 20% moisture content or lower.
Invest in a true stove top thermometer, these can be bought at a hearth store or online (the big box store ones are usually meant for single wall flue pipe and not calibrated to rest on top of a wood stove) the stove top temp you want to operate at is between 450 deg f - 750 deg f on average.
Many folks that are first time burners become gun shy, and rightfully so, they have a metal box that is burning wood inside there safe home, this causes some people to look at the flames and think they are out of control or burning to hot, so they burn cold or they dont load enough wood and the burn time episode rarely reaches ideal sustainable cruising temps, hence the stove top thermometer, when you burn to cool the exhaust gases tend to be cooler and can cool down enough in the chimney to condense and form creosote, this gets amplified with higher wood moisture, since energy is used to turn the water in the wood to steam usually creosote first starts collecting at the cap and the first highest section of the chimney.
It is also recommended that if you have an inside flue run greater then 8ft, that you use double wall black pipe vs single wall black pipe, this again is because the single wall radiates heat and further cools the flue gasses, where double wall provides a bit more insulation keeping things warmer.
When I first started burning, I would check and clean my chimney 3 times a year, I used the chimney as my report card, as I got more comfortable with everything and ensured myself that my wood supply is as dry as possible I clean now only twice a season, but I still check my cap / mesh to see if its getting gunked up from time to time (that can happen to anyone once winter temps go near zero or below)