I just opened the insert to load it and the smoke from the new wood started to roll into the house. I closed the door and it went up the chimney. Opened the door slowly and got smoke into the house. Waited a few minutes and had the same results. I figured it had to be the wire mesh in the chimney cap plugged up and needed to be cleaned. Unfortunatley, I'm in GA and we're having some crazy weather. 3 1/2 inches of snow has fallen in the last 2 hours. I convinced my lovely wife to get dressed so that she could come outside and watch me. I figured if I slid off the roof she could either laugh at me or dial 911 if I impaled myself on a crape myrtle. Anyway I got out my extension ladder climbed up to the least steeply sloped portion of our roof. From there, I climbed to the peak and walked the peak to the adjoining more steep peek. I started walking it out to the chimney, but a slip sent me to my knees and I decided it was safer to get the rest of the way to the chimney on my knees. I made it to the chimney and sure enough, the wire mesh was coated and mostly plugged up. I pulled the cap off and cleaned it by running a screwdiver aound the wire, flexing it and breaking away the creosote. I took a quick peak down the chimney liner and it looked pretty good, so I put the cap back on. I crawled back across both peaks and then came the problem. Climbing up didn't seem too daunting, but sliding back down the roof to the ladder looked pretty scary. I started down and slid a little. I realized that if I got going that I'd never stop so I decided to just say the side of my leg down and push all the snow down ahead of me. I was pretty easily able to slide down like that and down the ladder was no problem. Back inside, I opened the insert door and no smoke. That was an easy fix, but I should have been more dilligent about checking it before the snow.
-Adrian
-Adrian