Question: When I came home from work this evening I noticed black specks in the snow beside the house where the wood stove flue is located. There was no fire in the stove today and there was some wind around 2 PM. This is the first time I've noticed these black specks. With all the cold weather lately I've been running the stove hot. The glass rarely needs cleaned. Any idea what the black specks could be from? Soot, creosote, ash?? I have a fire in the stove now and everything seems fine. Also, the black specks were not there this morning when I left for work.
Probably some soot blown out of the top of your chimney. If your burning dry wood and maintain your chimney then I wouldn't worry about. Good observation though.
Does your flue have any type of screening on it? If so there could have been a build up of soot chipping off in the wind?
I get that every once in a while. It's just a little fluff blowin' out the stack. If it makes you feel better, get up there and take a peek.
Thanks all. Very helpful. The wood is dry. In fact I just spot checked a few splits (I split the splits and checked the "new" surface) this past weekend and they varied from 10-15%. I went outside and examined some of these specks and it does seem like they are tiny little pieces of soot. And the cap does have a screen. The flue itself is a relatively new (10 months old, about three months of use) double-walled SS flue. Thanks again.
True! I've tried telling my wife it's the stove for months now. She never believes me. Says I must be burning awfully foul wood if that's the case.
I was wondering about snow fleas as well. I've seen them in February before. Here's a video of some snow fleas I took in December '13 http://vid3.photobucket.com/albums/y55/TrophyTracker/VID-20131204-00002_zpsbhdmg9c6.mp4
