Hi All...new to this forum but not new to wood burning. Replaced my old smoke dragon with a Pleasant Hearth non-cat stove this season after 30 years of feeding the old stove a constant supply of wood. Anyways, just noticed today the top section of my chimney is quite discoloured. Never been an issue before. Always clean it regularly and know my wood to be well seasoned. Will get up on the roof tomorrow to have a look but thought I would ask if this is normal with a modern stove. Never had this issue with the old stove & been burning the new one since Oct.
Nice to meet you Happy Stacker . Great post. Here is mine. I wonder the same thing. The pro's will be here soon.
Welcome to the Hoard. Looks normal to me. Not sure why you didn’t have it before. Are you getting clean smoke free burns with the new stove (after the load is burning good)? You may want to check your chimney for creosote just in case. There’s certainly a learning curve with a new stove.
Welcome to FHC Happy Stacker We have block and flue tile chimney, so no help I’m sorry to say... I wondered same as fox9988, but you said you keep your pipe clean, so I’m not sure, either.... If smoke occasionally makes a down turn from time to time, maybe the cause? Spitballin’ of course...
I have an insulated stainless liner in a clay liner so I can't help with personal experience but just a thought since you said you did not get it before. Maybe you were putting more heat up the chimney with the old stove, where now the secondary burn tubes are keeping the heat in the stove longer and in essence the top of the chimney is cooler. The only light powder I have in my liner is close to the top while the rest of the liner is clean.
I always get a gross looking chimney, earlier in the season from cold starts, and deep in winter from crazy winds causing icicles to form. The inside of my chimney is always very good, with the exception of the top 2 inches. Rain will wash it away most likely. I wonder if the brick chimney there doesn't cause a disturbance of sorts, causing a lower pressure area between the two stacks, letting the smoke drop and swirl?
Not sure what you have going on, but your dark area has a very clear and straight line roughly 12" down and then becomes the bright stainless finish beyond that. Makes me suspicious that it may have something to do with the pipe/stainless/insulation they used on that last section of pipe and most likely nothing to do with some blowback from the wood burning. The line is too straight from dark to shiny? Lots of grades of stainless and galvanized out there... That line is too distinct for me to believe has anything to do with woodburning... Just my 2 cents... That metal/insulation in that last section is different some how from the rest.
Solid theory! Upon closer inspection, that well-defined line appears to be the support rod bracket/band.
Looks normal to me. I have a flex insulated liner through a clay liner and my cap looks like that. Been going 12 yrs strong
Took a pic from the other side. Still have to get up on the roof, but I am thinking now it just might be smoke/soot. Thanks all for putting my mind at ease that it was not something abnormal.
Welcome to the forum Happy Stacker Put your mind at ease as that should be nothing to be concerned about.
Looks like you have the SAME ICC/Excel chimney I do! Very good Canadian spec stuff!! I have the optional screen though to keep out bats/birds. I've got a little story about this. When I first got my chimney installed the very top looked like this. Same as yours but with the screen: I burned it for a couple of years and it remained CLEAN as a whistle. When the exhaust exited it went straight up or out to the sides if the wind was blowing. Here it is in action on a cold day, what you are seeing is pretty much water vapor. Whatever very minor discoloration there was near the very top would quickly disappear during summer from the rains. Then I ran across an optional -"STORM/WIND SHIELD"- on ICC/Excel's website and thought it would be nice to have the sides protected in case we get and crazy sideways winds or something. I had that installed before last winters heating season. After installation, I immediately started noticing the exhaust was no longer going up but now it was going down under and around the newly installed shield and also around the pipe at the very top. Then I started noticing the discoloration from the changed routing of the exhaust. The photo below shows what I am referring to. I just went outside and snapped a photo of it. Now, like mentioned above, give it some time over the summer months and the rain will wash it clean. It just sucks in my case because I have a very clean burning furnace and by simply adding a piece which changed the routing of the exhaust it now looks as if I am burning dirty. If I ever have a chance, I think I'm going to remove that piece. Although I think it does help smooth out the draft some in windy conditions, so I may just leave it. I just wish the exhaust would go UP like it used to before it was added.
Yes the nice thing about the ICC/Excel chimney is that it exceeds the US safety specs 3x over. US rating requires a chimney to survive a fire for 10 mins 3 times. The ICC/Ecel is rated for 30 mins 3 times. I can't put a price on this massive safety feature compared to US chimney manufacturers.
