"Jon" wrote in message
...
Hi...for those of you who burn wood for heat. I have a wood stove with a
stainless steel chimney.

I have had a problem over the last week that the chimney cap on the bottom
has fallen off and therefore messed up the draft, causing smoke to enter
my
house. No I did notice that alot of creoset (sp) had fallenon the cap and
I
think that caused it to fall off.

Two questions.

1. Should I be removing the cap every couple of days and knocking out the
stuff? I am going to be cleaning the chimney in the next couple of days.

2. Should the cap be falling off at all? Is there way of securing that on
so it doesn't fall. I recently bought the house (~6 mths ago), and the
chimeny has been in the house for a while 10years. Is there newer method
of securing that now?

Thanks
Jonathan



I don't have a lot of experience with metal chimneys. Friction fit is all I
have seen. Sounds like it worked as designed since it called a major
problem to your attention.

Chimneys that service a wood stove should be cleaned at least once per year.
Slow smoky fires may require more.

Chimney fires are a lot like a rocket taking off inside your home. I suggest
you clean the thing before you burn again. And then either burn a hot fire
20 minutes per day or check it monthly.

Best wishes.

Colbyt