Expert: James Ball - 1/5/2009

Question
A metal wood-burning stove produces bitter smelling smoke in the room
after it heats up. Connector from black stovepipe to flue outside is heavy
packed metal, but angle is visibly down from stovepipe to wall. Exterior metal
flue sections have brown stains. I know the connector angle must be up at
least 1/4' per foot of length. Is this backing up creosote smoke into the
house and is creosote the cause of the brown stains out on the flue?

Answer
Hello Chad, it is hard to tell what you have by what you describe but, I would have a local Certified Chimney Sweep (www.csia.org, there you can look up by zip code to find one near you) take a first hand look at what you have, it could be the pitch of the pipe, it might need a cleaning, it could be water coming down the chimney....
keep me posted
James