Expert: James Ball - 1/20/2011

Question
My friend had a wood burning stove that had not been cleaned out in over two years ( it is his only heat source ) and prior to that he had a new insert put in ( chimney liner). So I cleaned the chimney with a brush made for the chimney, and cleaned all the pipes and stove. All done. Well that night he had brown liqued leaking out of the pipes. Th e angle was off so we reajusted it and fine. the next night he had smoke coming out of the elbows of the pipes . what could be causing the smoke.

Answer
Hello Eric, when you cleaned the stove and pipes the creosote was sealing these elbow (they should be replaced if smoke is coming through) black liquid was 3rd stage creosote like a tar but when cool hard as a rock "glaze")  all pipe "male" ends of the pipe should face down or towards the stove did the pipes go back this way? 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, they should be able to help.
Hope this helps
James