Expert: James Ball - 10/16/2011

Question
Hi,we have a 20 year old block chimney w/ orange clay flue(may be broken inside chimney) we've used a big Glacier Bay woodstove for seven years w/ no problem, now house fills with ash sometimes.  All gaskets are new & stove is in excellent shape.  We are on a mountain w/ WIND, there is no cap on chimney (it gets choulogged).  Ash in air seems worse w/ wind.  Could stove have pinhole?  No visible signs of where ash comes from.  Any thoughts would be appreciated, as we have a 1 year old in the house.

Answer
Hello Kim, you might need to do a "Smoke test" (plug the top of the chimney and use a smoke bomb) and see if the smoke comes out, you should really have a cap (with out screen) of with screen and more cleanings. 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