Expert: James Ball - 12/25/2011

Question
I have a new constructed (5 years old) ranch house with basement, very well insulated and tight. We just installed a new, large wood stove and had a flu added to the side of house by a very trusted builder. I've only burned a few times, for a couple days at a time. We are getting creosote running down basement wall where the pipe enters the block wall. This seems to be happening only during the first few hours after the fire is built. I believe the flu liner measures 9X13, which is much larger than the 6 inch pipe from the stove, into the 8 inch adapter into the wall. Am I looking at condensation? Is expensive insulated liner the answer?

Answer
Hello Scott, you can not "up size solid flue appliance" so you must maintain a 6" all the way to the top and that SS liner must be insulated a trusted chimney sweep would have told you that. 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
Happy Holidays

James