Last evening as the tornado whipped around our area, we actually heard the wind whistling into the livingroom like a tea kettle..It made the dogs go NUTS. The wind seemed to be coming from the area where the flue collar meets the main stovepipe,(not where the collar meets the ceiling). This is a small Intrepid woodstove about three years old. We were not using it at the time, and ordinarily it appears to be just fine..no smoke in the house, etc. and drafts well. First, was this because of the extraordinary weather and we should not worry about it or....should we "patch" the area, and if so, how to do this correctly? Thank you for any responses..we are new to woodstove heat and are a trifle leary of "not knowing". God bless

-- Lesley (martchas@gateway.net), December 17, 2000

Answers

Lesley: If its not smokey in the house and its drawing okay I'd say don't worry about it. Mine also really sings at times to. Interesting sounds huh? Boy I bet those tornatos are terrifying!! Could you actually see it?.....Kirk

-- Kirk Davis (kirkay@yahoo.com), December 17, 2000.

Lesley, With the storm cells that came through alot was due to it. I was monitoring the barometric pressures when that cell passed and there were very eratic variations as it was over us. Check for smoke seepage. The design of those pieces is such that it should be ok (flue pieces are fitted to utilize the draw to reduce back leakage). If you see seepage You may want to seal the joint with metalic tape or muffler leak patch.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 17, 2000.

My stove pipe will leak smoke sometimes. The pipe comming right out of the stove. The pipe goes straight, up, straight, and up into the ceiling and the triple wall pipe. We take it all the way down and clean it often, but sometimes it just comes out, even with the damper not too closed. And it wasn't windy either. I don't like it, it stinks. I put an aluminum can in there the other day, and then one each day and it seems to have quit. Don't have any idea why it smokes because we have a good draft, and it was just scrubbed clean and put back up. I read about the tape the other day here. But since we take it down and clean, wouldn't the tape be hard to deal with? Does it come off easy?

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), December 18, 2000.

thanks guys..nope, we couldn't see anything because it was very dark and i was huddled in an inside closet with my dogs! God bless.

-- lesley (martchas@gateway.net), December 18, 2000.

Actually I am just going through a similar problem. We had installed a quadra-fire wood burning insert 2 years ago. I was getting alot of black soot on top of my bookcases and lamp shades in that room but we blew it off as the dirt of wood burning. We recently replaced the stove which was insufficient with free standing stove and found that the whole black soot problem was related to the collar seal not being adequate. I suggest you fix it ASAP because toxic carcinogenic soot could be coming out into the room hence being breathed in by you and occupants of the home. There is a stove gasket sealant which is used like caulk you can get at fir place stove dealers. I suggest doing something about it.

-- e.bergdoll (peontoo@yahoo.com), December 24, 2000.