Leaking issue

[christys]

Hi- I am quite the green newbie. The home we bought several years back has a brick oven built into a room in the home. We have used maybe at maximum four times. We used on Christmas Eve for making pizzas. Oven was in use for several hours and is wood fired. Today- it is raining and the soot is coming down the vent shaft (not sure what proper name for this is). Is this normal? What can I do to help prevent? Should I call someone to inspect shaft- if so, who would be best to call. We didn't build home and I have no idea who built/installed wood fired oven.

Thank you for any guidance!!!

[Gulf]

For now, keep a pan in the entry to catch the drip. When the weather improves, and if it is possible to safely go on the roof, take some pictures of the top of the flue. We may be able to spot the problem with a pic taken from ground level. All that said, a wind blown rain will come down the flue even if a flue cap is installed. It’s best to keep a shallow pan in the entry when storms are predicted or any time the oven is not in use.

[christys]

thank you. I will post a pic tomorrow. The top of the flue (thx for naming it!) sits on a roof that I have a walk out patio area to access. It was not windy today- just dreary light rain all day. Which is why I am rather surprised as we have good storms (wind/etc) here in the northeast and I have not experienced this before. Maybe it was just proximity to use of oven to weather today. Thank you again!

[Gulf]

With no blowing rain, there is something different going on. The black soot coming down the flue makes me think that it coming straight down the inside of the flue. Maybe something to do with the flue cap. The pics should help a bunch.

[Gulf]

Looking at your location and the recent snow storms, I'm wondering if snow build up and melt may have been the problem?

[christys]

here are pics of flue from outside. I cannot get into flue to take direct picture down flue- have to stick my hand in and hold phone but risk dropping my phone/for a bad purely black pic... Not a snow issue. We have not had snow recently. occasional rain but haven't had any real snow accumulation.

thx!

[Gulf]

Thanks for the pics. That cap is designed to be placed over the male end of a metal flue pipe. It appears to me that your flue is made of round clay liner. The cap is being jury rigged to fit by inserting it inside the clay liner. It also appears to me in the pic that a lot of silicone or something similar was used to seal up some large voids to help prevent it from leaking. Your cap was made for a single walled flue pipe. It is similar to the one at the top left of the pic which I added. A better choice in this case would have been a cap like which is shown on the top right of the pic. It is for a double wall pipe. It would have covered the clay liner and been much easier to seal from water intrusion. A less expensive fix may be to install a storm collar under your existing cap. An example of a storm collar is at the bottom of the pic. The storm collar must be sealed with high temp silicone.

All that said: There is a central bolt that splines the outer and inner wind guards together. If it and/or the washers have corroded water can run down this bolt directly to the center of the flue. The top of this cap is fairly flat so water can pool there during rain which would make this a good possibility.

[christys]

Thank you for your response! Who is the best person to fix this or better yet how do I find a competent/ honest person to do this job? Any advice? I cannot, and my husband is not the right person for this sort of work. Thank you again!

[Gulf]

I wished that I could answer that question. May I ask who took the pics of the cap (especially the interior pic)?

[christys]

I took the pictures. I will look into local distributors of the ovens and go from there then. Your advice helps a lot as at least I can now say what the issue is and that it is fixed accordingly.

[Gulf]

.....I will look into local distributors of the ovens and go from there then...

.

Although this may help you find the perfect person for the job it may be limiting your search too much. This job is well within most any experienced handyman's ability. That said, your local building, home repair, or fireplace repair codes may limit who can legally do the job. The pictures you have already taken should help you in getting a free estimate. Please keep us updated.