Classic 6048 stovepipe cap

[boyno]

We had a CB 6048 installed 9/08.  Was running fine for a while, then seemed to burn slowly and cold. There was water on the bottom of the firebox, and the coals (very little ash) seemed to be damp.  We are burning a lot of green wood, and I was blaming it on this.  As the weather turned colder, it was harder and harder to get the *DanG thing up to temperature.  Finally, I thought a bit--the chimney cap installed was a triangular, with what looked to be a 4 inch opening.  Thinking that it didn't make much sense to reduce an 8 inch stovepipe down to 4, I knocked the cap off with a 1" X 6" (we have 3 sections of pipe).  I looked inside--the cap is a solid 4" pipe (the triangle is just for show), except now it was basically a 2" pipe because of the creosote buildup.

Result--boiler burns great, burns hot and burns down to fine ash.

My question, however, is who is the idiot who would think that this was a smart idea?  Looking at all the pictures of other boilers, I never see a cap--and the new State of Maine regs require that no cap be put on. 

This couldn't have been cheap--stainless steel--but it makes me wonder how good CB is when design and efficiency are concerned.

I'll try to get some photos soon.

[logwalker]

Makes me wonder why you had so much creosote. Joe

[Tom Sawyer]

The creosote would have been from the green wood that he was burning.  I have been burning a lot of green pine slabs and as a result get lots of creosote.

Tom

[boyno]

Sorry, guys--I forgot I threw this question out to this forum.  I'm also on the CB forum.

The creosote was from the green wood, but the rapid build-up of it was from the restricting chimney cap.  Since taking it off, the fire is burning hotter with hardly any creosote (or at least it gets burned up in the stack.  I guess what I'm looking for is anyone else who had a chimney cap as a standard installation on one of these boilers.  I think that it was a waste of money (the cap, not the boiler)