Smoke?

So.... as I lit the stove this past week, I saw wisps of smoke where no smoke should be.  It was coming from between the brick facade behind the stove, and the wall itself.... and exiting at least two feet away from the stove, near a window.

Crap.  How the hell did smoke get THERE?

When I came home from work yesterday, the stove cold, I pulled the pipe and looked into the flue where it goes through the wall.

Cracked.

Damn.

That's an 8" flue pipe mounted as part of the chimney and extending into the laid brick facade behind the stove.  That will NOT be fun to replace.  So..... I'm not.  I'll seal it with furnace cement.

Except.... there is none available here today (Sunday).

Damn.

Okay..... never give up, and all that stuff.  I need a putty like sealing material to fill those cracks, which will take some heat.  At least, til I can get some real furnace cement.

Dialing the brain into 'search' mode in that vast storehouse of useless knowledge, the bell finally went DING! and a card popped out.

I've seen culinary techniques where dough was used to seal baking dishes, even on some dutch ovens going right into the coals..  Hmm....

Okay, lets give that a try.  Into the Kitchenaid went flour, salt, and water.  Set to 'Growl' for ten minutes, it gave me time to pull the pipe and scrub the surface near the cracks.

Since the mixer had drawn out all the gluten in the flour, I was rewarded with a ball of really tough putty-like material.  Spread into the pipe and shoved into the cracks, it stuck like glue... which it kind of is.

A few hours later, it having time to dry into a cement like material, I fired the stove with a small fire to 'bake' my sealer.   Now the stove is running full tilt, and no smoke leakage at all.

Tomorrow night I'll get the real stuff, but for tonight... we have a fire!