Leaky Stovepipe in the Cabin was the visible Culprit of periodic Minor Floods on the Floor

The rusted out and corroded lower section of stovepipe – and the coffee can that didn’t always work to catch those damn drips!

A leaky stovepipe in the cabin was the visible culprit of periodic minor floods on the floor this season…and last season…and even the season before that.

Until being present and accounted for onsite for a change during the frequent rains which washed over my mountaintop this year to witness it actually occurring, it seemed I was always absent on days off for the previous inundations of water which greeted me upon my return in previous seasons.

Don’t get me wrong here – it wasn’t that I didn’t get it figured out quick as to source. I spotted the origin of the leak the first time I had to clean up the mess three years ago, but the fixing of it never seemed to get shoved high enough up the maintenance priority list for it to actually happen.

Even an empty coffee can strategically placed beneath the drip sites didn’t always catch them all – witness the picture of it for yourself – so the air would invariably turn a couple of extra shades of blue for a bit as I went through the cleanup process – again!

Until this year, that is. It seems my current more urgently worded “request” finally reached the right ears.

When the maintenance fellas showed up this year to kick-start my water system they’d also brought along a new piece of pipe to replace the old rusty corroded section at the back of the wood stove. This one actually was correctly sized too and now forms the right kind of seal between the stove and stovepipe, leading to less likelihood of CO2 leaks.

While the stovepipe was the conduit for the water to flood the floor, and that section of rusty pipe definitely did need replacing, it wasn’t the actual source of the leak itself. The credit for that belonged to a faulty roof flashing surrounding the stovepipe up on the roof. Generous portions of sealant applied to the flashing quickly corrected the root cause, and subsequent rains have already proven the job was well done.

No more floor floods. No more annoying Chinese water torture drips into the coffee can either.

Peace and tranquility reigns once more. That’s the kind of reigns I like best – not that other stuff spelled r-a-i-n-s which resulted in those periodic floods.

Actually, now that the fix is in those other rains can come along and drench the place all they want.

A leaky stovepipe in the cabin was the visible culprit of periodic minor floods on the floor for a few years, but it’s finally fixed.