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Ice balls on roof near chimney?

daveinmass | Posted in General Discussion on December 8, 2018 07:05am

Hi. I looked up at my chimney today (25 F outside) and saw these ice balls by the chimney on the flashing. I’m new to the house this winter, and the chimney could be repointed and the chimney cap definitely is rusting a little. But I have no idea what this is. 

We have a 15 year old furnace (just serviced) and new hot water heater, if that helps. It hasn’t rained hear in a week 

Any help? Thanks in advance.

 

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Replies

  1. DanH | Dec 08, 2018 07:30pm | #1

    Difficult to tell, since the photo doesn't show the top of the chimney, but I suspect they were formed from water dripping off the cap.

    1. daveinmass | Dec 09, 2018 09:15am | #2

      Follow up

      Thanks for the help so far. 

      I’ve attached another pic of the whole chimney for reference. Colder this morning. 

      As noted, the furnace is gas and 15 years old. I had it serviced on Friday and the tech mentioned it has 85% efficiency. 

      Here are the temp numbers from his check (not sure what they are, but here is how they are listed):

      Flue F: 290.8

      INLT F: 55.7

      NETT F: 235.1

      Hope that helps. Again thanks for the assistance. 

      1. DanH | Dec 09, 2018 05:23pm | #3

        Looks like water is dripping off the cap to me.  This could be condensation from the furnace/WH exhaust gasses.  By itself it's not anything worrrisome, but if it hasn't happened before it bears keeping an eye on.

        1. daveinmass | Dec 09, 2018 05:39pm | #4

          Thanks Dan. I didn’t notice it last year, but we moved in with the snow and once the snow melted we really didn’t hit cold temps. I’ve got an appointment to get the chimney evaluated in the spring, but this has been a big help. 

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