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Ed Kennell

Chimney Fire

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The Tuul Crib
2 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

No, I didn't have one.         Just wanted to get the attention of all you wood burners with indoor stoves.     I took advantage of the warm temps Sat and Sun and left my stove cool down so I could get everything clean before the big freeze this morning.       I could tell with the reduction in the draft that mine was due for a good cleaning.  Most of my build up is in the 8"  pipe between the stove and chimney.

 

               Be safe.....keep em clean.

:text-yeahthat:

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Mows4three

Good suggestion Ed.   I'm fortunate in that we've never had one but my BIL has had two.   He burns top quality two or three year old dry hardwoods and keeps a hot fire going in his stove but the fire company has been out twice to extinguish chimney fires.  After the first one I think he had to have a stainless liner installed due to the integrity of his flue liners being compromised by the fire and the water to put it out.   The water cracked the hot tiles.  

 

Cheers!

 

Dave

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roadapples

Many years ago when I started burning wood, my dad told me to open the vent once a day for 3 or 4 minutes and let it roar. This never allowed enough buildup for a chimney fire.. Of course you need to start with a clean chimney....

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wallfish

LoL, I love all of your disclaimers Ed. Catch'm before we do huh?:ychain:

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WHX??

#1 cause of house fires in America so the insurance companies say.

I burn mine fairly hot so not usually a problem. Burning seasoned wood will help but any wood will still accumulate creosote. Especially with well insulated structures and low fires. 

There was a old coot down the road who used call the RFD once or twice a winter saying he had a chimney fire. So we'd run out ther to find no fire.  "Well as long as your out here might as well clean if for me" he'd say! We did but he always had beer and  sammies for us! Got to be somewhat of a tradition 'till he passed. Ahh the good old days! :)

I still build 3 or 4 chimneys a year for folks but it's all class A done right. Back in the old days I'd do 15 to 20 but again insurance bs put an end to that line of work for me. They don't like my price too bad. I tell them I got a tractor habit to support!

 

Most times I will do class A right to the stove that's why it gets pricey but it is the best way. No chimney connectors as that where things get dicey.

Masonry units are a thing of the past and will never hold up to a decent fire. I seldom touch them but if I do I offer a free first year cleaning built into the cost. 

We won't clean the connector, just rip them out and replace with all new. I got a warehouse full of smoke pipe.  Yours would be an easy one Ed ...short and sweet!:lol: 

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bc.gold

When we lived in BC we had a wood heater that I used to place a nice river worn piece of soapstone onto the just before bed would wrap the stone inside a heavy towel to place near my feet under the blankets.

 

Soapstone has an incredible ability of retaining heat for long periods of time, the stone would still be luke warm in the morning, really expensive wood heaters used in some remote lodges are made entirely from soapstone.

 

soap1.jpg

 

soap2.jpg

 

rocks.png

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pfrederi

The germans had some incredible sopa stone stove ...massive.

 

 

If yo want to reduce chimney problems burn Anthracite....:P  Biggest problem after 18 year some corrosion at the end oft the triple wall stainless flue...

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aghead

My little shack is VERY insulated so I have to burn a low fire. Usually once in evening, once in morning now I'll open ash door and let it crank hot for several minutes to burn out  some buildup.

Last year My wood was only 1 yr seasoned and was building up bad. I read to burn TSP (tri sodium phosphate) to reduce creosote. I'd put 3/4 cup (powder) in a baggie and put it right in the coals. This spring I had several bushes and 3 trees dead or shriveling like they been round-up on them. They all were close to my stove pipe end of house. IDK if TSP killed 'em?

I haven't burned any TSP this year.

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dcrage
10 minutes ago, aghead said:

several bushes and 3 trees dead or shriveling like they been round-up on them

 

Actually Roundup would have a tough time killing trees or bushes. The commercial formulations can’t get thru the wax layer on tree leaves. I have no idea what combustion products of TSP would do to dormat vegetation. Also, I think TSP is hard to buy now days. 

Edited by dcrage
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aghead
10 minutes ago, dcrage said:

 

Actually Roundup would have a tough time killing trees or bushes. The commercial formulations can’t get thru the wax layer on tree leaves. I have no idea what combustion products of TSP would do to format vegetation. I think TSP is hard to find now days. 

The bushes didn't even leaf out. The trees up to 6" at breast height tried but leaves were whitherd and twistd up, like strong forestry herbicide (Spike, Garlon, etc) hit them. Some even leafed out suckers from trunk  breast height +. I had State Forestry Dept come look, they were stumped. Maybe the Phosphate gas over fertilized them, if possible? (my thoughts)

No more vegetation affected anywhere on property, so I ruled out Forestry spraying. 

I got TSP at Ho Depot

Edited by aghead
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bc.gold
35 minutes ago, aghead said:

My little shack is VERY insulated so I have to burn a low fire. Usually once in evening, once in morning now I'll open ash door and let it crank hot for several minutes to burn out  some buildup.

Last year My wood was only 1 yr seasoned and was building up bad. I read to burn TSP (tri sodium phosphate) to reduce creosote. I'd put 3/4 cup (powder) in a baggie and put it right in the coals. This spring I had several bushes and 3 trees dead or shriveling like they been round-up on them. They all were close to my stove pipe end of house. IDK if TSP killed 'em?

I haven't burned any TSP this year.

 

Incomplete combustion is how wood gas is produced, there have been many wood heater explosions documented. The explosion takes place when the heater door is opened to add more fuel allowing an inrush of oxygen. The combination of hot coals, wood gas and oxygen can ruin your day.

 

I sure that many of you that burn wood have heard the huff huff and the puff of smoke from your wood burning appliance.

 

Explosion caught on security camera.

 

 

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aghead
1 hour ago, WHX21 said:

 

Correct, that is what my investigations proved...yet at a much lesser cost to me. I do not know if it helped my flue...nor if it negatively  affected my trees/shrubbs.

I can not rule out its effect on them. Nothing else was out of the ordinary of last few years. I used no herbicide...absolutely nothing to get the trees!

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