CO problem with coal stove

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RPK1

RPK1

Member
Nov 24, 2008
57
Eastern CT
Our local fire department responded to call of possible CO in a house recently. The Fire Marshal who was on the scene shared this information with me.

There is a large coal stove in the basement properly vented to a masonry chimney with 6 inch chimney connector pipe. The owner had fabricated a plenum above the stove with duct work branching out to a few rooms. There was a fan installed in the system to help circulated the heat. There was working smoke detectors through out the house and a CO detector in the basement area near the coal stove. The CO detector had activated but it was to late, the occupants were already sick. They were rushed to the hospital and are doing fine now. Here is what happened. Somehow the 6 inch connector pipe was half full of soot. The fan system pulled the CO through out the house keeping the CO detector in the basement from sensing it. With a fan induced system like this more than one CO detector should be installed.

Not having much knowledge about coal stoves, how does the connector pipe get clogged up? I would have to assume that coal stoves need the same maintainence as wood stoves and if not burnt hot enough they will clog up.

Just a "heads up" if some one has a similar system out there.

RPK1
 
I burned coal for years and indeed you can get a good pile of fly ash collecting in a pipe.

Unusual to have enough to clog half a pipe though. I guess over several years it could do so.

It's this exact thing that is the reason why using ventilated ducting with solid fuel burning stoves is dangerous. I ain't sayin' it can't be done but ya better have your shiatt together when you design the system :bug:
 
it's not soot or creosote, but airborne ash - flyash that gets deposited in the horizontal sections of flue pipe. This is why even though coal produces no buildup on vertical sections of pipe or in your chimney that needs cleaning, you MUST still from time to time check for ash buildup in horizontal areas of flue pipe. More often with a stoker than in a hand-fired stove. Using negative pressure around any fuel burning heating appliance to distribute heated air to the living space is not a good idea. This is why every furnace burning solid fuel or otherwise is built with positive pressure around the outside of the heat exchanger; if there is a leak in the heat exchanger there will be little chance for CO to enter the living space.
 
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