The stove went cold... after a structure fire

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
N

Nater

Member
Jan 3, 2011
135
Southern Maine
My wood stove has not had a fire in it since last week when my workshop caught on fire. The cause has been undetermined, although most likely electrical, but it still makes me a little gun shy about burning in my wood stove. Anyone else have a major fire and still burning in a wood stove? Please ease my mind...


The full story:
We were sleeping when it started, luckily my neighbor was still up and saw it and ran over to wake us up. When I woke up, our bedroom was glowing bright orange. I had no idea what was going on until I looked out the window. The back side (furthest from the house, the front side is about 50 feet away) of my detached workshop was on fire. My wife went and grabbed my son and called 911. I grabbed some clothes, ran outside to move the cars, then ran to the neighbor's house (they have a 200 gallon propane tank on that side of their house) down wind to make sure they were awake. The FD starting arriving within a few minutes and my wife left with my son and went to her parents house. When all was said and done, there were 15 fire trucks from 7 towns reporting. They all did an excellent job, no damage to the house, not even melted siding. 2 hours after they arrived, they were gone, and so was my 1800 square foot workshop.

We have lived here for a little under 2 years, and when we bought the house, we were offered additional insurance on the workshop, which we declined (doh!). We still have a rider which covers us a little bit, but only about 20% of the value of the building. I do plan on rebuilding, probably not as big but at least something. I am planning on starting a thread in the DIY section covering the rebuild.
 

Attachments

  • 223321_1741821673088_1465097597_31627003_829019_n.jpg
    223321_1741821673088_1465097597_31627003_829019_n.jpg
    130.6 KB · Views: 902
  • 205568_1741823153125_1465097597_31627009_1778630_n.jpg
    205568_1741823153125_1465097597_31627009_1778630_n.jpg
    109.9 KB · Views: 924
  • IMG_0000.jpg
    IMG_0000.jpg
    45 KB · Views: 894
That sucks, after a friend went through a similar situation. I maxed out my insurance on my shop. To cover full replacement cost of anything in it plus the building. It was only like $50 dollars a year. After I watched them pro-rate all his stuff I said no way for me.
 
Man, I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your shop but extremely thankful to hear no one was hurt!
 
Sorry to hear about this . . . glad to hear the firefighters prevented any damage to the home though.

I can say that my father's outdoor wood boiler burned down his house . . . and a few years later he wanted to get another outdoor wood boiler . . . but my domineering mother put the kibosh on that plan.
 
We lost a house by fire and never determined what the cause was. Yes, for many years it made us nervous every fall when we started heating and still does to a certain extent. Having something like that happen will change you and you'll remember it for many, many moons.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
We lost a house by fire and never determined what the cause was. Yes, for many years it made us nervous every fall when we started heating and still does to a certain extent. Having something like that happen will change you and you'll remember it for many, many moons.
Click to expand...

I've often found that there are three groups of people in this world that are really aware of fire prevention and safety -- 1. People who have had a structure fire of their own, 2. Children who have grown up in a household where one or more of their parents had a structure fire and 3. Firefighters who have seen way too many structure fires. Many of the folks who have had structure fires tell me that fire makes them nervous and they are paranoid . . . I prefer to think they are just a lot more careful and realize just how fast fire can burn and how devastating it can be. . . .
 
Oh man, that's awful. I'm really glad to hear that no one was hurt. It's totally understandable that you would be shy around fire, but considering this was an electrical fire, have you turned off the electricity in the house? Probably not. If it is determined that the cause was faulty wiring, maybe have a qualified electrician check out the main panel for any anomalies or shortcuts taken for better peace of mind.
 
Sorry to hear of the fire, glad nobody was hurt and the damage was limited to the out building. I'm glad your mind has wandered a bit to think of the possible causes, to include the wood stove. In a place like that where there are so many different scenarios from chemicals to electrical, wood stove to fumes from fuel....could have been anything.
 
Unfortunately $hit happens however your home was spared.. A fire so close is certainly unnerving and it's good to hear nobody was hurt.. I would think about burning too but a fire can be caused by any heating source.. Make sure all is safe for peace of mind..

Good Luck,
Ray
 
Happy you and yours are ok Nater. But yeah Ive been through a rough fire and it was about 19 yrs ago due to some one elses shoddy wiring in an enclosed carport. I got burned up and lost most of my stuff and even though I had no renters ins they still paid for our belongings (prorated) because it was the renters fault. I now have more than enough renters ins btw. And it still haunts me today so I am always on my toes when burning, which I started only 4 yrs ago. It only gets safer in my home as far as wood burning is concerned. I had bad dreams for many years but its been a few for me now since I had one. Anything can happen at any time for any of us. I hope you get past it but it may take some time considering my experience. Just keep on keepin on man.
 
Nater, After 33 years in the fire service, and seeing a lot of destruction and heart ache, I can certainly understand. I have never had a fire in my home, and pray to God I never do. I have seen many people bounce back from it but some never do. I can tell you as much as I love burning wood, it is always in my mind. I am so careful it is annoying sometimes, but I just know how things can happen, and sometimes they do despite everything. So take your time and you will be able to burn again.....albeit, a little more cautious and a whole lot safer. Steve PS, glad you are ok.
 
Thanks everyone! I'm sure we will burn again, especially with fuel prices still rising, and just be extra cautious. We know the fire wasn't caused by any heating source, so that gives us a little reassurance. We are planning on getting a new wood stove this summer for extra piece of mind. And we are going to have our house wiring checked out as well.

I do have one possibility of what caused the fire but the inspector, insurance company, and the fire marshall are not really interested. I have read online about reports of the new smart meters causing fires in houses with old wiring, and we just had one installed about a month ago. I know the some of the wiring was old in the workshop because there was still a fuse panel in addition to the circuit breakers. I don't know if it was really the cause but would at least like someone to look into it. We also called the power company yesterday and they are coming today to remove the smart meter from the house, just in case.

Jake - Have you heard anything about this?
 
OMG, thankfully no one was hurt. I am truly sorry to hear of the loss. I know it took me many years to gather tools etc especially as interests changed. Good luck on the rebuild. Now you can make it better!
 
Nater said:
Thanks everyone! I'm sure we will burn again, especially with fuel prices still rising, and just be extra cautious. We know the fire wasn't caused by any heating source, so that gives us a little reassurance. We are planning on getting a new wood stove this summer for extra piece of mind. And we are going to have our house wiring checked out as well.

I do have one possibility of what caused the fire but the inspector, insurance company, and the fire marshall are not really interested. I have read online about reports of the new smart meters causing fires in houses with old wiring, and we just had one installed about a month ago. I know the some of the wiring was old in the workshop because there was still a fuse panel in addition to the circuit breakers. I don't know if it was really the cause but would at least like someone to look into it. We also called the power company yesterday and they are coming today to remove the smart meter from the house, just in case.

Jake - Have you heard anything about this?
Click to expand...

New one on me . . . but in fairness I haven't seen many of the CMP Smart Meters yet in my area . . . still have a Dumb Meter on my house.
 
We had a major house fire this winter. Electrical/undetermined. Get "replacement cost" insurance instead of market value. We had it and are lucky. No one was killed, lost most everything and are rebuilding. You can't have too many smoke alarms.
 
Man, that is awful Chettt. Sorry to hear this. I'm glad to hear there were no injuries and that you had replacement value insurance. Nothing is going to replace items of personal or sentimental value, but it is nice to have some help reducing the pain. Do you know how the fire started?
 
Chettt said:
We had a major house fire this winter. Electrical/undetermined. Get "replacement cost" insurance instead of market value. We had it and are lucky. No one was killed, lost most everything and are rebuilding. You can't have too many smoke alarms.
Click to expand...
Chett, First of all I am glad everyone is OK. That is the most important thing. However, think about a residential sprinkler system while you are rebuilding. It is true that smoke alarms save lives but sprinkler systems can save property. Just a fireman's thought. :smirk:
 
hi nater
what makes you think it was the meter? do you have any thing that we could read up on the meters? being a electrician i am very interested in this so called smart meter. can't believe that the inspectors have no idea but at the same time won't listen to you.
close minded instead of maybe learning something new.

frank
 
Chettt, sorry to hear it. I can't image having a house fire, the workshop was scary enough.

What is the difference between "replacement cost" insurance and market value? I think I might have something in between. They are giving us the depreciated value (50% value for most stuff) for our possessions and then if/when we replace it, we get the full value.

I don't know if it was the meter or not. It was installed about a month before the fire and was the only electrical change in probably 40 years. I didn't use the workshop that ofter and hadn't been out there in weeks. After remember that they put a smart meter on, I googled 'smart meter fires' and found out that there are a few reports all over the country. The other problem around here is that the sub-contractors that the power company hired to install them, have no electrical experience and only get about 1 week of training. On top of that, they are required to meet a quota of how many meters they install in a day. So you have unskilled people installing a non-UL Listed meter as fast as they can to meet their quota.

Another interesting thing we learned when they swapped us back to the old meter, the smart meter that was on the workshop is "missing". They wanted to run tests on it to see if they can find anything wrong with it. They can't seem to find it anywhere?!?!
 
Nater said:
Chettt, sorry to hear it. I can't image having a house fire, the workshop was scary enough.

What is the difference between "replacement cost" insurance and market value? I think I might have something in between. They are giving us the depreciated value (50% value for most stuff) for our possessions and then if/when we replace it, we get the full value.

I don't know if it was the meter or not. It was installed about a month before the fire and was the only electrical change in probably 40 years. I didn't use the workshop that ofter and hadn't been out there in weeks. After remember that they put a smart meter on, I googled 'smart meter fires' and found out that there are a few reports all over the country. The other problem around here is that the sub-contractors that the power company hired to install them, have no electrical experience and only get about 1 week of training. On top of that, they are required to meet a quota of how many meters they install in a day. So you have unskilled people installing a non-UL Listed meter as fast as they can to meet their quota.

Another interesting thing we learned when they swapped us back to the old meter, the smart meter that was on the workshop is "missing". They wanted to run tests on it to see if they can find anything wrong with it. They can't seem to find it anywhere?!?!
Click to expand...

I think I would be more concerned about untrained and unlicensed folks doing major electrical work in a fashion that almost encourages the cutting of corners to maximize profits . . . vs. being concerned over the actual meter itself . . . not that it is not the meter . . . just first I have heard of this being a potential issue here in Maine or even on the national scope.
 
The other problem around here is that the sub-contractors that the power company hired to install them, have no electrical experience and only get about 1 week of training. On top of that, they are required to meet a quota of how many meters they install in a day. So you have unskilled people installing a non-UL Listed meter as fast as they can to meet their quota.
Click to expand...
I'm with Jake. That sounds really fishy to me. I can't believe the meters are not UL or some third party approved. That is just unheard of in this day and age. The NEC requires all products to be listed and approved for their use, or the inspector can approve them. And there aren't any inspectors that I know that will go out on that limb, they require listed and approved by a recognized testing group, UL being the primary one.
 
tfdchief said:
The other problem around here is that the sub-contractors that the power company hired to install them, have no electrical experience and only get about 1 week of training. On top of that, they are required to meet a quota of how many meters they install in a day. So you have unskilled people installing a non-UL Listed meter as fast as they can to meet their quota.
Click to expand...
I'm with Jake. That sounds really fishy to me. I can't believe the meters are not UL or some third party approved. That is just unheard of in this day and age. The NEC requires all products to be listed and approved for their use, or the inspector can approve them. And there aren't any inspectors that I know that will go out on that limb, they require listed and approved by a recognized testing group, UL being the primary one.
Click to expand...

that is true, but the power company owns the meter and any experiance i've had between the inspector and the power company is that the power company has say over the inspector on service entrance side from the meter to the pole or transformer.
 
fbelec said:
tfdchief said:
The other problem around here is that the sub-contractors that the power company hired to install them, have no electrical experience and only get about 1 week of training. On top of that, they are required to meet a quota of how many meters they install in a day. So you have unskilled people installing a non-UL Listed meter as fast as they can to meet their quota.
Click to expand...
I'm with Jake. That sounds really fishy to me. I can't believe the meters are not UL or some third party approved. That is just unheard of in this day and age. The NEC requires all products to be listed and approved for their use, or the inspector can approve them. And there aren't any inspectors that I know that will go out on that limb, they require listed and approved by a recognized testing group, UL being the primary one.
Click to expand...

that is true, but the power company owns the meter and any experiance i've had between the inspector and the power company is that the power company has say over the inspector on service entrance side from the meter to the pole or transformer.
Click to expand...
I couldn't agree more. All I am saying is that even power companies usually adhere to the NEC, along with the their own utility standards and those imposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In this area AMEREN certainly does. So for a utility to allow non listed and certified equipment just sounds fishy to me. As an inspector, I would not approve a service entrance with non listed equipment, and if I don't approve it, AMEREN will not hook it up. Maybe different with other utilities.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S
Carbon monoxide issues and negative pressure
Replies
9
Views
969
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
Megunticook
Megunticook
andrew777
MA Inspector informed me, under no circumstances, will wood or pellet stove be permitted
Replies
40
Views
5K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
bholler
B
1
Air intake in back of open hearth
Replies
4
Views
407
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
1995Fireplace
1
Osuna
Potential chimney fire?
Replies
2
Views
926
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
bholler
B
ERP
Multiple chimney fires
Replies
39
Views
2K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
Trevor Tahclep
Trevor Tahclep
Top Bottom
Back