Ok, so I got back home to my new condo (see "I'm finally a indoor woodburner" thread) tonight & decided to start a fire in the fireplace. I put a few good sized logs on the fire after it got going, & also, I decided to take a reccomendation I got from my other thread to rotate the flue damper closed a bit to give the hot air a bit more time in the firebox. Then, I dicided to go upstairs to my room & do some organizing. Then all of the sudden I hear what sound like maybe glass breaking, so I go out & look down & see that one of the panels on the glass doors completely shattered & blown apart. I run downstairs to get a closer look, & right about then, flames & smoke start coming out the hole where the glass used to be- making the smoke detectors go crazy- the flames were huge & reached almost to the mantel. I quicky looked around for a fire extinguisher, none to be found, so I quickly grab several 44-oz cups of water from the kitchen sink & extinguished the fire.
It was kinda a bit of a scary experience, & while I am a bit bummed that my fire was cut short tonight, I'm just thankful that the condo didn't burn down or even sustain any damage other than broken fireplace doors (which are replaceable), & a few soot marks on the carpet (might be able to get those out with one of those shampoo vacuums).
So, now that the whole situation is over with, I want to know, what the heck did I do wrong?
Did I put too much wood in the fireplace?
Should I have left the flue damper 100% open instead of taking the suggestion from the other thread to use it to choke down the draft?
Should I have not cleaned the doors earlier in the day with fireplace/stove glass cleaner?
Should I have not went off to another room, & instead sit & babysat the fireplace?
Should I have left the doors open instead of closing them?
All of the above?
None of the above- just a freak accident?
It was kinda a bit of a scary experience, & while I am a bit bummed that my fire was cut short tonight, I'm just thankful that the condo didn't burn down or even sustain any damage other than broken fireplace doors (which are replaceable), & a few soot marks on the carpet (might be able to get those out with one of those shampoo vacuums).
So, now that the whole situation is over with, I want to know, what the heck did I do wrong?
Did I put too much wood in the fireplace?
Should I have left the flue damper 100% open instead of taking the suggestion from the other thread to use it to choke down the draft?
Should I have not cleaned the doors earlier in the day with fireplace/stove glass cleaner?
Should I have not went off to another room, & instead sit & babysat the fireplace?
Should I have left the doors open instead of closing them?
All of the above?
None of the above- just a freak accident?