Hearth Stone Just Blew Up

If you are going to get an insurance claim or warrantee claim, or both; get pictures.
write a log of events, date s times etc.
Just FYI, helps allot, days & weeks, months from now.

cptoneleg said:

The first of your signature made the stove blow up, tht kind of stuff is not allowed.

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+1

I'm just glad your house didn't burn down.

"Obama is the man" ?

Does that mean you expect the taxpayer to fix your stove?

gerry100 said:

"Obama is the man" ?

Does that mean you expect the taxpayer to fix your stove?

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:lol: :lol:

I remember a while back someone here posted about "booby trapping" his firewood because a neighbor was taking it... seems to me it was something like boring a hole and adding an accelerant and then filling the hole..

Just sayin'

LOL.

Dakotas Dad said:

I remember a while back someone here posted about "booby trapping" his firewood because a neighbor was taking it... seems to me it was something like boring a hole and adding an accelerant and then filling the hole..

Just sayin'

LOL.

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That's what I was thinking. Have you been steeling wood?

Seriously, that is kinda scary. Was there anything unusual about the wood? Was it very wet? Some kind of steam explosion?

I to was thinking there was something else other than wood involved to cause an explosion. That said has anyone else every had anything like this happen?

This is an interesting and timely thread.

My Keystone, when dialed down to a smolder only cat burn will ignite gasses for some secondaries and they last for a few seconds, die out and then suddenly reappear. Last night, with a smolder burn, the stove would ignite the secondary gasses, only during this burn, they would almost explode onto the scene and we could hear a little squeak (for lack of a better word). What we were hearing was the rapid expansion gasses and the squeak was probaby air being squeezed out the firebox door or some otherwise tightish place.

Late morning today, I rekindled the fire, got the firebox burning, but a lot of smoke in it and up the chimney on relight. I had the door open getting ready to put in another piece of wood and woosh! I got a back puff that put the flames out! Nothing violent, just enough to flash and blow out the fire for a minute.

Bill

I've seen some powerful back puffing but never anything like that. My first thought was perhaps something was in the wood.

ckd,
I've read the posts.
You said that you left the door open for 2-4 minutes
closed it and a short bit later this happened.
I've had this bang on me a couple of times until i figured out what it was.
Did you have flames going after the 4 minutes when you closed the door ?
That point of ignition can be a bit violent. I have been leaving the door open
until ignition or doing a full cold lite. Seems that once you have the flames
this bang does not occur, at least thats what is happening with my stove.
good luck with this
rn

BrotherBart said:

Or he has found that BIC lighter that he couldn't find after he loaded the stove. :ahhh:

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Darn Drunks, glad I quit smoking :lol: and leaving my bicks

Bill, I get secondary burns starting with a "wh00sh." No squeak, but I do have a whistling gurgle at the air intake when the draft is set low and "in the zone." My guess is that excess pressure would escape out of the intake before it would squeak by a gasket. . .

CK, glad you're okay , and I hope Hearthstone takes care of it for you.

A "flash over" or "back draft" explosion usually occurs when there is inadequate venting above the fire to release the trapped super heated combustible gases... a structure fire needs to be vented above the fire before entry is made on the same level of the fire or below the fire to extinguish it...that's why you see firemen cutting a big hole in the roof...to vent those hot combustible gases...if entry is made before the proper venting above the fire the gases can flash or even explode with quite a force...I've seen many windows blown completely out due to this force...maybe there was a temporary venting problem in the flue when the door was shut and the accumulated heated gases ignited creating a small explosion of those gases...it takes very little pressure to blow out a tight structure or a soapstone stove...I've seen it happen even when the ventilation is done the proper way...It gets exciting for the guys on the hose lines when that flash over occurs and the flame rolls across the ceiling toward them!...it gets very hot very quickly!...Fire is not always an exact science...We use to say "every fire is different"...temps, fuel, air supply mix in many ways to create different chemical reactions...I think that's what makes fire so interesting to many people...That's my guess...

Check out the brick chimney...

http://youtu.be/aTQWNCeCBvQ

I had a bad backpuff in my old Fireview once that lifted the top up a bit and spewed some smoke. It was probably my fault since I was burning real hot then shut her down too far, too fast and snuffed out the flames. I can see where it would scare the crap out of you.

I have never had it happen, yet. I have done all the things said here that may cause it. Sounds like you need a few conditions just the right to cause it. What I do, when reloading, I leave the side loading door cracked open until the new wood burns. This helps the the process get moving faster, draft, air, etc.

Here's the easiest way for it to happen.

Those folks are having fun......

A barometric damper, if not already mentioned, may help avoid wood gas explosions. It's worth a try!

You got any pictures of the un-build?
Chimney cap still there?