Blow Back Help wanted

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tpmallofus

New Member
Jan 9, 2010
13
Northern Ireland
After adding a bed of wood chips and a few logs, opening the air to max my stove experienced a 'blow back' where by it seemed to 'explode' in the firebox, smoke and some ash came out, but was otherwise apparently OK. I immediately opened the door a crack and allowed ventilation that way until the fire was underway. I have been careful subsequently to ensure the air intake is not 'suffocated' by wood chips (which I otherwise find an excellent fuel and excellent use of smaller tree limbs). What exactly caused the problem, and how can I avoid it in future?
 
If you put down a layer of wood chips on hot coals and it ignites all at once I can picture some blow back.
 
Moving this out of the Wood Shed into the Hearth Room. What kind of stove are you burning? Rick
 
Adding the fresh fuel (chips & logs) over the top of a hot coal bed with the air shut down & door closed allowed the new fuel to get hot and off-gas flammable vapor without igniting (no flame, too little Oxygen)...but it was ready to burn, for sure. As soon as you opened up the air supply, a firebox full of flammable vapors took off in a flash with the sudden introduction of Oxygen. In the future, open the primary air completely prior to adding fuel, then throttle back the air as the fire takes hold of the new load. Welcome to the forums! Rick
 
That's what the movie "Backdraft " was all about. Be safe
Ed
 
Rick nailed it. What you had was an actual explosion. Fortunately I've never heard of any doing damage but you probably for sure got some smoke in the house.
 
Phew,

Thanks for the advice guys, I get jumpy whenever something I cannot immediately explain goes wrong with the stove (close calls with chimney fires in the past). However every bit of knowledge, even if learnt with adversity makes for a safer, and better future.

Changing the subject slightly, should I be in another forum? I am looking at mechanical splitters for the honorary wood in Ireland and came across this this unit on YouTube, it looks simple and effective, and whats more works off little grey tractors which we have a fondness for in this part of the world; thanks to a certain Mr. Ferguson. Any comments?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Rypb1dcUE
 
Terence said:
...Changing the subject slightly, should I be in another forum? I am looking at mechanical splitters for the honorary wood in Ireland and came across this this unit on YouTube, it looks simple and effective, and whats more works off little grey tractors which we have a fondness for in this part of the world; thanks to a certain Mr. Ferguson. Any comments?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Rypb1dcUE

Terence, you'll do better posting this topic in The Gear forum, where splitters are a constant topic of conversation. Just open up a new thread over there. Rick
 
Yes, post tools and splitter questions in The Gear forum. We have this cone type splitter here as well, though not so humorously name (HyCrack) :coolcheese: . There are some risks involved with this that should be explored there.
 
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