Chimney F ire Tonight - Lessons

[offroadaudio]

I loaded up my Hearthstone Shelburne with some cherry rounds on a small be of coals around 7:00.
It took awhile for things to light off, but once they did, the stovepipe started to crackle and the paint started to smoke.
The first floor was filled with a lot of smoke and the second floor started to fill with smoke as well.
I was pretty calm at this point, because I knew what was going on and I know my setup can handle it, but then I felt the drywall about 3 feet from the thimble and it was very hot. I immediately thought I had fire in the wall. BTW smoke detector in the room is going off this entire time. So, yelled up to my wife (she's in the tub) get the kids and dog and get out. Dialed 911 and had units here in 15 minutes - impressive, because we are off the beaten path. By the time they got here temps were going down. I had tucked a wet rag in the air intake of the stove. And the wall had cooled. We determined that the heat I that I felt that prompted the call was caused by radiant heat from the pipe in front of the wall - and not fire in the wall. The crew hung out for awhile, checked things with their IR camera, and left without putting any holes in the walls. Thanks to the weather 2 of their pumper trucks got stuck, and the township had to bring a large tractor to un-stick them.

LESSONS:

1. check stovepipe more often for buildup
2. IMPORTANT: tomorrow I'm going to go out and buy the smoke detectors that are wirelessly interconnected, because my wife did not hear the detector upstairs. We have others up there, but I don't know how much sooner we all would have been alerted if they all went off at the same time. I would encourage all to consider this if you're not interconnected right now.

Whew - I need a drink.....

 

[Occo370]

What was your stove temps

 

[begreen]

Glad that all is ok. What do you think is the reason for the creosote accumulation?

 

[offroadaudio]

Actually the stove top never went over 650 - it was all in the stove pipe.
I'm not sure why the accumulation? I burn hot. It might be because the chimney is not insulated. The terracotta is so small the we could not get the 5.5" liner down with the foil wrap insulation. I sometimes have to get the draft going by putting a hair dryer on it for awhile - this tells me it's a cold stack. Might have to break out the TC and re-install liner with a pour-in insulation. UHG - thought I was done.

 

[begreen]

That is puzzling. I ask because I know this year I am burning fir that is a bit above the "perfectly" dry MC. No choice, but I think I will visit the chimney cap when we get the next dry spell. The screen still looks ok though.

 

[firefighterjake]

Don't forget to send a thank you note to the crew . . . getting a thank you note is always appreciated . . . although we also like chocolate chip cookies.

 

[firefighterjake]

Another good reminder that it never hurts to check and clean your chimney/stove pipe more frequently rather than less frequently.

Of course the million dollar question is what your wife said to you after her bath was interrupted with the smoke alarms sounding, the house was filling up with smoke and all these strangers were traipsing in and out of the house . . . I know my wife would have a few choice words to say to me.

 

[BrotherBart]

+50 on the interconnected smoke detectors. I have them on each floor, in the garage and in the basement. I was in the garage the other day when they went off. Had I not had one there I would not have known anything was amiss. Turned out to be a dirty detector but still...

 

[woodchip]

I know my wife would have a few choice words to say to me.

Probably the main reason I keep an eye on the chimney, fear of a tongue lashing from mrs woodchip if we had the fire brigade turn up while she was in the bath.

I'd never hear the end of it from my mother in law either

 

[offroadaudio]

I stopped by the fire company this morning and thanked them personally, plus left a little donation. They all had a lot to talk about with the trucks being pulled out by big JD tractors!

My wife was up and out with the kids before the FD arrived - WE finished the bath latter...

I'll have some pictures of the aftermath soon - the fire, not the bath...

 

[offroadaudio]

Here are some pictures of what happened.

1. overall setup- after the stovepipe, the thimble goes into a tee with clean out. Then flex liner about 28' up inside a block chimney with 6" x 6" terracotta tiles. I'll check the seal of the clean out cap - what else should I look at in this area?

2. the stickers are still on the double wall pipe (DSP) - so maybe it didn't get all that hot? Anybody still have stickers on their DSP?

3. inside the stove pipe - I'll brush and clean each section, then inspect carefully - if I don't find cracks or warping, any concerns with continuing to use it?

4. more inside pipe - some discoloration and flakiness, but I'm feeling ok about it.

 

[offroadaudio]

And here is where most of the burning paint happened - at the connections between sections.
I don't think it got hot enough to affect the outside part of the pipe too much.
Still comments welcomed.

Thanks

 

[firefighterjake]

I stopped by the fire company this morning and thanked them personally, plus left a little donation. They all had a lot to talk about with the trucks being pulled out by big JD tractors!

My wife was up and out with the kids before the FD arrived - WE finished the bath latter...

I'll have some pictures of the aftermath soon - the fire, not the bath...

Made me chuckle . . .

Love the hearth's back . . . metal or the fake "metal"?

 

[offroadaudio]

Thanks - Very thin metal (tin?) - used for metal tile ceilings... and heat shields!

 

[offroadaudio]

Here are some pix of the thimble and "up the pipe".
I'm assuming the "up the pipe" shots don't look good? Let me know if this looks like a lot of build up to you.
I'm glad I took the time to re-frame that thimble area with steel studs and cement board. The CTC on that pipe is 2" - it has about 9" all the way around, plus a heat shield. No sign of discoloration or other over temp issues anywhere outside of the pipe itself.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Thanks - Very thin metal (tin?) - used for metal tile ceilings... and heat shields!

Wow, that is absolutely gorgeous. Where'd you get it? Does it have a backing of some kind, or is it just the tin ceiling panels by themselves? I'd love to do something like that but not sure how to go about it.

 

[offroadaudio]

Thank you - I found it online - maybe "American Tin Ceiling" or something like that. Google "tin ceiling tiles" I'm sure you'll find them.
They are glued to cement board - 1/2" durarock, which is screwed to hat channel that is mounted to the wall. The edges are "J" channel spray painted black.
Very easy and all off the shelf at HD - except the tiles.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Thank you - I found it online - maybe "American Tin Ceiling" or something like that. Google "tin ceiling tiles" I'm sure you'll find them.
They are glued to cement board - 1/2" durarock, which is screwed to hat channel that is mounted to the wall. The edges are "J" channel spray painted black.
Very easy and all off the shelf at HD - except the tiles.

Thanks very much! That's a very imaginative solution. It really looks super-nice.

 

[homebrewz]

That looks like kind of a long nearly horizontal run along with two 75 degree angles. That could explain the lazy draft.

That tin ceiling background came out really nice.

 

[offroadaudio]

Yeah, the elbows are not great - 1 90 and 2 45's - but I don't know how else to go about it. I could replace the 90 with 2 45's but that would be marginal improvement - if at all perceivable. I really think the masonry being out in the cold is keeping the SS liner cold and is then condensing the creosote. I really need to find a way to insulate the SS.

'FRank

 

[gyrfalcon]

Yeah, the elbows are not great - 1 90 and 2 45's - but I don't know how else to go about it. I could replace the 90 with 2 45's but that would be marginal improvement - if at all perceivable. I really think the masonry being out in the cold is keeping the SS liner cold and is then condensing the creosote. I really need to find a way to insulate the SS.

'FRank

Instead of fighting to figure out how to fix your existing chimney, have you considered putting in a new insulated SS chimney? I had to have one put in for placement reasons, and I'm SOO glad I did bypass the exiting outside masonry chimney. Mine goes straight up inside (double wall) about 6 feet, makes two 45-degree bends and comes out just at the eave, then a 90-degree and goes straight up from there according to whatever the specs are. It cost me some money because I'm definitely not up to that level of DYI, but I have friends (and there are lots of people here) who've done it themselves for far less than I paid to have it professionally done. I have terrific draft (never need to crack the door to start a fire even from a cold stove), just bordering on too much but not quite. I have zero creosote problems, just a couple handfuls every year, despite the fact that I've often had to resort to burning less than perfect wood.

 

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

extending that heat shield up to the horizontal pipe run might not be a bad idea.

 

[offroadaudio]

Sure, I considered the prefab route - and I'm a dealer for Copperfield, so I can get it cheap and do it myself, but this is a secondary system for me. My main heater is the Quad 4100 insert. I fire up the Hearthstone when temps get into the teens just to help things along, so not worth the expense to me right now. I'd rather take the money that would cost and use it for extra insulation - making the Quad even more effective.
Thanks for the thought though.

The stovepipe is about 10" from the sidewall - required is 6" - looks close in the photo.
But - you're right, it would have prevented my thinking the fire was IN the wall last night.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Sure, I considered the prefab route - and I'm a dealer for Copperfield, so I can get it cheap and do it myself, but this is a secondary system for me. My main heater is the Quad 4100 insert. I fire up the Hearthstone when temps get into the teens just to help things along, so not worth the expense to me right now. I'd rather take the money that would cost and use it for extra insulation - making the Quad even more effective.
Thanks for the thought though.

The stovepipe is about 10" from the sidewall - required is 6" - looks close in the photo.
But - you're right, it would have prevented my thinking the fire was IN the wall last night.

Hokay. Makes sense to me.