Chimney Fire

[mainemac]

I was alarmed to see my neighbors house lined with 4 Fire Dept Engines tonite.

He does not have a wood stove but uses wood for his fireplace.

It seems he had a ton of smoke, and a chimney fire was suspected. He put out the fire but smoke contiued to come out, so he played it safe and called our dept.
This after having a chimney fire last year. He tells me he had it cleaned, new liner put in and some cracks repaired costing him over $1000
He is a very careful man and tells me he is not burning wet wood only good dry seasoned hardwood (lots of oak up here)


My question is how often do you guys and gals see this as an issue?

Tom

 

[Hogwildz]

My belief is this,
Until one gets to know their wood condition, the stove itself, and learns minimal 1 or 2 seasons burning habits. The chimney/liner etc, should be checked minimal every other month.
Then once one has become one with their stove, and has an idea of how often if at all the inside gets creosote buildup, then adjust the inspections to the neeeded amounts during the season.
For me last year, I burned bad wood, but thats what I had. I cleaned it mid season after every other month inspection, and then pre season this year.
This year, I inspected & cleaned mid season (end of Jan I think it was I forget LOL) and had very minimal buildup. I could prolly get through the season with just the initial pre season cleaning.
But I do like an excuse to go on the roof once in a while. Plus I am burning good dry wood this year.

I could be wrong, but is seems to me, a fireplace with a large diameter liner, and uninsulated, is going to build up faster and thicker. Not sure much can be done.

 

[mainemac]

Thanks so much
Hopefully we are winding down here with the extreme cold and need to burn in next 1-2 months so will have the installation guy comeback and take a peek then.
Happy Spring

Tom

 

[Hogwildz]

Thanks so much
Hopefully we are winding down here with the extreme cold and need to burn in next 1-2 months so will have the installation guy comeback and take a peek then.
Happy Spring

Tom

Anytime.
If your not afraid of the roof, you can easily check yourself and save some cash. Depending on your setup cleaning is not hard.
But if your not comfy up there, do have someone check for ya. Better safe than sorry.
A hundred bucks or so is nothing compared to a hope, keepsakes and loved ones.

 

[johnnywarm]

I have a Question.

Can you have a Chimney fire in a Stainless steel Chimney that goes up outside of the house??

JW

 

[mtcox]

Chimney fires can happen with any type of chimney.

 

[colebrookman]

Think creosote. It usually takes low fires and wet wood to build up that fast. Many of our fires are from people new to wood burning who let the fires smolder which creates more creosote. Occasionally an old timer gets lazy and forgets to clean the chimney and if it's an older home with cracked tiles you can have a serious fire in the attic or contained in the walls. This is where thermal imaging cameras can save a house.

 

[billb3]

Why would one put a liner in a fireplace if there was no insert to use it ?

 

[johnnywarm]

Why would one put a liner in a fireplace if there was no insert to use it ?

Good Question

 

[bbc557ci]

Why would one put a liner in a fireplace if there was no insert to use it ?

Around here many people with a fireplace will end up putting a liner in their chimney, AFTER they have a chimney fire. Reason being, often a chimney fire will cause cracking of the clay flue tiles. Gracked/damaged clay tiles is an accident waiting to happen. It's generally less expensive to have a stainless steel liner installed than it is to replace damaged clay flue tiles, or rebuild the chimney.

 

[jbrown56]

Hi guys, Many, many years ago when the kids were small, we had a fire in the pipe inside the house. With the old stove, I had some horizontal pipe issues and would clean the pipe every six weeks. My wife loaded it up, opened the dampers and I guess she got distracted. She noticed the stove smelled hot and when she got to the stove, we had four feet of glowing red stovepipe. She shut the damper, called the fire dept., got the kids and went outside. By closing the damper, the fire went out and was fine when the firemen got here. Needless to say, I didn't have to clean the stovepipe that time. I decided to change the pipe because I wasn't sure if the pipe was structurally sound anymore. Thank goodness it has never happened again and with the new stove and liner, I now get very little creosote build up. Always inspect your chimneys at least twice a year.

Jim

 

[jbrown56]

Hi guys, Many, many years ago when the kids were small, we had a fire in the pipe inside the house. With the old stove, I had some horizontal pipe issues and would clean the pipe every six weeks. My wife loaded it up, opened the dampers and I guess she got distracted. She noticed the stove smelled hot and when she got to the stove, we had four feet of glowing red stovepipe. She shut the damper, called the fire dept., got the kids and went outside. By closing the damper, the fire went out and was fine when the firemen got here. Needless to say, I didn't have to clean the stovepipe that time. I decided to change the pipe because I wasn't sure if the pipe was structurally sound anymore. Thank goodness it has never happened again and with the new stove and liner, I now get very little creosote build up. Always inspect your chimneys at least twice a year.

Jim