Flue fire season begins

[PerryBurton]

Just a shout out to all who be burning wood this coming winter. Burn seasoned wood. It's not a debatable topic. Green wood does not burn better simple as that. In fact it can be dangerous or fatal to burn green wood. Sound alarmist, perhaps. But flue fires resulting from the incomplete combustion of wood is expensive, dangerous and unnecessary. Stainless lined chimneys have strength capacity built into to them to meet or exceed code to handle several flue fires. But why risk it? Clay lined in mortar brick are another story. Many within this forum can attest to the dangers of a flue fire in a clay lined chimney.
Simply put, burned seasoned wood.
If your wood is not seasoned, or its a new stove, or the whole burning thing is new to you, just do a quick look up or down your chimney every week or so to gauge how much creosote is building up. If you can get access to chimney from bottom on a sunny day, a mirror on a stick will let you see whats going on in there. Over time you can stretch out the inspection frequency as the buildup dictates.

Have a safe happy and cozy burn season folks.

Perry
"flu" "flue" brain fart

 

[blujacket]

Flu fires are bad, flue fires are even worse. :lol:

 

[firefighterjake]

Flu fires are bad, flue fires are even worse. :lol:

I do believe you are correct . . . in fact my good friend Joe had the flu yesterday and a fire going . . . guess that's a "flu fire" . . . although he may have just had a cold and a fire going . . . in which case that would be a "cold fire", right?

 

[red oak]

Just a shout out to all who be burning wood this coming winter. Burn seasoned wood. It's not a debatable topic. Green wood does not burn better simple as that. In fact it can be dangerous or fatal to burn green wood. Sound alarmist, perhaps. But flu fires resulting from the incomplete combustion of wood is expensive, dangerous and unnecessary. Stainless lined chimneys have strength capacity built into to them to meet or exceed code to handle several flu fires. But why risk it? Clay lined in mortar brick are another story. Many within this forum can attest to the dangers of a flu fire in a clay lined chimney.
Simply put, burned seasoned wood.
If your wood is not seasoned, or its a new stove, or the whole burning thing is new to you, just do a quick look up or down your chimney every week or so to gauge how much creosote is building up. If you can get access to chimney from bottom on a sunny day, a mirror on a stick will let you see whats going on in there. Over time you can stretch out the inspection frequency as the buildup dictates.

Have a safe happy and cozy burn season folks.

Perry

I inspect my chimney with a mirror once a week during the burning season. I also look at my stove pipe. It takes less than 5 minutes. I have NEVER found a problem in 11 years but doing so gives me peace of mind.

 

[weatherguy]

When I read the heading and started reading I thought you were gonna tell us burning green wood causes the flu. It may make your flu feel worse.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

I can see being cautious but once a week seems extreme, I could not see removing my baffles that often, they are a pain to get back in place. I clean once a year and get maybe a coffee can worth of stuff. New burners may want to check once a month in my opinon.

 

[Joey]

Good post...always safety first....

 

[jpl1nh]

Flu fires are bad, flue fires are even worse. :lol:

I do believe you are correct . . . in fact my good friend Joe had the flu yesterday and a fire going . . . guess that's a "flu fire" . . . although he may have just had a cold and a fire going . . . in which case that would be a "cold fire", right?

Never burn a cold fire cause then you get the creolesotes. ;-P

 

[Swedishchef]

Good post...always safety first....

If you don't believe firefighter jake, believe the Cool Aid man! I love that guy!

Andrew

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Just a shout out to all who be burning wood this coming winter. Burn seasoned wood. It's not a debatable topic. Green wood does not burn better simple as that. In fact it can be dangerous or fatal to burn green wood. Sound alarmist, perhaps. But flue fires resulting from the incomplete combustion of wood is expensive, dangerous and unnecessary. Stainless lined chimneys have strength capacity built into to them to meet or exceed code to handle several flue fires. But why risk it? Clay lined in mortar brick are another story. Many within this forum can attest to the dangers of a flue fire in a clay lined chimney.
Simply put, burned seasoned wood.
If your wood is not seasoned, or its a new stove, or the whole burning thing is new to you, just do a quick look up or down your chimney every week or so to gauge how much creosote is building up. If you can get access to chimney from bottom on a sunny day, a mirror on a stick will let you see whats going on in there. Over time you can stretch out the inspection frequency as the buildup dictates.

Have a safe happy and cozy burn season folks.

Perry
"flu" "flue" brain fart

Excellent post even if your spelling is off occasionally. Chimney fires are always scary. Well, at least to most folks they are and should be to all.