I came home from out of town Sat.afternoon and was talking with my wife, and she started explaining to me how she was coming home Friday night at dusk and noticed a mass of sparks, black smoke accompanied by an occasional flame coming from the neighbors chimney about 300 yards off thru the woods. I asked her, was she sure, it just wasn't a couple of rouge sparks or something, she said, no, it was alot of sparks, some flame and heavy black smoke and it was shooting up, not like normal smoke that would come out of a chimney, and it lasted about 15 minutes.
She said she went over there and the 19 year old daughter had just started a fire in their FPX. The daughter said the fire was going really good and asked what the problem might be? My wife just told her to watch that thing.
I went over there yesterday night and told the mother (father lives a away now, couple is getting divorced....) that we're pretty sure they had a chimney fire and they should probably stop burning until they can check it out.
They are gettin' divorced, the house is for sale, they don't have extra money and they are really trying to use that FPX as much as possible to heat to save on propane.
Now, I know their burning habits, when they were together, the guy would basically cut his wood in late summer, early fall for burning that season. Some standing deadwood, some greenwood. Then he gets this pressboard type scrap wood stuff, some byproduct from a place where his buddy works or something, but it has a fair amount of glue in it, and mixes that in. The daughter had started a fire with basically just the pressboard.
Add to that, that FPX was installed late 90's and they have never replaced the cat on it and he's told me he's damaged it a couple times with logs and he's tried to take it out to clean it and "alot of metal was falling out of it", that was 2 years ago.
I've told him, that cat is designed to be replaced every few years or so, especially considering the wood he's burning. He just looked at me, and asked me "Do you know how much they want for these, I went and asked, and they wanted a few hundren bucks for it, so I just cleaned it and put it back in"
They don't seem to listen to common sense, I suggested 2 years ago that the cat should probably be replaced, or at least take it in to the FPX place and let them look at it. I've told him his stove probably doesn't do too well with the greenwood he burns, but they are just, well, it's all we got to heat, we can't afford the propane. Every time I've been in there, including last night, the fire is just a small flame and mostly smoldering. There's smoke coming out of that chimney a fair amount of the time.
That thing was still burning this morning and this afternoon. I might go back over there and offer to check it out for them, it's not too bad to get up there. I just know though, with the wood supply they use, it's gonna be trouble for them.
She said she went over there and the 19 year old daughter had just started a fire in their FPX. The daughter said the fire was going really good and asked what the problem might be? My wife just told her to watch that thing.
I went over there yesterday night and told the mother (father lives a away now, couple is getting divorced....) that we're pretty sure they had a chimney fire and they should probably stop burning until they can check it out.
They are gettin' divorced, the house is for sale, they don't have extra money and they are really trying to use that FPX as much as possible to heat to save on propane.
Now, I know their burning habits, when they were together, the guy would basically cut his wood in late summer, early fall for burning that season. Some standing deadwood, some greenwood. Then he gets this pressboard type scrap wood stuff, some byproduct from a place where his buddy works or something, but it has a fair amount of glue in it, and mixes that in. The daughter had started a fire with basically just the pressboard.
Add to that, that FPX was installed late 90's and they have never replaced the cat on it and he's told me he's damaged it a couple times with logs and he's tried to take it out to clean it and "alot of metal was falling out of it", that was 2 years ago.
I've told him, that cat is designed to be replaced every few years or so, especially considering the wood he's burning. He just looked at me, and asked me "Do you know how much they want for these, I went and asked, and they wanted a few hundren bucks for it, so I just cleaned it and put it back in"
They don't seem to listen to common sense, I suggested 2 years ago that the cat should probably be replaced, or at least take it in to the FPX place and let them look at it. I've told him his stove probably doesn't do too well with the greenwood he burns, but they are just, well, it's all we got to heat, we can't afford the propane. Every time I've been in there, including last night, the fire is just a small flame and mostly smoldering. There's smoke coming out of that chimney a fair amount of the time.
That thing was still burning this morning and this afternoon. I might go back over there and offer to check it out for them, it's not too bad to get up there. I just know though, with the wood supply they use, it's gonna be trouble for them.
