O.M.G! Someone burned wood in MY stove.....

[Swedishchef]

I am not sure if I posted this in the proper forum so I will let mods decide.

SSSSSSSSSSOOOOO since it is going to be -22F tomorrow night (it is -5F right now), the night after, and on and on and on, I loaded the stove this morning with some nice hardwood. Not to the gills, just a few pieces since I took this afternoon off and planned on reloading upon my arrival from work.

Mid morning my wife calls me and says "wanna get some groceries with me after lunch? My parents will come and watch the kids while I go to the store". So I agree! How romantic eh?

After grocery shopping I get home and notice that my basement is toasty warm and there is heat rising up the staircase. So I say to my FIL (I was already suspecting...) "I am going to go put wood in the stove.." and he replies "Don't bother, I put some in it when I got here". My heart sank...and I think it stopped. The man who has to clean his chimney 5-7 times per winter put wood in MY stove. So I wait for him to leave and I run downstairs (as calm as possible).

The bypass was left open 1/16 of an inch. I think he thought it was the damper. The damper was in the same position as I left it this morning. Any chances there is damage? I didn't think there would be but just had to ask.

I feel...violated! No person shall load another person's stove! I need to put a NO LOADING sign up when gone. Especially when the new user operates a smoke dragon and has to clean his chimney as often as I clean my toilets (OK, a slight exageration...)! I have explained to him 10 times already how the stoves works. While I appreciate his efforts, it scares the chit out of me. I feel as though another person has put on my underwear and handed it back to me. I won't ever look at my 2300 the same way again.

Andrew

 

[begreen]

C'mon, it's a solid hunk of steel. It'll be fine. He just regulated it with the bypass instead of the air control. Tell him thanks and ask him how he likes the stove. Get him engaged and who knows he may turn around. Don't mention the bypass until later, hopefully he will ask about it.

 

[BrotherBart]

"Hello. Doctor Phil?"

 

[BrotherBart]

My FIL post from 2008.

"There should be a Federal law against father-in-laws touching wood stoves. Twenty years ago my in-laws were visiting and I came home from work to be told that my FIL had discovered that if you put rain soaked logs in our wood stove the burn lasted a really long time. I gave them a few bucks and sent them out to dinner and headed for the roof. The 21 foot chimney with 8X11 flue tiles was packed from bottom to top solidly closed with fly ash and creosote. Completely plugged. In one days time. :ahhh:

Out came the ropes and brushes. Not what I had planned to do in the dead of night. :roll:"

 

[Paul L]

Oh yeah ... the kids were here over Christmas. I gave them instruction, they didn't follow it, decided not to make a big issue of it. They left and after taking a small jackhammer to the build up on the glass, all is well.

 

[branchburner]

"as often as I clean my toilets"

I try to follow the same rule cleaning my chimney as I do cleaning my toilet or cutting my hair or changing the oil... once a year, whether it needs it or not.

 

[Swedishchef]

C'mon, it's a solid hunk of steel. It'll be fine. He just regulated it with the bypass instead of the air control. Tell him thanks and ask him how he likes the stove. Get him engaged and who knows he may turn around. Don't mention the bypass until later, hopefully he will ask about it.

ha ha. I figured it would be fine. But I just wanted to make sure...as long as he didn't leave the bypass open 20 minutes.

 

[Swedishchef]

"as often as I clean my toilets"

I try to follow the same rule cleaning my chimney as I do cleaning my toilet or cutting my hair or changing the oil... once a year, whether it needs it or not.

lol..I hope you're sarcastic, I was!

 

[Swedishchef]

My FIL post from 2008.

"There should be a Federal law against father-in-laws touching wood stoves. Twenty years ago my in-laws were visiting and I came home from work to be told that my FIL had discovered that if you put rain soaked logs in our wood stove the burn lasted a really long time. I gave them a few bucks and sent them out to dinner and headed for the roof. The 21 foot chimney with 8X11 flue tiles was packed from bottom to top solidly closed with fly ash and creosote. Completely plugged. In one days time. :ahhh:

Out came the ropes and brushes. Not what I had planned to do in the dead of night. :roll:"

LOL. I love it! Atleast my wood was in the basement and was dry.

 

[Swedishchef]

C'mon, it's a solid hunk of steel. It'll be fine. He just regulated it with the bypass instead of the air control. Tell him thanks and ask him how he likes the stove. Get him engaged and who knows he may turn around. Don't mention the bypass until later, hopefully he will ask about it.

I have told him, showed him and explained to him how it works 10 times or so. It just doesn't sink in..kinda like talking to.......

 

[laynes69]

My mother in law occasionally loads our furnace when babysitting. There's times I come home and it the chimney will be smoking. I just had to teach her to open the damper, load and after 10 minutes or so close the damper. As much as I don't like to see smoke, it's nice coming home to a warm house, and usually when she loads , it's a few pieces around a couple hours before I get home from work. It bothered me at first, but now I live with it. My wife knows how picky I am, and so does my mother in law, but that's okay.

 

[Swedishchef]

My mother in law occasionally loads our furnace when babysitting. There's times I come home and it the chimney will be smoking. I just had to teach her to open the damper, load and after 10 minutes or so close the damper. As much as I don't like to see smoke, it's nice coming home to a warm house, and usually when she loads , it's a few pieces around a couple hours before I get home from work. It bothered me at first, but now I live with it. My wife knows how picky I am, and so does my mother in law, but that's okay.

I have electric heating throughout my house, I simply compliment it with wood heat. My heat is at 21C - wood or not. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the thought (however I am sure he would have a fit if I loaded wood in his stove when he wasn't around).

 

[tsquini]

My Mother In law comes over and doesn't think the stove is working right because it is not putting out enough heat. She opens up the ash pan door and then leaves to do some shopping. I come home from work with the stove sounding like a blast furnace. It is nice that they try to help but they shouldn't.

Jack Nicolas as Jokes in Batman summed it up accurately. "You never rub another man's rhubarb."

 

[oldspark]

According to Pen it would be better for some one else to run my stove.

 

[BrotherBart]

 

[gyrfalcon]

"Hello. Doctor Phil?"

Or maybe Dr. Drew, since we're dealing with a couple of addicts here.

 

[gyrfalcon]

"as often as I clean my toilets"

I try to follow the same rule cleaning my chimney as I do cleaning my toilet or cutting my hair or changing the oil... once a year, whether it needs it or not.

That's how I vacuum.

 

[ridemgis]

Had friends over for dinner not long ago. I heard someone say the fire needed more wood as he opened the front door of the stove to spill ash and coals all over the hearth! And he knows it has a side door. Amazing what beer will do to a guy.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Had friends over for dinner not long ago. I heard someone say the fire needed more wood as he opened the front door of the stove to spill ash and coals all over the hearth! And he knows it has a side door. Amazing what beer will do to a guy.

(shudder)

 

[Sully]

Your dad was cold. He fixed that.

 

[Swedishchef]

Your dad was cold. He fixed that.

He is always cold..even when it is 90 degrees!

 

[begreen]

My neighbor's FIL is like that. They normally like it around 70F, but when he visits he complains if it is below 85F and then sits right alongside of the stove, with a sweater on!

 

[PapaDave]

I left recently for about 4 hours.
Got home and noticed smoke from the flue. Even though I have a "smoke dragon", it doesn't smoke that much when I run it....yet, there it was... smoke.
Went in and saw a single split laid in the stove e/w, and a small one at that. Smoldering.
I politely asked her to not do that anymore. Nothing had been touched but the door when she opened it to put the wood in.
She's been here over a year and still can't figure out the Keurig coffee maker, so I really don't want her playing with fire in the house.

 

[Swedishchef]

She's been here over a year and still can't figure out the Keurig coffee maker, so I really don't want her playing with fire in the house.

L O L. I presume you're not talking about your car?

 

[tcassavaugh]

the kids were stayed over Christmas night. I went to bed early and our son, who runs a fireplace for heat and I can't convince to put in a woodstove because he's renting, put wood on the Summit before turning in. the next morning he put more on, according to my wife....I went down and it was barely going. splits were put on without waiting for them to start and I could smell the smoke building inside. well, with a little coaxing, I got her going again and chugging away. my wife does well with the stove and we tag-team it because of my shift work. the kids.....they would be better off leaving it alone.