Safety First! Post your tips here.

[flhpi]

The stove at my previous house was on a raised hearth and was a top loader. My safety tip: Do not load a stove while naked!

 

[seeyal8r]

Make sure that everyone that is running the stove (man or woman) know what to do in the event of a hearth emergency.

Overfire - caused when the fire gets too hot and the fire is out of control. Closing the air off will only increase the temperature at first. May need some cold ash to throw on the fire but this involves opening the door which gives more air.
chimney fire - caused when creosote ignites in the chimney or flu. Scream "oh $%*!" then cut the add ash and cut air off. A clean chimney will never catch fire
Forgetfullness - I've cracked the door and left the primary air fully open and forgotten until I hear the roar a few minutes later. Never leave it unattended.
burns - gloves, aloe vera, and teaching kids about the fireplace.

Seasoned wood is a must. it reduces creosote buildup, burns efficiently and well, reduces steam in the fireplace which in the long run reduces rust.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Forgetfullness - I’ve cracked the door and left the primary air fully open and forgotten until I hear the roar a few minutes later. Never leave it unattended.

When running through the house to close the primary air you forgot about,,, PUT THE SCISSORS DOWN FIRST!

 

[NorthCountryWood]

Pay attention when loading/opening a hot stove. Not sure if this is top loader specific (doesn't happen on our cookstove), but noticed that when you put logs on hot coals or even sometimes just opening the lid, embers can pop and find their way a surprising distance from the stove. Found a burning ember on my wife's sewing machine, which was on the other side of the room, and watched a spark fly into my fatwood box just this morning.

 

[seeyal8r]

Forgetfullness - I’ve cracked the door and left the primary air fully open and forgotten until I hear the roar a few minutes later. Never leave it unattended.

When running through the house to close the primary air you forgot about,,, PUT THE SCISSORS DOWN FIRST!

Definitely !

Forgot about keeping your back straight and not over doing it. Good thing about firewood.... what you don't get done today will most likely be there tomorrow.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I'll copy and paste this from a previous post:

ALWAYS put your ashes in a metal container, WITH a lid, on a NON COMBUSTABLE surface. I can’t tell you how many times we go to a house and the owner has old ashes in a plastic tupperwear container on his back deck!

Be Smart!

++++ 10

Getting a lot of coverage on national news the last few days is another house fire in CT in which three children and their grandfather were killed. Seems the children's mother for some nutso reason sleepily cleaned out the fireplace ashes at 3:00 AM after a long night of Christmas Eve celebrating and dumped them in a plastic trash barrel at the back of the house. She barely escaped the fire, her children and father did not.

What an incredibly stupid, useless and unnecessary tragedy.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We just got our stove a week or so ago. I was hoping you might post some safety tips that you've learned along the way. Hope this isn't too general a request. We're trying to learn as we go, but don't want to make any mistakes along the way.

Welcome to the forum GreyMum.

I see no good reason for the wife to not operate the stove. In fact, I think every wife should know how to run the stove and anyone else in the home who might sometime add wood to a stove. They need to know the right ways of doing things and what to watch for or what could happen if they do not do things right. My wife has always been able to attend the stove even though at times she has a few minor problems. But now with the Super Cedars for lighting the fires, she can now get a fire going from scratch if need be. Before we got the Super Cedars, that was a real battle for her.

It is also important to know what dry wood is. That is, how long wood needs to be dried before burning it in the stove. New burners have a definite problem with this and this is the number one reason why they have problems with the fire (and almost always blame the stove or chimney). It is also the number one problem which causes creosote. Hence, the reason new wood burners should check their chimneys once per month in their first year. Hopefully by their second year they have some better wood. Clean the chimney as needed and do not put this off.

What would you do in case of a super hot stove? What would you do if you had a chimney fire? etc. Know what you will do before this happens.

fwiw, we have burned wood over 50 years now and have never had a chimney fire nor do we ever expect to have one. The key is the fuel. Poor fuel = poor results. We cut, split and stack our wood for a minimum of 2-3 years so we don't even need a moisture meter to see how dry our wood is. We know without a doubt that the wood is ready to burn no matter what type of wood it is.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I see no good reason for the wife to not operate the stove. In fact, I think every wife should know how to run the stove and anyone else in the home who might sometime add wood to a stove. They need to know the right ways of doing things and what to watch for or what could happen if they do not do things right.

Love ya, Dennis, but could you Neanderthals go easy on "the wife" stuff? We're outnumbered here by the guys, for sure, but there's a fair contingent of women on this forum who are either the sole or primary stove operators in our households. Some of us even (gasp!) have to struggle to get the men in our lives to understand how the stove works.

Women, if you think about it, have been the primary caretakers of fires since the dawn of humanity up until only the last hundred years or so.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

gyrfalcon, I don't ever remember putting the females down but quite the opposite in that I do promote you girls and what you are capable of. I fondly recall when I was plant foreman in a shop that when I started was all male. When we began hiring females the thinking was there were some jobs that would not be good to put a female on. Except for those jobs which required heavy lifting and hard physical labor for most of the time, I successfully trained many females to do those supposed male-only jobs. It worked and we opened a lot of eyes by doing this. We also proved the general point that when it came time for assembly, which called for working with the hands, we could increase production by having females on those jobs. So, you will not find me getting much mileage from the female groups, I hope.

 

[gyrfalcon]

gyrfalcon, I don't ever remember putting the females down but quite the opposite in that I do promote you girls and what you are capable of. I fondly recall when I was plant foreman in a shop that when I started was all male. When we began hiring females the thinking was there were some jobs that would not be good to put a female on. Except for those jobs which required heavy lifting and hard physical labor for most of the time, I successfully trained many females to do those supposed male-only jobs. It worked and we opened a lot of eyes by doing this. We also proved the general point that when it came time for assembly, which called for working with the hands, we could increase production by having females on those jobs. So, you will not find me getting much mileage from the female groups, I hope.

I don't doubt it for a second because you're a good guy all around. My plea has to do with the choice of language and the impression it gives.

 

[Angelo C]

always tell the wife she looks great in the new outfit no matter how old the outfit or wife !

 

[Hogwildz]

I strongly suggest buying or using a timer every time you put a fresh load in. It is real easy to get busy on the computer, making dinner, a phone call etc, and forget about that blazing inferno.
I use the kitchen timer almost every time. And when I don't, sure a shitly I go running out when I remember and shes hellfire. Never glowing, but makes my heart pump non the less.
On and on the wives thing......they let wimmen play with fire? LMFAO JK for goodness sakes.... or am I ;-) grinning

 

[Sisu]

Looks like everything has been covered, except for "Don't eat yellow snow!"

 

[Benchwrench]

Hogz,
that's what I would have also suggested except our kitchen timer is one of those ol' fashion wind up chicken timers that tick like a cartoon time bomb and go off like a joke grenade.

A more manly approach to the timer idea would be like the kind they use at Starbucks when brewing their coffee, keeping it at the mantle within reach setting it then dropping it in the ol' shirt pocket after loading fuel in the box.

 

[mikepinto65]

Always burn dry properly seasoned wood and never, NEVER, use these:



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[kenny chaos]

I once ordered an ash pan off of e-bay. It was a charming little thing and worked well.
It worked well until I pulled it out of the firebox one time and the handle, which was SOLDERED to the pan,
let go and I had a pile of burning embers on the hearth. Quite a surprise and it scared me to think if I had
carpet around the stove and missed the hearth.
I am also an advocate for a high heat alarm as sold by wes999 here on these forums. A busy mind needs help remembering things.
Don't overdue it when carrying in logs. You'll bust a toe sooner or later.
And of course, this is a forum. Watch for trolls.
There's the obvious ones that hit and run and then the more dangerous type; The ones who hang around
all the time spewing their expertise which is fairly plausible except that .................
Good luck-
Kenny

 

[bluedogz]

[quote author="Carbon_Liberator" date="1325112487Forgot about keeping your back straight and not over doing it. Good thing about firewood.... what you don't get done today will most likely be there tomorrow.

+1 million. Accept that you're never "finished" with the wood supply. If your shoulder or the plates therein start to hurt, shut off the saw. Your stove doesn't care how tough you are.

 

[maverick06]

everything seems covered... except, watch out when carrying logs. A few times i have run out to get some logs that cold winter night, no logs in the ring by the door, so off to the wood pile. just to slip on some ice. Didnt get anything more than a bruise or three, but not fun. Doing it twice, in two days, at the same spot, is just my own stupidity.

Also, the little chunks of wood that are on the ground by the woodpile dont mix well with your snowblower....

Lastly, on warm days outside (for me it is 45F+) be careful starting, its easy to get smoke back in the house if you didnt get the chimney hot enough first. Tossing in a fist ful of newspaper will get it moving in the right direction.

 

[firefighterjake]

Oh yeah . . . forgot . . . don't take a shower and then go outside on to the front porch wearing nothing but a pair of socks to get a fresh load of wood when it's only 20 degrees outside . . . try explaining how you got frostbite there to your doc . . . and yes . . . I am kidding . . . about the frostbite.