screw those chimneys

[colebrookman]

My good friend has been burning in a wood stove for 25years or more. Knows what he's doing, like many of us. Last night he awoke to the smell of smoke and just thought the stove had burped. No big deal but fortunately for him and his family he didn't fall right back to sleep. Finally as the smoke got worst he got up and found that the black pipe (6" long) from the stove to a clean out tee had somehow came apart and all the smoke and fumes were venting directly into the rooms. Two lessons to be learned: Always screw pipes together or use locking collars, and working smoke or co detectors in the house may be a pain but they save lives. He had neither and could easily have made the evening news.

 

[begreen]

The ones that know it all and "have always burned this way" are sometimes the most dangerous. Unbelievable that there were no screws holding the pipe together and no detectors. Makes one suspect that this installation has many more violations. The house sounds like a time-bomb.

 

[SlyFerret]

Wow, they got off lucky! That's really scary.

First, How did he get his stove shut down quick (or did he grab some gloves and get the stove pipe back together)?

How much damage did they have from the smoke?

-SF

 

[billb3]

The wood stove and chimney that was installed by pros in my sister's house has neither screws, locks nor any sort of 'glue' on the single wall pipe joints.
Passed by FD inspector, house sale inspector, insurance co.

She doesn't burn , but it's the first thing I noticed, right after she bought the place.


"but it passed inspection at install and again at sale, and the former owners said they heated the whole house with that stove."
"they probably did"

 

[colebrookman]

Exactly Sly, he grabbed his gloves and put the piece back on. Not much smoke damage if you discount the ongoing smell, and at 10* hard to keep the windows open too long. As for the Co detector, like many, many people I've spoken to, at least those who were still alive, the detector went off to often so he had taken the batteries out. How often have you read about that in the news of whole families being lost to CO and smoke's other gasses. Again it's the " it will never happen to me" syndrome. Every time you hear a fire truck or see an ambulance go by, that is usually a personal disaster for someone. You want to bet they never thought it would happen to them. We are our own worst enemy sometimes.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

My good friend has been burning in a wood stove for 25years or more. Knows what he's doing, like many of us. Last night he awoke to the smell of smoke and just thought the stove had burped. No big deal but fortunately for him and his family he didn't fall right back to sleep. Finally as the smoke got worst he got up and found that the black pipe (6" long) from the stove to a clean out tee had somehow came apart and all the smoke and fumes were venting directly into the rooms. Two lessons to be learned: Always screw pipes together or use locking collars, and working smoke or co detectors in the house may be a pain but they save lives. He had neither and could easily have made the evening news.

Wow If your good friend has been burning in a wood stove for 25 years, he should be cooked to well done by now

 

[colebrookman]

Thanks Savage, I needed a good laugh and of course you're correct. Spellcheck can't help everything.

 

[milner351]

while I can certainly sympathize with the temptation to remove the battery from the smoke detector closest to the kitchen (especially If I'm going to be doing the cooking) however, disabling a CO detector in a house using any flame sourced appliance is just a horrible idea.

The ONLY time we've had our CO detector (located in the upstairs hallway leading to the bedrooms - stove is on first floor) go off is when we were loly gagging with the ash buckets and had smoldering cinders sitting on the tile floor for a while..... otherwise, it's never gone off.

I would suggest your friend has a faulty detector - or he needs to locate it in a different place.

Our CO detector plugs directly into a wall socket - no batteries.

Thank GOD your friend trusted his instincts to check on the stove -- I bet he'll use screws at his pipe connections from here on out!

 

[colebrookman]

Just to play devils advocate, what happens when you lose power and your family may be sleeping. Also CO may be a little heavier than air but heated air rises so I hope your wall plugs are not a foot or two off the floor.