Smoky over fired stove

[Poor Doug]

After company had cleared out after the Super Bowl, I loaded the stove up and left to clean the kitchen.
A short while after, the smoke detector alarmed. I turned the corner to see the smoke filled room and a roaring fire visible through the front glass.

After closing the damper (need to pick up a timer), windows were opened, fans were ran, no problem (I think, I'm still a newbie).
My concern was the smoke, strong plastic odor, it burned my eyes.

Everything seemed normal afterward, but I let it burn down and it is cold now.
My buddy who is familiar with the wood burning came by today assuming we had a chimney block.
We were able to disconnect the stove pipe for a clear view up to daylight.

The stove pipe had been painted by the previous home owner, our guess is it was burning off.
The pipe was gray when I went in the room. Could all that smoke be from just paint?

 

[cmonSTART]

Well, the amount of smoke can be a bit subjective, but there are a couple possible explanations for what you found.

1. Roaring hot fire got a bit too hot for your stove and the paint started curing a bit more. This will produce some smoke, probably enough to notice.

2. Chimney Fire. It's possible that the roaring hot fire may have caught some creosote in the connector and chimney on fire and this produced the smoke. This can happen with a chimney fire. The 12 is an EPA exempt unit so it can produce significant creosote under the right conditions.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Doug, for sure get a timer. Better yet is to follow the wise advise of one old time burner: Never leave the stove room until the draft has been closed down (to wherever the normal burn is). If the draft is open full....STAY WITH THE STOVE.

Yes, paint can really give a strong smelly smoke. If this ever happens again or if someone else reads this, keep some candles on hand. Light some candles and it will clear out the smoke quite rapidly.

 

[Beardog]

Wish I knew about the candles before...

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

I wish I knew this when mine was curing! Damn, I should have read more!;-)
Yes, paint can really give a strong smelly smoke. If this ever happens again or if someone else reads this, keep some candles on hand. Light some candles and it will clear out the smoke quite rapidly.[/quote]

 

[kgrant]

I've never heard of the candle thing before. Looks like pure beeswax candles work the best.

 

[Poor Doug]

Thanks for the tips.
Will pick up a timer and would like a thermometer too.

Learned a good lesson.

 

[firefighterjake]

Thanks for the tips.
Will pick up a timer and would like a thermometer too.

Learned a good lesson.

Lesson learned . . .

Definitely pick up a thermometer for the stove and the stove pipe . . . one will keep you from overfiring the stove and the other will keep you burning in the "zone" -- not too cool to cause creosote to form and not too hot to ignite any creosote in the pipe -- and taken together, both thermometers will allow you to burn safer and more efficiently as you will be able to tell when it is hot enough to start cutting back the air to either engage the cat or start the magic with the secondary burn.

 

[DanCorcoran]

Now you know why some folks have a candle burning in the guest bathroom, when you go to a party at their house...