Thank you God and Backwoods Savage - overfire averted

[Jaugust124]

So last night around 1:00 AM I decided to load the stove up for the night. Did my normal routine of putting 6-8 or so splits of various sizes in the firebox. Nothing really too big. Which in fact may have been part of my problem. I left the air wide open to get things going and started to close it down like normal. I noticed that as I was shutting the air down, the fire was still burning a bit faster than I would like, so I continued to shut it down thinking it would slow things down a bit.

Well, with the air shut all the way down, the stove continued racing. Before I knew it the temps were up over 700* and climbing. The fire inside the stove looked like nothing inside a stove I've experienced before. The flames were up against the glass, and a whooping sound (best I can describe it) came from the fire. It sounded like a lot of air pressure inside the box. At this point I'm getting really nervous, unsure of how to control this inferno in my living room.

I'm thinking, "Okay the air is all the way down, less air means less fire, right?" No such luck, with the air all the way down, this potential volcano is going to cause me some major problems. Then I remember that Backwoods mentioned to me in an earlier post that keeping the air wide open will allow some of the heat to go up the chimney. So seemingly against what I would think is common sense, (after all more air equals hotter fire which is the last thing I want) I open the air control fully. Thankfully, and with a great big "whew!" things started to settle down. The stove top got up to about 775* according to the Rutland thermometer. I think the whole scenario took about 20 excruciating minutes.

Anyway, this has been a lesson learned. I want to thank Backwoods Savage for all the great advice, as well as everyone else on here who pass their knowledge on to others. I also need to mention that my wife remained much calmer than I did through this whole ordeal. She helped me to calm down during the tense moments.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season.

Jamie

 

[pen]

Situations like these are also why I recommend using a flue damper. That helps reduce the draft and can slow the unregulated 2ndary and tertiary air intakes on these modern stoves.

Here's the active thread. https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/66804/

pen

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Thank you Jamie.

I just read the post to my wife and immediately she asked me to tell you about her experience. One night I was having some problems so she got up to check the stove. It was at 700 degrees. She said it took everything she had to force herself into opening the draft but she did open it to about 50%. She was really nervous and if I had not instructed her earlier she would probably have really gone berserk. However, once she gave the stove some more air the temperature started coming down. She was not happy until it got to 650 before cutting the draft again. Then she stayed up for another hour just to make sure it did not run away. That night taught her a good lesson and now it is old hat for her. lol

I am happy this all worked out for you Jamie but I can't help but laugh when I picture your wife being all calm and your heart is racing like a race horse. You'll look back on this and laugh yourself in the future. Now take three deep breaths.....