Was hating my F3100, had first stages of a chimney fire last night

Have not read all replies but +1 on good job getting everyone out and calling the fd, esp when sick. Flu is here too and I've been up for days with sick kids but not gotten it myself. However it's like a newborn and I try to snatch naps when they are asleep. SO I have been leaning a bit more on pellets and oil, knowin that my faculties are not the best right now and my attention is divided.

On a good day I set and re-set the kitchen timer until the air is down and the cat engaged.

The outside portion is not insulated.

Good to know about the not seeing the rolling flames. I feel like we do not have a lot of smoke out the chimney. I will start looking when I think it should be doing a 2ndary burn and it doesn't look like it is, and see what's coming out up there. We drive up our (very rural) road and see these places with tons of white smoke just pouring out and shake our heads! And then this happens to us!

Thank you! Your dogs are beautiful. I am sorry there is the flu at your house too. I was one of the last to get it, I guess so I could take care of everyone else first. I am definitely going to do a timer. I am glad you all are mentioning it! It's a great idea, so simple, but it will help a lot.

From my limited (though currently growing exponentially) knowledge I think you are right on.

Ok, any ideas on how many feet of insulated we'd need? You probably need to know the whole height? Hopefully if we have a professional come out and inspect etc they can make recommendations? I am gonna get on the phone and see who I can get to come out.

What about people how go straight out the wall and up the side of their house? It is extremely common around here since most people don't want to poke through bedrooms and build chases through their houses.

Had I done this when I was planning my install I would have ended up with close to 28ft of chimney pipe....all outside. Would I have had to sweep my chimney weekly? (Sarcasm)

I do wonder about this too honestly. I have seen what you are talking about. One local dealer has a whole wall of them, one for every display stove they have running along the inside of that wall of their store.

It looks like insulated class A pipe on the exterior...........

Oh! Maybe it is! Thank you, now that you say that I feel so stupid. It is. Is that why it's more expensive? I know the stuff on the outside is more expensive.

I read through your previous thread quickly and saw that you replaced the single wall stove pipe with double wall. I'm pretty sure the answer is yes but is the exterior portion of the chimney pipe double wall as well?

If yes than it makes me worry about the >50% installs around here that have 25+ft of double wall going up the side of the house.

***Edit - people typed faster than me again. Same worry applies though. Heck....I've got 10ft of double wall stainless sticking out of my roof.

Just blame the flu.

Do you have a thermometer on the pipe in the house?

No

Its a good practice to have one there also, that way if the pipe is too cool you know you are not burning correctly.

I remember your previous thread. You had been trying to get by with fairly wet wood as I recall and were having difficulty getting the secondaries to do their job. I think it's possible you built up a bit of creosote in your flue which ignited when you got the fire rolling with the draft full open. If it checks out OK now, I bet you will run a much cleaner chimney from now on with dry wood to burn (I also remember you had a bunch split and stack already for next year).

You could also check that you don't have any air leaks in the stovepipe section as that can cause a buildup of creosote down low where it is easily ignited from a hot stove (trust me on this one).

Thanks Waulie, we were really struggling before with subpar wood. I have contacted a certified chimney cleaner, inspector, and repair person. He had me send him some photos and I am waiting to hear back.