Why to make sure your wood stove is properly installed...

[Mt Ski Bum]

Chimney fire caused by a “poorly installed wood burning stove†causes extensive damage to the second floor of a house... :roll:

http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...cle_aeb2f988-0c32-58b7-b8da-d502978a2151.html

 

[webbie]

Ah, the old stovepipe out the wall routine! I burned down a shed myself in WV using that method - 35 years ago!

Folks used to come in the store and ask why they could not do that. Their classic reasoning was "my great grand dad did it". I told them "yeah, but back then great grand dad didn't hear about all the folks who burned their houses down two hollows over".

 

[BrowningBAR]

Stories like this makes me glad that I didn't skimp on my installs. Yeah, I'm a cheap bastard when it comes to buying stoves, but I know my pipe/liners/chimneys are done right.

 

[oldspark]

Stories like this makes me glad that I didn't skimp on my installs. Yeah, I'm a cheap bastard when it comes to buying stoves, but I know my pipe/liners/chimneys are done right.

Cheap is good stupid is not!

 

[Fod01]

Hate to hear it, hope everyone is ok, glad I spent the money for a qualified installer.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Stories like this makes me glad that I didn't skimp on my installs. Yeah, I'm a cheap bastard when it comes to buying stoves, but I know my pipe/liners/chimneys are done right.

Cheap is good stupid is not!

You can be inadvertently stupid. If I would have done my own installs, especially the first one, and never found hearth.com, I could have done something stupid.

 

[Slow1]

Reading the article it doesn't sound like a "poorly installed" stove - rather it sounds like an "incompletely installed" stove. From the description it sounds like the install (like the remodel) wasn't done yet and the person who started the fire was either unaware of this or just stupid. The chimney "At that point, the chimney turned 90 degrees, passed through the wall and stuck straight out of the house", .... "When the homeowner started a fire in the new fireplace, flames shot out the end of the chimney, catching the Tyvek insulation cover...". Hmm - sounds to me like it was going to be run up the outside after the siding was completed what do you think?

 

[oldspark]

I took it as one of those out the wall quickie chimneys, still see them around here once in a while.

 

[oldspark]

"poorly installed" and "homeowner who started the fire" are from the article.

 

[Slow1]

Agreed - the article has a lot of statements that make it hard to really understand what really happened. Not exactly a detailed post-incident investigation report. I was curious to read it and see what I could pick out - the picture of the unfinished outside seemed a bit telling - then reading the bits I quoted seemed to imply to me that it may well be an incomplete install. I don't know of any woodstove installs that are completed with the pipe sticking straight out the side, but I'm far from the expert here...

In any case it also says it was a chimney fire and that flames came out the end of the pipe to ignite the side of the house... many interesting bits in there. Makes for a good read even if it may or may not have been witnessed and/or verified. Bottom line in any case is that it wasn't done right and had a bad outcome - at least it doesn't appear anyone got hurt.

 

[EJL923]

Glad I found Hearth.com

 

[Backwoods Savage]

And how did the flames shoot out? Or was that an assumption. At ceiling height and still flames?! Nasty for sure.

 

[oldspark]

And how did the flames shoot out? Or was that an assumption. At ceiling height and still flames?! Nasty for sure.

He has some 7 year old Ash. :lol:

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Ha! My ash don't burn like that.