It is a stove with 2 window doors that open outward, and then a top loading door. There was a comment on maybe it was a certain type of wood, or dampness,... no,.. no pitch or wet wood. Same ole wood we have been using for years,.. my husband goes out and cuts down the trees, our next door neighbor has 60 acres worth..
Wood stove "exploded"
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You know I thought the same thing.. I had never read or heard of this before. this is something that should buyers should be aware of?
I’m not sure if wood stove manufacturers warn against this because loading the stove while hot usually just ignites whatever fuel is placed on the hot coals ( for a puffback to occur ) you need a series of unlikely circumstances to align , really hot stove with no exposed coals or flame , load of unlit fresh fuel , low enough air intake to allow volatiles to build to combustible levels
Sometimes it just takes the right combination of ingredients for a mishap to occur. Having a proper installation and proper operation make them a rarity. The only mistake made here was the the door wasn't left slightly open to provide oxygen to the fire. You can close it once the fire has started to burn in earnest.
(PS: This doesn't need a hot stove to happen. Our incident was on a cold start.)
(PS: This doesn't need a hot stove to happen. Our incident was on a cold start.)
Much more likely to happen in a hot stove .how is your stove gasifying fuel without sufficient heat?
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
Pretty similar . . . fire is starved for oxygen and generating combustibles in the smoke. Oxygen source is introduced and "Kah-wummpfff."
weatherguy
Minister of Fire
I was just kidding around, wanted pics of the explosion
Again a cold start is starting a fire not reloading and reviving an existing one , how are gases accumulating in you’re scenario if there aren’t coals and burning embers and residual heat ?
Smoke accumulates because the wood is just smouldering.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
They were around in WWI, and hobbyists are still making them today.
I expect you could even have the gasifier separate from the vehicle and run it like a propane vehicle with some extra filtration. Haven't seen anyone doing that, though.
It happened pretty easily as I described earlier with good dry kindling but not so dry wood. You get 4-5 splits starting to burn and then cut off the air and the stove will get filled up with smoke.. The wood was trying to burn and if I had left the door open a little it would have instead of smoldering.
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It's worth mentioning that the video has a surprise ending. I couldn't understand the guy's accent, said to my wife, well, I don't know if it's worth watching to the end, and almost missed the payoff.
Must have forgot to 'knock on wood' when I posted... just last night the stove burned down to coals and I put a small pile of bark, sticks and junk from around the splitter in. I was in the adjoining room a few minutes later and heard "WHOOMMMMFFFF!" I do this same process practically daily and 99.9% of the time, no issues, but when all the elements come together... Wow!
The video above is pretty amazing. On the stove side, we tend to define 'backdraft' as cold air coming down the flue. On the firefighting side, not sure if they would look at the big puff and say 'that' was a backdraft, of if they tend to define backdraft as fresh air flowing back into a smoke filled room, resulting in a flashover - which would be the big puff.
Either way, when I have encountered the situation, it's been slightly different as the stove has just 'misbehaved' all on its own. Smoke and wood vapor filled the firebox, the coals finally got hot enough and WHOOF! I didn't specifically open a door or open the draft to let more air in. Though I can imagine that rare instance when someone would say "What the heck is all that smoke in there... let me open the door and poke things around a bit" ...and that tiny bit of extra air from the door would be the trigger.
The video above is pretty amazing. On the stove side, we tend to define 'backdraft' as cold air coming down the flue. On the firefighting side, not sure if they would look at the big puff and say 'that' was a backdraft, of if they tend to define backdraft as fresh air flowing back into a smoke filled room, resulting in a flashover - which would be the big puff.
Either way, when I have encountered the situation, it's been slightly different as the stove has just 'misbehaved' all on its own. Smoke and wood vapor filled the firebox, the coals finally got hot enough and WHOOF! I didn't specifically open a door or open the draft to let more air in. Though I can imagine that rare instance when someone would say "What the heck is all that smoke in there... let me open the door and poke things around a bit" ...and that tiny bit of extra air from the door would be the trigger.
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