Blowin' in the wind......

[MarkSJohnson]

A friend / client of mine lost his furniture-making business and $250,000 wood shop when, on a windy night, a draft (evidently) blew embers onto his wood floor.

I'm new to this whole pellet thing. We have a very windy night coming, with gusts to 50 MPH. Our pellet stove is not our main heat source, so I'm tempted to shut it down for the night. If I do so, I'll "lose" what I've gained in heat in my basement-installed location over the last several days.

Part of me says "why take the chance?" but the logical side says "the fire is behind a latched door, and you haven't heard of people shutting down their stoves in the wind!".

FWIW, I have a Kinderhook with an OAK via a "coaxial" vent system (pipe within a pipe).

What say you, wise ones?

 

[Dgopetactical]

You do what you gotta do to have peace of mind, I run my stove 24/7 no matter what mother nature throws at me.
I feel safe and have no worries about my stove.
Your buddy had a wood burner correct?

 

[Dgopetactical]

Pellet stoves are sealed units and have tons of safeties to prevent bad things. I would let her burn and have sweet dreams.

 

[MarkSJohnson]

Yes, I'm sorry. I meant to clarify that he had a wood stove, not a pellet stove.

 

[CenterTree]

Yes, I'm sorry. I meant to clarify that he had a wood stove, not a pellet stove.

Your pellet stove is not subject to blowing embers like your friend had in his wood stove. I am not certain as to why you are worried about the wind.

 

[DneprDave]

Embers couldn't get out of a pellet stove.

Dave

 

[Dgopetactical]

I've been in the fire service for over 25 years, I only ever been on 1 call in my life that involved a pellet stove and that was just a smoke condition in the house from a disconnected stove pipe.

Now wood burners are another story, we had 11 chimney fires and 2 house fires one was a total loss since the beginning of November.
Seems not to many people clean their chimneys anymore.

 

[Woody1911a1]

you'll get more comfortable with it over time .

 

[boomhour]

Let it burn and enjoy the heat. I would be more worried about not having a battery back up. Last week we had high winds and a power outage for a couple of hours. At that point the battery kicked in and ran the stove, an recharged it when the power came back on.

 

[Bioburner]

I've been in the fire service for over 25 years, I only ever been on 1 call in my life that involved a pellet stove and that was just a smoke condition in the house from a disconnected stove pipe.

Now wood burners are another story, we had 11 chimney fires and 2 house fires one was a total loss since the beginning of November.
Seems not to many people clean their chimneys anymore.

A lot of people try and burn wet wood. Only 14 stove related fires in 25 years. Not bad.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah a downdraft isn't gonna blow anything out of a positive exhaust device like a pellet stove. That combustion blower moves that stuff right out of there to the great outdoors.

 

[Dgopetactical]

A lot of people try and burn wet wood. Only 14 stove related fires in 25 years. Not bad.

Missquote,,, 13 stove related fires in the last 24 days, only 1 pellet stove call in 25 years

 

[Dgopetactical]

Out of 400 calls a year on average 60 of them involve wood burning appliances.

 

[moey]

I used to shut mine down on very windy nights 30mph+ not because of fire concerns but I used to heat my house up warmer upstairs in case we lost power I would not have to deal with my kids being cold at 3AM. I had minor concerns about brown outs etc too. Last year when the blizzard came through NE I shut it off at midnight and turned on the oil hog.

 

[Don2222]

A friend / client of mine lost his furniture-making business and $250,000 wood shop when, on a windy night, a draft (evidently) blew embers onto his wood floor.

I'm new to this whole pellet thing. We have a very windy night coming, with gusts to 50 MPH. Our pellet stove is not our main heat source, so I'm tempted to shut it down for the night. If I do so, I'll "lose" what I've gained in heat in my basement-installed location over the last several days.

Part of me says "why take the chance?" but the logical side says "the fire is behind a latched door, and you haven't heard of people shutting down their stoves in the wind!".

FWIW, I have a Kinderhook with an OAK via a "coaxial" vent system (pipe within a pipe).

What say you, wise ones?

A straight thru horizontal venting can shoot embers out and may be an issue but an up and out vent installation would be safer in any weather.

 

[Bioburner]

Missquote,,, 13 stove related fires in the last 24 days, only 1 pellet stove call in 25 years

Sounds more like normal beginning. Whenever we had a long spell of cold things would get real interesting. Hate trying to get on a snowy roof when it's below zero and wind over 20 mph.

 

[MarkSJohnson]

Thank you guys. I know that the unit itself is essentially sealed, I guess I just wasn't sure that a strong wind couldn't blow embers out of the vent pipe. I thought it better to ask in case there could be a problem!

 

[bbfarm]

Saturday we had over 40 mph wind gusts with sustained winds of 20+. No problems

 

[MarkSJohnson]

Yeah, now WE'RE dealing with what you sent over to us!

 

[BrotherBart]

When we get the first semi cold night, in October, here in the Tropics of Virginia you can hear the guys running fire calls all night long. And the next day you can hear the saws running everywhere cutting the firewood for the next night.

Neighbor does that and asked me one day "Cutting for the winter?." I said "Yeah. The winter of 2016.".

 

[Cheryl T.]

I have a Classic Bay that was installed last August and on two occasions (not very windy days), I have seen embers shooting out of the stove. I can't tell if they are coming out of the blower or coming out of the door. I am now very leery of running my stove. How can I know that it is safe to burn? I have a slate hearth, but carpeting just beyond that. Help!

 

[moey]

I have a Classic Bay that was installed last August and on two occasions (not very windy days), I have seen embers shooting out of the stove. I can't tell if they are coming out of the blower or coming out of the door. I am now very leery of running my stove. How can I know that it is safe to burn? I have a slate hearth, but carpeting just beyond that. Help!

Does it burn ok?

Its a sealed system except for the airwash on the front which it would very very unlikely a ember could make its way out that.

 

[Cheryl T.]

Yes, it burns fine. We have crappy pellets (we will never buy these again), they spark like crazy when they drop into the pot. I saw two fly out (thank goodness no farther than the slate hearth), but I fear one will reach the carpeting next to the hearth.

I know it is highly unlikely, but it has happened twice. The stove is less than a year old. I may just call the place I bought it from and have them check it out.

 

[johneh]

First sparks jumping out of the burn pot is normal on top feed stoves when pellets drop into the pot
Was the door of your stove open when the sparks landed on your hearth ?

 

[Ambient]

Yes, I'm sorry. I meant to clarify that he had a wood stove, not a pellet stove.

I lost a very good friend, his beautiful log home caught on fire during a crazy wind storm, while he was asleep in the loft. There was nothing left, the cause: were embers blown from the fireplace out past his generous hearth.
I used to get up every two hours with the wood stove here because of that. If it wasn't that cold I let the fire go out over night. Now with the pellet stove I sleep all night.

don't worry, be happy!