Can't I put wood in my carrier, on my hearth, beside my insert?

[woodsie8]

I have read the thread about wood catching on fire, close to a stove. I can't imagine my insert front getting so hot to catch the wood on fire, in the carrier that holds about 6 splits, that is sitting on the hearth, next to the insert. Is that really something I have to worry about?

 

[savageactor7]

Our wood is racked up about 6' away from the stove...how close do you have in mind?

 

[woodconvert]

I have read the thread about wood catching on fire, close to a stove. I can't imagine my insert front getting so hot to catch the wood on fire, in the carrier that holds about 6 splits, that is sitting on the hearth, next to the insert. Is that really something I have to worry about?

It's hard to catch wood on fire next to a stove. I've had my stove surrounded with wood...within 12 inches when the stove is crankin' and...no fire. Now, I wouldn't put wood that close and leave the house...but if i'm home and i've got some wood I wanna dry out on the quick I do it with no issues. You can get it to smolder if you put it in front of the glass...i've done that...but you'll smell it LONG before you have a fire.

 

[Tfin]

I have read the thread about wood catching on fire, close to a stove. I can't imagine my insert front getting so hot to catch the wood on fire, in the carrier that holds about 6 splits, that is sitting on the hearth, next to the insert. Is that really something I have to worry about?

None what so ever. Six or so splits (even kiln dried) will not sit there long enought to spontaneously combust. We're talking next to a wood stove here.....not the surface of the sun.

I do this all the time, as do many others I know of without so much as an issue.

 

[burntime]

I have the hampton insert and my wood is in an ornamental metal rack about 4 1/2 feet from the fireplace. It holds about 8-9 square feet of wood. Been like that for 10 years thru 2 inserts and never an issue. The flash point on wood is something like 425 degrees, the wood never sits there long enought to go thru pyrolosis (sp) to lower that point. It always meets its maker long before that

 

[Jags]

Its probably not going to ever be a problem, but the real answer is "acceptable distance to combustibles", just like your owners manual lays it out.

 

[woodsie8]

Now mine is a insert, not a stove and my wood is sitting on the bench hearth, next to the insert. So it is about 6 inches from the side of the surround. The surround doesn't get hot so I would say if you add the surround distance it is like 10 or 12 inches from the actual insert side edge.

 

[ScottF]

If the wood is punky it will combust rather quickly. We had a piece sitting right next to the firebox of an open fireplace last year. Could not believe it spontaneously combusted on the hearth. It was a little punky however. Still could not believe it. I didnt even think it was too hot. I agree with distance to combustibles. Wierd things happen.

 

[d.n.f.]

My second house fire I attended (as a voly fire fighter and I was pumping) was caused by storing wood too close to the woodstove. Whole house went. They loaded the thing for bear and left the house. Wood stack beside the stove (like 18") caught and burned.
Now they stored their wood there all the time (so very very dry), and the stove was a old cast iron thing which was probably glowing cherry red .

Pyrolisis is the term I think. Constant heating and cooling eventually lowers the temp at which a material will achieve combustion. I could be wrong on the term as it was years since I took that NFPA crap and I wasn't paying attention. But this is why for example an old bakery which has been in business for 150 years will suddenly burn down one day. The wooden stud that is right behind the bake oven will catch on fire one day (but it hasn't ever before sometimes even with hotter temps).

I personally wouldn't store wood too close. I do store it close but that is the handful I am burning in the next few hours.

 

[CK-1]

My second house fire I attended (as a voly fire fighter and I was pumping) was caused by storing wood too close to the woodstove. Whole house went. They loaded the thing for bear and left the house. Wood stack beside the stove (like 18") caught and burned.
Now they stored their wood there all the time (so very very dry), and the stove was a old cast iron thing which was probably glowing cherry red .

Pyrolisis is the term I think. Constant heating and cooling eventually lowers the temp at which a material will achieve combustion. I could be wrong on the term as it was years since I took that NFPA crap and I wasn't paying attention. But this is why for example an old bakery which has been in business for 150 years will suddenly burn down one day. The wooden stud that is right behind the bake oven will catch on fire one day (but it hasn't ever before sometimes even with hotter temps).

I personally wouldn't store wood too close. I do store it close but that is the handful I am burning in the next few hours.

My uncle has a old stove that glows red when really hot, but newer stoves shouldn't be a problem. If my stove gets that hot, it will burn up the blower and gaskets. Never had a wood close to stove problem.. Well.. let me take that back, I did. The wood carrier I used is made of cotton and plasic. Once time I opened the door to load more wood and the door hit the carrier melting a tiny bit of plastic.... %-P

Not a problem any more...

 

[eba1225]

No problem here either, place it just to the side of the stove, maybe 12" from the glass, but of course it is not directly in front.

 

[Henz]

my wood ring is about 24" from the side of my stove and have never had a problem.

 

[tradergordo]

Even a bone dry piece of paper won't autoignite until it hits 451 degrees. Your punky wood didn't spontaneously combust, it caught fire because a spark flew out of the fireplace! If you are going to store wood on your hearth (which every manual says not to do) in the very least make sure there is no way at all it can fall over and lean against the stove, and it also should not be in a spot that could receive an ember that pops out of the stove when a door is opened. I must admit I do sometimes "super dry" my wood by standing it up around the stove for 8-24 hours before burning it. It never gets very hot though, no chance of burning until it touches the stove or an ember flies out of the stove.

If the wood is punky it will combust rather quickly. We had a piece sitting right next to the firebox of an open fireplace last year. Could not believe it spontaneously combusted on the hearth. It was a little punky however. Still could not believe it. I didnt even think it was too hot. I agree with distance to combustibles. Wierd things happen.

 

[ScottF]

Even a bone dry piece of paper won’t autoignite until it hits 451 degrees. Your punky wood didn’t spontaneously combust, it caught fire because a spark flew out of the fireplace! If you are going to store wood on your hearth (which every manual says not to do) in the very least make sure there is no way at all it can fall over and lean against the stove, and it also should not be in a spot that could receive an ember that pops out of the stove when a door is opened. I must admit I do sometimes “super dry” my wood by standing it up around the stove for 8-24 hours before burning it. It never gets very hot though, no chance of burning until it touches the stove or an ember flies out of the stove

It was not a spark, I sat there and watched the end of the wood start to smolder. Of course it was sitting right next to a raging fire at the edge of the firebox. It smoldered and smoldered until eventually it caught fire and I threw it into the fire. How do you account for all of the calls our local fire department gets from wood studs catching fire behind the brick firebox in a fireplace. Most are older houses not built to current codes and have had fires in them for years and years until one day the stud catches behind the wall. Constant heating and cooling of the wood lowers the temperature at which it can ignite. It become more cellulose like punky wood. Do you think in all those years burning that the fire never reached the temperature it did the day it catches? Or that one day it finally hit 451 degrees ? NO the combustion temperature had been lowered from all the heating over the years. I was just saying that you can never be too careful because odd circumstances do occur and the results can be catastrophic.

 

[tradergordo]

How do you account for all of the calls our local fire department gets from wood studs catching fire behind the brick firebox in a fireplace. Most are older houses not built to current codes and have had fires in them for years and years until one day the stud catches behind the wall. Constant heating and cooling of the wood lowers the temperature at which it can ignite. It become more cellulose like punky wood. Do you think in all those years burning that the fire never reached the temperature it did the day it catches? Or that one day it finally hit 451 degrees ? NO the combustion temperature had been lowered from all the heating over the years. I was just saying that you can never be too careful because odd circumstances do occur and the results can be catastrophic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrolysis
Not the same thing as punky wood, but apparently decayed wood only needs to reach 302 degrees F to self ignite, according to:
(broken link removed to http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/blogs/kingofthehouse/4306/show/)
Guess that's what happened.

I would recommend people not burn decayed wood at all, there aren't a lot of BTUs left in it, the wood is usually filled with bugs, crumbles easily, could have termites, and can burst into flames before it gets inside your stove definitely don't be storing it anywhere near your stove.

 

[myzamboni]

I keep combustibles at least 36" from the stove.