Chimney Fire Aftermath?

[LoganLofi]

My wife and I had a very small chimney fire in our wood stove this morning (no discernable flames from the chimney but smoke inside the house), but in our fear ended up using our class 3-a:40-b:c dry chemical fire extinguisher, as well as a box of baking soda to put out the fire in the stove itself (Vermont Castings). My question is, now what? Do we have to hire the chimney folks to come do a cleaning and inspection?

 

[RockyMtnGriz]

How was the smoke getting inside the house?

 

[blades]

wouldn't hurt, particulaely if it is masonary flue without a liner

 

[LoganLofi]

wouldn't hurt, particulaely if it is masonary flue without a liner

Sorry, should have been more clear that this is a wood stove, not a fireplace.

 

[LoganLofi]

How was the smoke getting inside the house?

That's a good question, I'm not sure. We looked in the attic and nothing around the stovepipe was burnt and everything seemed fine in there (no black marks/sign of fire) so maybe something wasn't quite snug in the stove pipe fittings?

 

[TomMcDonald]

How do you know it was a chimney fire?

 

[LoganLofi]

How do you know it was a chimney fire?

what else would it be? there was a roaring sound and everything in the stove itself was perfectly normal with no discernible smoke in the house and a bit of a weird burning smell

 

[Wildflush]

I would have it inspected. Roaring sound, smoke and weird smell would do it for me.

 

[brenndatomu]

You could have had a lil creosote fire in the pipe that did no external damage...I'd still get it checked out though

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I think it’s wise to get somebody to run a camera through it.

 

[cahaak]

Why do you have creosote being generated during your burns? With dry wood and proper burning that shouldn't happen.

 

[kborndale]

Why do you have creosote being generated during your burns? With dry wood and proper burning that shouldn't happen.

Probably because their wood was not dry, and even with wood below 20% you will still get some creosote.

 

[bholler]

Why do you have creosote being generated during your burns? With dry wood and proper burning that shouldn't happen.

Just because you have dry wood and are burning well doesn't mean there won't be any combustible materials in the chimney

 

[xman23]

I haven't had a chimney fire, so I can't say what it sounds like. Closest issue was my wife didn't get the ash door latched. It was a screaming hot fire load. So much so she called the fire dept. Luckily they couldn't figure out what was wrong, and did nothing. Still have the fire guys glove print on the stove pipe.
I guess a chimney fire would create a real big draft. So did the house fill with smoke when you set off the fire extinguisher?

 

[Kral-68]

It is always a good measure to have a stove and chimney system thoroughly inspected after a chimney fire. There could be issues that you cannot easily see and issues that may have led to the incident that should be addressed. I wouldn't use the stove until it has been inspected.

 

[bholler]

It is always a good measure to have a stove and chimney system thoroughly inspected after a chimney fire. There could be issues that you cannot easily see and issues that may have led to the incident that should be addressed. I wouldn't use the stove until it has been inspected.

Absolutely correct

 

[begreen]

And figure out why the creosote is being generated. This could be due to heat losses in the flue system or improper operation of the stove or both.

 

[cahaak]

With a relatively small length of of single / double wall black pipe and then insulated class A chimney the rest of the way, it is very difficult to generate creosote if you have dry wood and burn correctly. In 25+ years of burning with several stoves with this setup, I have never even seen anything close to creosote in my chimney, it's basically very light accumulation of black soot.

 

[Eman85]

First of all you have a VC stove, my VC and a lot of other people's will back flash and puff smoke in the house when the air is turned down and the cat is hot.
If you had a chimney fire you most likely would remember the sound for the rest of your life. It's like you're house is on top of the subway and there's a distinct roar of the fire in the chimney..
No matter what you need a chimney inspection and cleaning.

 

[bholler]

First of all you have a VC stove, my VC and a lot of other people's will back flash and puff smoke in the house when the air is turned down and the cat is hot.
If you had a chimney fire you most likely would remember the sound for the rest of your life. It's like you're house is on top of the subway and there's a distinct roar of the fire in the chimney..
No matter what you need a chimney inspection and cleaning.

The vast majority of chimney fires don't have that sound at all. Most of the time people have no clue that they had one unless they are outside to see the heavy smoke and sparks or glow

 

[begreen]

First of all you have a VC stove, my VC and a lot of other people's will back flash and puff smoke in the house when the air is turned down and the cat is hot.
If you had a chimney fire you most likely would remember the sound for the rest of your life. It's like you're house is on top of the subway and there's a distinct roar of the fire in the chimney..
No matter what you need a chimney inspection and cleaning.

I was wondering what model VC stove this is. Some do not have a cat. If the NC variety is run too cool, without the afterburner kicking in, it can be pretty dirty. If it is a cat model, could the catalyst be exhausted?

 

[brenndatomu]

If it is a cat model, could the catalyst be exhausted?

So if exhaust parts are exhausted, is that a bad thing, or a good thing?!
Asking for a friend...

 

[begreen]

So if exhaust parts are exhausted, is that a bad thing, or a good thing?!
Asking for a friend...

Depends if you are asking about stoves or people.