chimney fire last night

[Revturbo977]

im a first year burner with a jotal f400. had some issues in the beginning of the season more because i just didn't know what i was doing. after some good help on here i got my stove running pretty good. my wood was cut down and split in march of last year, so its far from perfect but it works and its all i have. the stove is attached to a double wall stove pipe then through the wall to double wall chimney and up. this is all brand new

i checked the clean out in the chimney and stovepipe in December and did a sweep out. had a little bit of junk in there but not bad.

last night before bed i loaded up a big load, it was kind of giving me crap like it always does. takes a while because of the darn wood. i heard some crackling at the 90 on the stovepipe and thought... oh crap....

i shut the stove down and took tin foil and blocked the hole under the stove to choke out any oxygen going up the pipe. few amber's were blowing out the top of the chimney but no visible flames. house smoke up pretty good.
about 10 minutes went by and everything calmed down. i took the smoldering logs out of the stove with my tongs and threw them in the snow. bout an hour later i pulled the stove pipe apart at the top and took a quick look with my flashlight. about 1/4-3/8 thick crap lined the 90 and the through pipe.

ugh what a nightmare.

my woodpile is up on pallets and the top is covered with tarps but, we have had tons of snow this year and no matter what i do, snow seems to find the wood. i have absolutely no other place to put the wood other then outside.

im assuming my half seasoned wood along with all the snow we have had in the last month and a half is what really caused this build up so quickly. the stove will not be run until i clean all of it out but now im mega nervous. should i just clean it out once a month as a safety ?

any suggestions would be a big help.

 

[gzecc]

8 mos of seasoning is surely not enough. If the wood is oak its not even 1/2 seasoned. The surface water is not your problem, its the interior moisture beihg cooked out and finding its way onto your chimney walls on the way out of your house. Really is no solution but to burn well seasoned wood (~20% MC.). Probably time to get a moisture meter and some more unseasoned wood for next year.

 

[Revturbo977]

i have taken all the oak out and put it aside in a 2 year pile. its mostly maple and cherry now. my wood for next year was split in November so its really not much better

 

[Fsappo]

If it was me, until you had properly seasoned wood:
I would split the wood small and only have small hot fires. You know, three or four small splits at a time. Let them burn with medium air for a few hours, take the chill off, etc. Unless you want to take that pipe off every month or so. Neither guaranty never having a chimney fire, but will put the odds in your favor.

 

[Revturbo977]

are bio bricks an option?

 

[tarzan]

i have taken all the oak out and put it aside in a 2 year pile. its mostly maple and cherry now. my wood for next year was split in November so its really not much better

If next year's wood is Maple and Cherry split in November this should be much better next year than what you are burning now.

Bio-bricks, as mentioned could help you through the rest of the season. Honestly, I would consider getting my hands on some seasoned wood if at all possible. Probably next to impossible to do right now but would allow what you have to season for next year and get you that much further ahead.

You had a wake up call. Things could have been much worse had it happened just after you went to bed than just before.

 

[Revturbo977]

getting seasoned wood now is impossible. my biggest issues with the wood i have for next year is i never had a chance to stack it. so its buried under a mountain of snow. NOT drying out

 

[marajade]

getting seasoned wood now is impossible. my biggest issues with the wood i have for next year is i never had a chance to stack it. so its buried under a mountain of snow. NOT drying out

i feel ya. we had a cord of almost seasoned (24%ish) wood delivered the day before before the 1st blizzard and i only got about 1/5 of it up on pallets before the storm came. we put a tarp on it but its buried good now. we keep going out there to bring select pieces into the garage to chop up real small. it works fine mixed with all our 9%-11% super dry stuff.

 

[jatoxico]

You didn't mention what your temps or air control settings have been as you've been running. Wet wood needs more air, even if it's a bit wasteful try and send as much hot air up the chimney as you can. Even if it's burning OK low air control means low flue temps and gases have more residence time in the chimney. Bio bricks are a good option to help out marginal wood as is smaller split size and airy loading.

 

[tarzan]

getting seasoned wood now is impossible. my biggest issues with the wood i have for next year is i never had a chance to stack it. so its buried under a mountain of snow. NOT drying out

Not sure what happened to "Backwoods Savage" but it's a good thing he's not around to read this!

You've got to get ahead or next year will not be any better.

 

[mellow]

Did I miss something with Backwoods Savage? I liked kidding him about his milk crate splitting.

 

[Revturbo977]

Not sure what happened to "Backwoods Savage" but it's a good thing he's not around to read this!

You've got to get ahead or next year will not be any better.

kind of hard when everything is locked up in a snow mess

 

[branchburner]

my wood was cut down and split in march of last year, so its far from perfect but it works

Well, I think you just demonstrated it doesn't work, least not well enough to be at ease.

The first year I had my stove, I realized I was in trouble: wood, wood everywhere but not a drop to burn, as in no seasoned splits. So I went scrounging that fall for small-diameter standing dead and downed branch wood (hence the name "branchburner") and pallets and seasoned softwoods/slabs that were being given away on craigslist. All that stuff, and an oil burner, got me through my first season with burning only a very small amount of too-green wood.

Next year, the antique oil burner broke down. But I was prepared, and haven't used it for the past five years other than for a day or three.

I'd suggest running your furnace more and your stove less, because this is turning out to not be a very good winter for running around looking for dry pallets and such. I'd also think about building a wood shed. As for the first-year-burner-blues, there's really only one answer: spring.

 

[jatoxico]

Did I miss something with Backwoods Savage? I liked kidding him about his milk crate splitting.

No he's good, just hangs out elsewhere these days.