Not sure how the acrid smoke ended up in your house, but there may be a possible explanation as follows: I've always wondered about the similarities between valveless pulsejets and stove/chimney systems. A stove/chimney system has all the ingredients that a valveless pulsejet has and I believe the two can operate in a similar manner under the right circumstances. If you're not familiar with a valveless pulsejet, it is a very simple machine that is nothing more than a hollow tube with a combustion chamber in it. The tube is usually bent into a "U" shape so that the jet can produce thrust, but it can also function as a straight pipe. A valveless pulsejet achieves pulse combustion by ingesting air in gulps through both sides of its pipe openings. Fuel is added to the combustion chamber so that the ingested air (and oxygen) mixes and burns thereby ejecting the heated mixture out of both ends of the pipe. The cycle repeats itself continuously at a rate proportional to the length of the pipe. The frequency the pulsejet operates at is mostly related to the length of the tube, very similar to an organ pipe. The longer the pipe, the lower the frequency. The shorter the pipe, the higher the frequency.
A stove and a chimney is an identical arrangement. Normally a stove simply burns fuel (wood) at a steady rate and the heated exhaust is released through the chimney/flue in a continuous and uneventful manner. But under the right circumstances, pulse combustion can and does occur in stove/chimney systems. And it may not be continuous pulse combustion, it may only occur as a single pulse, depending on what's happening inside the firebox and flue. A possible scenario that might explain the acrid smoke in your house is either a singular pulse (a "chuff") or a chain of pulses that caused some of the smoke to be blown through the stove's air intake system and into your house. If creosote accumulated in the stove's throat and a hot rapid fire was started that generated sparks and/or superheated air into the throat, it might have ignited the creosote. The creosote is a fuel, not unlike the fuel injected into a pulsejet to make it run. It is flammable and generates heat just like any fuel. Once it catches fire it can cause a sudden pressure wave that can force smoke both up the chimney and back into the stove. If there is enough oxygen present, the combustion cycle can continuously oscillate, just like a valveless pulsejet - because at that point, it IS a valveless pulsejet. Survivors of chimney fires often refer to a certain sound they hear as the chimney fire burns, similar to a freight train or a deep rumbling. I believe what they hear is the sound of the resonant frequency their chimney/flue is running at as a valveless pulsejet (mostly based on its length).
You can see the design of the valveless pulsejet in the videos below. It doesn't take much imagination to visualize the U shape tube as being straightened out and to see the obvious analogy between it and a fireplace/stove/chimney/flue arrangement.
http://youtu.be/55JoyhDwggU
http://youtu.be/EEHw9lInIfg
A stove and a chimney is an identical arrangement. Normally a stove simply burns fuel (wood) at a steady rate and the heated exhaust is released through the chimney/flue in a continuous and uneventful manner. But under the right circumstances, pulse combustion can and does occur in stove/chimney systems. And it may not be continuous pulse combustion, it may only occur as a single pulse, depending on what's happening inside the firebox and flue. A possible scenario that might explain the acrid smoke in your house is either a singular pulse (a "chuff") or a chain of pulses that caused some of the smoke to be blown through the stove's air intake system and into your house. If creosote accumulated in the stove's throat and a hot rapid fire was started that generated sparks and/or superheated air into the throat, it might have ignited the creosote. The creosote is a fuel, not unlike the fuel injected into a pulsejet to make it run. It is flammable and generates heat just like any fuel. Once it catches fire it can cause a sudden pressure wave that can force smoke both up the chimney and back into the stove. If there is enough oxygen present, the combustion cycle can continuously oscillate, just like a valveless pulsejet - because at that point, it IS a valveless pulsejet. Survivors of chimney fires often refer to a certain sound they hear as the chimney fire burns, similar to a freight train or a deep rumbling. I believe what they hear is the sound of the resonant frequency their chimney/flue is running at as a valveless pulsejet (mostly based on its length).
You can see the design of the valveless pulsejet in the videos below. It doesn't take much imagination to visualize the U shape tube as being straightened out and to see the obvious analogy between it and a fireplace/stove/chimney/flue arrangement.
http://youtu.be/55JoyhDwggU
http://youtu.be/EEHw9lInIfg
