chimney fire!

[struggle]

Well I started the wood stove about 1 1/2 ago. I had the doors open as the fire was building and then I noticed the jet running sound. The fire was going fine but from sitting by the stove you could hear what sounded like a jet sucking/roar from the stove pipe up further. It stopped after a few minutes and I am letting the stove burn out. I know have a bit of a burnt food oder in the house. I cannot quite explain the smell other than it just stinks. THe stink is coming from the upstairs fire place where it has a large concrete chamber around the fireplace to retain heat when it is going.

I have been having creosote problems with the stove chimney.

Since I could smell the stuff upstairs I went into the attic (up to where the chimney is against the house) and no smoke or smell there. Walls everywhere are cold to the touch. I am able to see on both sides of the chimeny concrete structure due to an access hatch on one side and an ash dump on the other side. I am at this time certain it was contained just in the tiles.

This is scary stuff. The chimney is completely an outside one and is completely concrete encased but still makes me nervous. Once the stove is out I will brush the chimney out later and see what if anything can be seen.

It is clear that this will not be used anymore until a liner is put in.

Sad thing about this is I just two days ago bought a Hearthstone Mansfield soapstone stove which is sitting in the back of my truck.

Short of the droaning sucking sound the stove worked normal as can be.

I just hope this is all that happens and can be thankfull that nothing burns down.

 

[Hogwildz]

Well I started the wood stove about 1 1/2 ago. I had the doors open as the fire was building and then I noticed the jet running sound. The fire was going fine but from sitting by the stove you could hear what sounded like a jet sucking/roar from the stove pipe up further. It stopped after a few minutes and I am letting the stove burn out. I know have a bit of a burnt food oder in the house. I cannot quite explain the smell other than it just stinks. THe stink is coming from the upstairs fire place where it has a large concrete chamber around the fireplace to retain heat when it is going.

I have been having creosote problems with the stove chimney.

Since I could smell the stuff upstairs I went into the attic (up to where the chimney is against the house) and no smoke or smell there. Walls everywhere are cold to the touch. I am able to see on both sides of the chimeny concrete structure due to an access hatch on one side and an ash dump on the other side. I am at this time certain it was contained just in the tiles.

This is scary stuff. The chimney is completely an outside one and is completely concrete encased but still makes me nervous. Once the stove is out I will brush the chimney out later and see what if anything can be seen.

It is clear that this will not be used anymore until a liner is put in.

Sad thing about this is I just two days ago bought a Hearthstone Mansfield soapstone stove which is sitting in the back of my truck.

Short of the droaning sucking sound the stove worked normal as can be.

I just hope this is all that happens and can be thankfull that nothing burns down.

Are you absolutely sure it was a chimney fire? Before I put my new insert in, the old one which was a direct connect, used to get a pretty good roar to it once it got up and going good. Then again, if you use it alot, and this is out of the ordinary for usual usage and everything else was the usual same, better safe than sorry as ELK's sig says.

 

[BrotherBart]

Easy enough to confirm. If he climbs up there and looks down the cleanest chimney he has ever seen, he had a chimney fire.

 

[Hogwildz]

Easy enough to confirm. If he climbs up there and looks down the cleanest chimney he has ever seen, he had a chimney fire.

Preferably when no jet engine sound is happening huh?
I am curious though, would there be an more corbon buildup than normal? As in an extremely more noticeable amount? Is a clean chimney the only indicator, other than the sounds, etc. at the time of the event? I guess new fresh cracks or damage would be a given, but I am thinking more along the lines of carbon, some kind of abnormal burn marks etc?

 

[BrotherBart]

Every one I have ever seen was clean as a whistle. Blows the stuff right out the top. While the 2100 degree number gets a lot of press most chimney fires don't get there. But with the stuff on the flue walls burning and the tremendous draft it can clean one up pretty darn good.

 

[Hogwildz]

Every one I have ever seen was clean as a whistle. Blows the stuff right out the top. While the 2100 degree number gets a lot of press most chimney fires don't get there. But with the stuff on the flue walls burning and the tremendous draft it can clean one up pretty darn good.

Well now, as tempting as it sounds, I think I'll just clean mine the ol fashioned way with a brush Although I do have a propane roofing torch, might come in handy if any heavy build up on the top section of the stainless & underside of cap.

 

[BrotherBart]

Every one I have ever seen was clean as a whistle. Blows the stuff right out the top. While the 2100 degree number gets a lot of press most chimney fires don't get there. But with the stuff on the flue walls burning and the tremendous draft it can clean one up pretty darn good.

Well now, as tempting as it sounds, I think I'll just clean mine the ol fashioned way with a brush Although I do have a propane roofing torch, might come in handy if any heavy build up on the top section of the stainless & underside of cap.

You would be amazed at the number of oldtimers that still clean their chimney by intentionally lighting off a chimney fire. In fact I run my stoves hot on start up to do exactly that after a slow overnight burn.

 

[Hogwildz]

Every one I have ever seen was clean as a whistle. Blows the stuff right out the top. While the 2100 degree number gets a lot of press most chimney fires don't get there. But with the stuff on the flue walls burning and the tremendous draft it can clean one up pretty darn good.

Well now, as tempting as it sounds, I think I'll just clean mine the ol fashioned way with a brush Although I do have a propane roofing torch, might come in handy if any heavy build up on the top section of the stainless & underside of cap.

You would be amazed at the number of oldtimers that still clean their chimney by intentionally lighting off a chimney fire. In fact I run my stoves hot on start up to do exactly that after a slow overnight burn.

How hot is "hot"? Isn't it usually the top couple of feet where the major buildup if any occurs? I get mine up to 650 or 700 at least once a night to try and keep her cleaned out.

 

[struggle]

I am pretty sure it was on fire although while watching from outside I saw nothing coming out but smoke. It smell like a burning strange odor coming from the upstairs fireplace area. I have speculated there was a crack or worse a settled clay tile and now I would guess it showed up.

The stove just has very hot coals in it now. AFter it cools off I will clean it out and look at what I can. The last several fires in the wood stove have not had any creosote smell at all from them as we were having a wekk ago.

As for the roar the fire was just ambling along and with the doors openon the Vigilant you could hear a gosh awfull roaring sound and it clearly was not from the fire in the Vigilant. I never saw an flame or stuff coming out on top.

Since it stinks in the house now I am considering calling the vol. fire cheif and let his nose smell around and see if he thinks we should do anything else.

Since our gas meter is turned off I will go the power company tomorrow and have the gas turned back on. We still can use the upstairs fire place but I want a back up heat source as it is only 16 degrees out and snowing right now.

This is just a bummer.

I was going to order a liner last week but at this time I still have not got an answer as to wether a flex liner can make two 45 degree turns in a 7X7 inside diameter flue (clay).

This is scary stuff. When this roaring was going on I left eh doors open on the Vigilant as my theory was it would pull eveything up and out of the chimney rather than shut the air off to the stove and then the fire would look for air in other places if there is indeed a large cracked tile or worse yet a hole.

 

[struggle]

Every one I have ever seen was clean as a whistle. Blows the stuff right out the top. While the 2100 degree number gets a lot of press most chimney fires don't get there. But with the stuff on the flue walls burning and the tremendous draft it can clean one up pretty darn good.

Well now, as tempting as it sounds, I think I'll just clean mine the ol fashioned way with a brush Although I do have a propane roofing torch, might come in handy if any heavy build up on the top section of the stainless & underside of cap.

You would be amazed at the number of oldtimers that still clean their chimney by intentionally lighting off a chimney fire. In fact I run my stoves hot on start up to do exactly that after a slow overnight burn.

How hot is "hot"? Isn't it usually the top couple of feet where the major buildup if any occurs? I get mine up to 650 or 700 at least once a night to try and keep her cleaned out.

Lat time about two weeks ago I shined a light and used a mirror to look upt the angled part of the chimney and that is where the worst of my creosote is.

 

[BrotherBart]

How hot is "hot"? Isn't it usually the top couple of feet where the major buildup if any occurs? I get mine up to 650 or 700 at least once a night to try and keep her cleaned out.

Flue temp is what keeps'er clean. But a brush is better. I have seen tests where creosote ignited around 750 degrees. On the older stoves the main source of chimney fires was flame impingment when flames went past the baffle and licked against creosote in the chimney.

 

[Hogwildz]

Every one I have ever seen was clean as a whistle. Blows the stuff right out the top. While the 2100 degree number gets a lot of press most chimney fires don't get there. But with the stuff on the flue walls burning and the tremendous draft it can clean one up pretty darn good.

Well now, as tempting as it sounds, I think I'll just clean mine the ol fashioned way with a brush Although I do have a propane roofing torch, might come in handy if any heavy build up on the top section of the stainless & underside of cap.

You would be amazed at the number of oldtimers that still clean their chimney by intentionally lighting off a chimney fire. In fact I run my stoves hot on start up to do exactly that after a slow overnight burn.

How hot is "hot"? Isn't it usually the top couple of feet where the major buildup if any occurs? I get mine up to 650 or 700 at least once a night to try and keep her cleaned out.

Lat time about two weeks ago I shined a light and used a mirror to look upt the angled part of the chimney and that is where the worst of my creosote is.

Mine is a straight run, but I have read numerous times that any elbows in the chimney are a definite creosote collector.

 

[Hogwildz]

How hot is "hot"? Isn't it usually the top couple of feet where the major buildup if any occurs? I get mine up to 650 or 700 at least once a night to try and keep her cleaned out.

Flue temp is what keeps'er clean. But a brush is better. I have seen tests where creosote ignited around 750 degrees. On the older stoves the main source of chimney fires was flame impingment when flames went past the baffle and licked against creosote in the chimney.

LMAO, I am def. a city guy in the mtns. You can take me outa the city, but can't take the city out of me
I thought if you let sheep or goats eat your grass instead of mowing it, you might be a redneck?> Or is that your definitely a redneck at that point?

 

[wahoowad]

Wouldn't the chimney fire draw a crap load of air through his stove and make a very noticable fanning of his flames? He says he saw normal flaming and no indication whatsoever looking at his firebox.

Maybe it was jet!

 

[BrotherBart]

Wouldn't the chimney fire draw a crap load of air through his stove and make a very noticable fanning of his flames? He says he saw normal flaming and no indication whatsoever looking at his firebox.

Maybe it was jet!

I know of numerous small chimney fires I have had over the years by what I saw in the chimney. See creosote in it one day and a few weeks later nothing but clean tiles. And never knew when a one of them was in progress. They aren't all blow torch, head for the hills and call the fire department events. In fact the minority of them are.

 

[berlin]

"You would be amazed at the number of oldtimers that still clean their chimney by intentionally lighting off a chimney fire"

i know many that still do. my father did it bi-weekly for 35 years, when the old kodiak insert was pulled from the fireplace before it was sold, the liner, was fairly clean w/ no visable cracks, he did it on rainy or snowy days because of the sparks and flaming creosote. the key is to do it often and slowly to minimize thermal shock of the tile; however i would still not reccomend it.

 

[Gooserider]

I'm somewhat confused by the folks on here saying that the aftermath of a chimney fire is a super clean chimney.... Most of the stuff I've seen elsewhere says that in addition to needing to get inspected, the post-fire chimney needs to be cleaned because the fire supposedly leaves creosote remains that are more potentially flammable than what was in the flue originally...

I don't know how far up the chimney they go, but I know that when I have the smoke dragon cooking good it is sending flames up the flue - I can see them through a couple of tiny holes in the flue collar, and the cracks between the 8-6"reducer and the "T" it goes into.... Remember I'm running a pre-EPA stove with no baffles, I can see the flue from the door into the firebox....

Gooserider

 

[Corey]

Definitely a lot of myths and legends with chimney fires. I can only add my .02-

One time I had a 'chimney fire' in a rental house (I ask the landlord if he ever cleand the flue - he said no, but I could pay to have it done if i wanted...being a poor college student I decided I wasn't paying for anything) Well, one night I heard this crackling sound in the exposed stove pipe which ran up to the ceiling and I noticed it was putting off a lot of heat. Not glowing red, but definitely hot. The crackling continued and seemed to move up the pipe. Finally I could see slight amount of light coming from inside the flue - shining through tiny cracks where the pipe went into the thimble in the wall. I never saw sparks or flame coming out of the flue outside, but I could see the light 8' away from the stove on the inside. It went out on it's own with no apparent damage.

With the current stove set-up and cleaning my own chimney for free, hopefully the chimney fire is pretty unlikely. H have noticed on several occasions that if I let a new fire get a little big, the stove will put out a rumbling sound. It seems to be especially loud when flames curve completely around the baffle and actually travel up into the stove pipe. One time it was incredibly loud rumble...I suspect about the resonant frequency of a 14' piece of pipe. So the bottom line is that I think the stove can emit rumbling noises even without a chimney fire, but just due to the dynamics of the burn...especially with brand new wood and a lot of unburnt gasses going up the flue.

Corey

 

[struggle]

I pulled the pipe off the thimble and now it is confiremd chimney fire. Chunks of creostote that is burned up are present in the form of small sheets after brushing what I could form in the basement. Since there is now 7" of snow on the roof and it is only 0 outside I am staying off the roof. I took a mirror and shoved it in the chimney and what I saw last time was caked on creosote and now it clean tile except for on the top sides of the angles from what I could see.

Since this happened and I am inclined to think it could again I am going to reline the chimney. I could smell the burnt aftermath smell in the upstairs fireplace are space (chamber) and after a closer look I can see the brick structure in the back left corner of the fireplace airspace that would be the outside portion of bricks that hold the woodstove clay tile liner. Since the fire I could smell that burnt yuck so I am sure there must be a crack or several in the clay liner. There never was anysmoke in the house as a result.

As to the question as to wether or not there was actully a fire the for sure was. When I came back inside the house after looking at the outside of the chimney I could upstairs in the house here the chimney roaring with the stove in the basement. There was no doubt after using this stove for 10 years that something was going on.

 

[wg_bent]

Definitely a lot of myths and legends with chimney fires. I can only add my .02-

One time I had a 'chimney fire' in a rental house (I ask the landlord if he ever cleand the flue - he said no, but I could pay to have it done if i wanted...being a poor college student I decided I wasn't paying for anything) Well, one night I heard this crackling sound in the exposed stove pipe which ran up to the ceiling and I noticed it was putting off a lot of heat. Not glowing red, but definitely hot. The crackling continued and seemed to move up the pipe. Finally I could see slight amount of light coming from inside the flue - shining through tiny cracks where the pipe went into the thimble in the wall. I never saw sparks or flame coming out of the flue outside, but I could see the light 8' away from the stove on the inside. It went out on it's own with no apparent damage.

With the current stove set-up and cleaning my own chimney for free, hopefully the chimney fire is pretty unlikely. H have noticed on several occasions that if I let a new fire get a little big, the stove will put out a rumbling sound. It seems to be especially loud when flames curve completely around the baffle and actually travel up into the stove pipe. One time it was incredibly loud rumble...I suspect about the resonant frequency of a 14' piece of pipe. So the bottom line is that I think the stove can emit rumbling noises even without a chimney fire, but just due to the dynamics of the burn...especially with brand new wood and a lot of unburnt gasses going up the flue.

Corey

Yeah, a really serious fire with full open air and a serious secondary burn going can result in a be of a rumble, but nothing like a jet or freight train that people describe. Also, since my rumble happens on a near daily basis just after a full load for the night...that's not a chimney fire.

 

[struggle]

Something I forgot to mention was I have been using that Rutland creosote remover stuff in each fire. It comes in the little plastic tubs with a scoop. I cannot help but think it might have loosend up the creosote coating the chimeny and helped to ignite the fire.

It was not a rumble, I should say it sounds like a blast furnace roaring sound to me. It seems like it started at the two turns and burned up from there. The top of this chimeny has always been clean and always the lower section that has been the dirtest.

 

[kevinmoelk]

Struggle, sorry for all your worries. On the bright side things certainly could have been worse in terms of real structural damage. Glad no one was hurt. Keep your chin up. You'll be up and running soon enough and with a better and safer system. Hopefully the old pocket book can weather the storm. Good luck.

-Kevin

 

[BrotherBart]

Something to think about is that in a lot of cases if you get a report made out by the fire department verifying a chimney fire your homeowners insurance will pay for a reline of the chimney. Several people around here have done that over the years. I didn't because there hasn't been obvious damage and I wanted to reline both flues for draft enhancement.

Insurance companies would rather pay for a reline than replace your house some day down the line.