Close call for a friend...

[Swedishchef]

Hey guys

Well a friend came over yesterday to brings some Christmas gifts to my kids.

He told me that the previous night he woke to the smoke detectors going off in the house. He came downstairs and saw the stovepipe glowing red!! He has an old smoke dragon in the middle of his 85 year old 2 storey home with single wall pipe and a class A going straight up. I am uncertain of the make/model of the stove. He said that the paint on the wall BEHIND the stove was blistering!! He said there was certainly a chimney fire and the flames were coming out of the chimney. He extinguished the fire with an extinguisher.

I asked if he sweeps his chimney and he said he does it every 6 weeks. This friend is the type of person who is extremely safe and cautious when doing anything "risky". He said that he has a damper and he doesn't often sweep around the damper because it gets in the way. My feeling is that he may have forgotten to clean all together the stovepipe leading to the damper and creosote built up.

And now this got me thinking: I touched the wall behind my stove and it is certainly warm (perhaps 50C or so). I am above and beyond my clearance requirements (back of the stove is 21 inches from the wall) but it certainly came close for my buddy.

EIther way, make sure to be safe out there. No need for more Christmas time mishaps/disasters.

ANdrew

 

[Maple man]

wow glad every thing worked out with your friend

 

[corey21]

Glad your friend is OK. My wall behind the stove gets warm but i don't worry to much.

 

[begreen]

Wow, that sounds like it was a close call. Maybe it's time for the friend to get a modern stove and burn dry wood?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I agree with Begreen. If this isn't a wake up call for him probably nothing will do. It would certainly scare me!

 

[Swedishchef]

Yes he has learned. He just invested in a soot eater (basement on my recommendations) and I told him to inspect every piece of chimney. He also wants to look at my stove and will likely invest in an EPA stove within 2 weeks. He certainly learned indeed. Paint bubbling can't be a good thing...

A

 

[begreen]

I'm really glad they are all ok. Sounds like a big Osburn would be a nice improvement.

 

[eclecticcottage]

Wow, scary. Good thing he had working detectors and was able to get it put out.

The wall behind the stove/pipe here never feel warmer than they would if the sun were to shine on them for a while.

 

[firefighterjake]

Getting a modern woodstove of course isn't a fool-proof fix . . . but that in combination with good wood, good burning practices and regular inspections/cleaning certainly reduces the chances of a fire. I have and continue to see far more fires involving older woodstoves vs. the newer woodstoves.