Crazy popping sounds in flue?

[Jotel me this]

Fell asleep on the couch. woke up to stove temp at 630F (jotul F55). heard what sounds like metal popcorn inside flue or stove where flue attaches to stove. ??

i think i had an over-fire situation. in another recent question it was said its best to open the door during an overfire to cool the stove down but i was scared out of my wits to open the door with such large flame and the sound so i just cut the air down to zero.

ok so.. class me here. as a young, wood stove Padawan ...what was the sound? should i have opened the door? Did i fail the hearth.com community?



PS: what is a smoldering fire? ive read many times in here they create creaosote.. but is it whentheres no flame? small flame? a bunch of burned wood with no flame?? red hot coals with flame? red hot coals without flame?

 

[weatherguy]

630 isn't over fire territory, maybe just the metal expanding? Mine makes noises sometime.

 

[Woody Stover]

maybe just the metal expanding? Mine makes noises sometime.

Yep, that's the sound of you overfiring your connector pipe. Use your phone timer to keep you from spacing out if you leave the room, or from falling asleep. You got lucky this time. It would be a shame to overfire and ruin your new stove..and costly to replace it.

 

[edyit]

what is a smoldering fire?

ever had a fire outside? then thrown a bunch of lawn clippings, pine needles, leaves on it and it just puts off a cloud of smoke and no flames, thats smoldering

 

[Jotel me this]

630 isn't over fire territory, maybe just the metal expanding? Mine makes noises sometime.

Yep, that's the sound of you overfiring your connector pipe. Use your phone timer to keep you from spacing out if you leave the room, or from falling asleep. You got lucky this time. It would be a shame to overfire and ruin your new stove..and costly to replace it.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm... conflicting thoughts

 

[Woody Stover]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm... conflicting thoughts

Well maybe you hadn't quite overfired your connector pipe yet but if you had let it go a couple more minutes, it probably would have started to glow. The pipe will heat up a lot faster than the stove will when you have the air open and big flame in the box.

 

[kborndale]

630 is not overfiring your stove.

 

[maple1]

Have you inspected and/or cleaned your chimney yet?

Just going by the sound you described, the only time I have heard what I might describe that way would be while there was a flue fire happening up top.

 

[Rob711]

I’d get that sound if I cut the air back with a well established fire. My thought was the metal expandind and contracting. It happened when liner was new. Happened after I cleaned it. My case it was not creosote. Like metal popcorn sounds. It’s unsettling. It’s counterintuitive but I open the air slightly when I hear it and it goes away, this was vc non cat intrepid.

 

[vwmike]

To clarify it's possible to overfire the stove pipe and still have the stove not that hot. That's why it's good to have a thermometer on the pipe too.

 

[weatherguy]

To clarify it's possible to overfire the stove pipe and still have the stove not that hot. That's why it's good to have a thermometer on the pipe too.

Was just going to say that. Its not an over fire on the stove top but I dont know the flue temp.

 

[Ludlow]

630 is not overfiring your stove.

I hit 668 stovetop so I hope not.

 

[Hogwildz]

630 ain't even close. If it is a newer set up, you may have heard flakes of creo falling down the stack. Not uncommon for new liners or piping. Metal expands as it gets hot, just the nature of the beast. Smouldering is not getting it hot enough for complete burn, and a good indicator is smoke coming out the top of the stack, the fire stalling and dropping in temp when it should be rising or steady. You should have good flames in the start, secondaries after cutting the air back, then most likely glowing splits, which will continue to glow and burn down to nothing for the duration of the burn. There may or may not be some flames during the mid to getting to the final stages. Another indicator that you may have smouldered the load, is a shitload of unburnt coals when you go to load again, not glowing, but black and unburnt due to lack of combustion. You have all the intensity of a new burner, nothing wrong with that, ask questions as they arise, as you are doing. In time you will settle in and become more comfortable.

 

[firefighterjake]

To echo . . .

If it sounded more like a popping metal sound . . . ticking . . . or creaking . . . woodstove is heating up.

If it sounded more like someone just poured a box of rice crispies down the stove pipe . . . creosote falling down the stove pipe.

If it sounded like a run-away train or jet about to land on your house . . . there is a good chance you have a chimney fire.

 

[maple1]

To echo . . .

If it sounded more like a popping metal sound . . . ticking . . . or creaking . . . woodstove is heating up.

If it sounded more like someone just poured a box of rice crispies down the stove pipe . . . creosote falling down the stove pipe.

If it sounded like a run-away train or jet about to land on your house . . . there is a good chance you have a chimney fire.

Also, item 3 can cause item 2. Sometimes with noise you might not really notice.

 

[Woody5506]

My flue makes noise as it heats up, it use to worry me a bit during my first season but it seems fairly normal now. I attributed it more so to metal expanding/contracting not so much an overfire. Never seen my flue come close to glowing red.