Fast high flue temp post mortem

[BirthofSerpents]

Started a fire tonight as usual. Put a bigger piece of hardwood in there but nothing crazy. It must of really took off like never before because before the 20 minute mark, which is usually when I close the door, the fire alarm went off. I could smell hot metal and though the stove top was maybe 350F, the flue temp had rocketed to 1400F.

I turned the stove down and it stalled at at that temp and eventually cooled down, but not before a second fire alarm went off (I could strongly smell the hot metal but I never saw any smoke in the house.) While I wast monitoring, I noticed a section of the stove pipe (pictured below), was discolored (you can see at the top of the pic). (cont. below pic)

I metered it and while the rest of the stove pipe had cooled, that section remained about 100 degrees hotter for a good while. Even now it's few degrees hotter than the areas above and below it at normal temps. A few questions:

1. Did I have a chimney fire? I checked outside and observed no flames or light from the outpipe. I clean the stove yearly in October but haven't yet this year because it's been unseasonably cold and wet. I was just waiting for a warmer day.

2. Do I need to replace that section of pipe before having another fire?

3. What could have caused that to get so hot so quick? A pitchy piece of wood? Just really dry?

I thought I'd share here and see.

 

[weee123]

Definitely clean the chimney and inspect that pipe before you have another fire. It’s not getting any warmer out. Why are you walking away from a stove with an open door, let alone leaving the door open for 20 minutes?

 

[bholler]

Started a fire tonight as usual. Put a bigger piece of hardwood in there but nothing crazy. It must of really took off like never before because before the 20 minute mark, which is usually when I close the door, the fire alarm went off. I could smell hot metal and though the stove top was maybe 350F, the flue temp had rocketed to 1400F.

I turned the stove down and it stalled at at that temp and eventually cooled down, but not before a second fire alarm went off (I could strongly smell the hot metal but I never saw any smoke in the house.) While I wast monitoring, I noticed a section of the stove pipe (pictured below), was discolored (you can see at the top of the pic). (cont. below pic)

View attachment 341479

I metered it and while the rest of the stove pipe had cooled, that section remained about 100 degrees hotter for a good while. Even now it's few degrees hotter than the areas above and below it at normal temps. A few questions:

1. Did I have a chimney fire? I checked outside and observed no flames or light from the outpipe. I clean the stove yearly in October but haven't yet this year because it's been unseasonably cold and wet. I was just waiting for a warmer day.

2. Do I need to replace that section of pipe before having another fire?

3. What could have caused that to get so hot so quick? A pitchy piece of wood? Just really dry?

I thought I'd share here and see.

It could have been a fire but at that temp its not a given. Just clean it and check things out

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Why leave the door open 20 minutes? Will the fire not stay lit if you keep it shut?

 

[Ctwoodtick]

startup fires can vary with how quickly they take off. I’ve had some that seem to take a while and some I walk away from for a few minutes and it’s and inferno in no time. While I keep door just cracked open, it catches the latch a little bit. Definitely don’t leave it where a log could roll out of stove.

 

[BirthofSerpents]

Definitely clean the chimney and inspect that pipe before you have another fire. It’s not getting any warmer out. Why are you walking away from a stove with an open door, let alone leaving the door open for 20 minutes?

Open is a poor choice of words. Closed but latch down so cracked a 1/2".

 

[BirthofSerpents]

Why leave the door open 20 minutes? Will the fire not stay lit if you keep it shut?

Closed but with the latch down before closing, so cracked like maybe 1/2". And yeah, I get really slow starts/no starts if I don't do that. Pretty sure I read to do that when starting a PE stove.

 

[stovelark]

Probably nothing really bad happened, but definitely a puckering moment. Revisit rule 1- never leave the room with a stove door open, and on the latch is still open. We've all pretty much been there, its no fun. Stay warm.

 

[begreen]

Open is a poor choice of words. Closed but latch down so cracked a 1/2".

Yeah, one should never leave the room with the stove door ajar. It's too easy to get distracted. A good idea is to set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes that loudly reminds one to attend the stove. A digital flue probe with an alarm is also a very good idea. It's save me from a space out more than once.

 

[BirthofSerpents]

Yeah, one should never leave the room with the stove door ajar. It's too easy to get distracted. A good idea is to set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes that loudly reminds one to attend the stove. A digital flue probe with an alarm is also a very good idea. It's save me from a space out more than once.

I set alarms and I'm typically in and out of the room doing things but noted, and for shorter intervals. I'll look into the digital flue probe too.