GLOWING RED liner!

[Nater]

I started a fire this morning with some really dry small stuff on top of some coals. Once it was going, I put some smaller splits of my questionable wood (I'm still new, I know I need better wood) with MC about 25-30%. After about 10 minutes, I hear what sounds like metal expanding, which is normal for my stove as its all steel. But this sounds different. My stove top is reading at around 450 degrees, which is still not really that high for my stove. So I look behind my stove and the liner coming down from the chimney is GLOWING RED I quickly cut the air supply and it stops glowing within a few seconds.

Is this normal when running a non-EPA stove?
Did I damage my liner?
Is there something I should be doing different?

 

[ansehnlich1]

well, if you had a door open that could get the pipe glowing red.

or, if you were running wide open air that could get the pipe glowing red.

or, you may have had a chimney fire :bug:

 

[savageactor7]

Hi Nater, sounds to me like you had a small chimney fire...good thing you were right there to lock it down.

 

[Nater]

I just cleaned the liner about 2 weeks ago and had been burning some good seasoned wood I got from my father in law. I just ran out of the good wood so I had to switch back to my questionable wood. I doubt it was a chimney fire because it was under control in a few seconds. I have really good draft so I think it was probably just because the air was wide open and I had some really dry wood that I used to get it going (10+ years seasoned, small stuff). You can actually hear the stove sucking in the air and feel the airflow if you put your hand next to the air intake. It was just scary seeing glowing red. I really need to get an EPA stove since this stove just throws all the heat up the chimney.

The stove is cruising now at 650 degrees stove top and the liner looks normal.

 

[leeave96]

Was your liner glowing red or the stove pipe?

Sometimes single wall stove pipe will have creosote stick to it where an insulated liner will not - due to the rapid cooling of the single wall pipe. Creosote can collect and if you have flames shooting up the stove pipe, they can ignite the creosote. Sometimes I think that when you hear old timers talk about making a really hot fire once a day to keep things clean, what they were really doing was burning out some of the creosote. Better to do it frequently with a small build-up than after a couple of months of build-up my guess was their thinking.

Pull your pipe and check things over again.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[pen]

denial. It is what it is.

The important part is what you learn from the experience. Nobody will hold against you what happened. I cleaned my chimney monthly my first year and still had a small chimney fire. Since then, I've changed my practices and learned what it takes to never have to have that situation again.

The best thing you can do to prevent it is have next years wood on hand NOW.

Best of luck and glad everything is OK.

pen

 

[Nater]

Was your liner glowing red or the stove pipe?

Sometimes single wall stove pipe will have creosote stick to it where an insulated liner will not - due to the rapid cooling of the single wall pipe. Creosote can collect and if you have flames shooting up the stove pipe, they can ignite the creosote. Sometimes I think that when you hear old timers talk about making a really hot fire once a day to keep things clean, what they were really doing was burning out some of the creosote. Better to do it frequently with a small build-up than after a couple of months of build-up my guess was their thinking.

Pull your pipe and check things over again.

Good luck,
Bill

The liner was glowing red. I don't have much of a stove pipe, just a T to connect the stove to the liner. I've attached a picture to show how close the liner is to the stove.

 

[offroadaudio]

Seeing the discoloration on that Tee and liner, I'm voting small chimney fire.
I would pull all of the pipe - clean it - inspect it - clean liner and if no cracks are found, reassemble and burn away.
Check the flue output on the stove for any signs of cracking as well.

 

[leeave96]

Seeing the discoloration on that Tee and liner, I'm voting small chimney fire.
I would pull all of the pipe - clean it - inspect it - clean liner and if no cracks are found, reassemble and burn away.
Check the flue output on the stove for any signs of cracking as well.

+1

Hopefully no damage.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[begreen]

It might not have been a chimney fire in the traditional meaning. When the air is wide open and there is fresh wood on a hot coal bed (or a very dry load of wood), the wood outgases rapidly. At this point it can overwhelm the stove and carry secondary combustion up the flue pipe. Reducing the air supply, brought the stove under control and pipe temps down because combustion then stayed within the firebox. This is why it's good to stay close by as the stove is firing off and to reduce air according to the ignition of the fuel charge.

 

[Nater]

Thanks guys. I'm just waiting for the stove to cool down so I can check it out. Hopefully there will be no problems as it is supposed to sub zero temperatures here the next couple nights. The discoloration on the Tee has been there since just after the liner was installed last fall. I tried putting the magnetic thermometer there but it wouldn't stick (not SS?).

I also noticed that the adapter that connects the Tee to the stove (6" to 7") was not sealed at all and pretty loose. Could this have contributed by letting in air the flue?

Thanks again for your help and my putting up with my questions and ignorance.

 

[PNWBurner]

The bottom part of that "T" fitting looks like it would trap creosote after you sweep the upper section of the liner. Is there anyway to clean it out? Seems like a 90 degree elbow might be a better choice...

 

[Nater]

The bottom part of that "T" fitting looks like it would trap creosote after you sweep the upper section of the liner. Is there anyway to clean it out? Seems like a 90 degree elbow might be a better choice...

The whole bottom comes off to clean it out. The whole system was professionally installed and that is what they put on there.

 

[begreen]

The bottom of the tee has a clean out cap. It's removed when sweeping so that the cleanings just drop into an attached bag. Or it can be left on during the sweep, then removed at the end of the sweeping.

 

[PNWBurner]

The bottom of the tee has a clean out cap. It's removed when sweeping so that the cleanings just drop into an attached bag. Or it can be left on during the sweep, then removed at the end of the sweeping.

Ahh, that makes good sense! Mine goes straight into the stove but that clean out feature could be handy.

 

[Nater]

Just an update... I did get a chance to look over everything and it all looks good. I got a little bit of black flaky stuff out of the bottom of the Tee. The liner didn't look damaged at all, at least to me. I got it all hooked back up for the sub zero temps over the weekend and have had no more problems. I've been letting it get going with the air intake only half way open and it heats up just as quickly (about 10-15 mins to get to 600-650 stovetop temps) and doesn't sound like an jet taking off anymore.