Got to see a real chimney fire today

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using them fake logs in the store it says on the package that it cleans the chimeny is that true? will using one a month or somthing help clean the chimeny out some?
 
firefighterjake said:
I wouldn't have an issue with folks using a clean out door and either firing off an ABC dry powder extinguisher up the chimney . . . heck we use this sometimes to attempt a quick knock down on a fire . . . the other option is to open the clean out door and if there are any hot cinders/creosote put a small cup of water on the cinder/creosote

We talking coffee cup size?
 
how about this stuff we put in our firplace once in a while its a powder called MEECOS RED DEVIL cREOSOTE DESTROYER.. heres some pictures of the labels and claims. are most these things snake oils?
 

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Ghettontheball said:
cmonSTART said:
I got to see a real chimney fire today at CSIA in their test chimney. It was pretty educational. Lots of smoke at times, rumbling, liner tiles cracking. The funny thing is, there wasn't that much glaze in the chimney to start but it burned well anyway.

Moral: Keep them clean!
seems there otta be extensive documentation of this event considering tiles cracking would require chimney rebuild. setting of fire + much data i would need to consider this much more than a chimnisweep's ad.

Ghettontheball: huh??

CarbonNeutral: no pics, sorry. I do not have my digital with me this week.

fbelec: They started the fire with piles of cardboard in the bottom of the flue inside the cleanout door. While it wasn't an overly hot fire it was hotter than most chimneys get having the fire directly at the bottom of the flue. Eventually the tar caught. The tiles cracking sounded like hollow pops amid the rumbling of the fire. Eventually we did have flames coming out the top and after everything was cooled down we broke the flue tiles and removed the crown to prepare for the new liner it would get later.
 
greythorn, never heard of that specific product but based on the directions it sounds similar to ACS. It's a chemical catalyst which changes glazed creosote into a more brushable form. It's no substitute for brushing, but it makes brushing easier. Remember too that you shouldn't need it with an EPA stove as they burn clean already.
 
Ghettontheball said:
yes but the air flows too when the door is open . a chimfex or whatever is lit & the inserted into the cleanout. its chemically designed so it burns itself without air thus prducing co2 in hopes of extinguishing the chimnifire but id bet all my donuts that steam would work better as would be the case with wet newspaper in woodstove. backflash remains contentious & ur backflash is pretty unusual& stupid= if gas builds up in stove that has no flame it can blow up,duh,

1. Go buy a wood stove and install it.

2. Have a chimney fire.

3. Throw one of your damned wet newspapers into the stove.

4. Get back to us.
 
i use one of those csl logs for the last fire in the spring. it turns the tar like creosote into flakes. if the creosote was thick in certain spots it will fall on it's own, but generally speaking if you don't brush it stays put. if you are running a epa stove and you have a creosote build up, you are doing something major league wrong. those csl logs work alot better than sprinkling the powder on a fire. but anyway the cls logs are made for a slow burning fireplace or non epa stove. the csl log used in a stove that has a secondary burner makes any little bit of creosote look different from the flakes that it make in a non epa stove. in the stove with a secondary burner it turn the creosote into a fine black powder. like baking flour. you want to talk about making it easy to brush.
we a big back and forth thread on the csl log a few years ago here. were due for another.
the what was said is that the logs make chimney fires. they right to a certain extent. if you use the log or the powder along with your normal fires it starts drying the tar creosote up and when it get to a certain amount of times hot cold hot cold it start making flakes stick off the walls of the liner and makes it easier to start a chimney fire because the fire can get both sides of the creosote and makes for a quicker start. if your setup makes creosote it's best not to use the powders or log until the last fire. i'm talking my experience here. every time i used the powder i had a fire in the chimney start. lucky enough i there when it starts and i close things up and it goes out before i gets big and uncontrolled. anyway i'm beatin a dead horse here. if you use a log it will make for a easier brushing, but DON'T FORGET TO BRUSH.
 
BrotherBart said:
Ghettontheball said:
yes but the air flows too when the door is open . a chimfex or whatever is lit & the inserted into the cleanout. its chemically designed so it burns itself without air thus prducing co2 in hopes of extinguishing the chimnifire but id bet all my donuts that steam would work better as would be the case with wet newspaper in woodstove. backflash remains contentious & ur backflash is pretty unusual& stupid= if gas builds up in stove that has no flame it can blow up,duh,

1. Go buy a wood stove and install it.

2. Have a chimney fire.

3. Throw one of your damned wet newspapers into the stove.

4. Get back to us.


You've got it all wrong. Step 4 is get out of the house and watch it burn down. He won't get back to us until step 5. Oh no wait, step 5 is "investigate" and "contact prof and university chemical engineers". Step 6 is get back to us. Maybe skipping step 6 wouldn't be the end of the world though.
 
meathead said:
BrotherBart said:
Ghettontheball said:
yes but the air flows too when the door is open . a chimfex or whatever is lit & the inserted into the cleanout. its chemically designed so it burns itself without air thus prducing co2 in hopes of extinguishing the chimnifire but id bet all my donuts that steam would work better as would be the case with wet newspaper in woodstove. backflash remains contentious & ur backflash is pretty unusual& stupid= if gas builds up in stove that has no flame it can blow up,duh,

1. Go buy a wood stove and install it.

2. Have a chimney fire.

3. Throw one of your damned wet newspapers into the stove.

4. Get back to us.


You've got it all wrong. Step 4 is get out of the house and watch it burn down. He won't get back to us until step 5. Oh no wait, step 5 is "investigate" and "contact prof and university chemical engineers". Step 6 is get back to us. Maybe skipping step 6 wouldn't be the end of the world though.

Leaving out getting out of the house was not an oversight. :lol:
 
if u noticed instructions to the chemfex said open door & put in stove,eh, which preempts the possibility of a "blowback" except from ye blowhards :kiss:

fortunately, since you have the chimfex in your hand at the time of the blow back you should be able to extinguish yourself! Maybe this just goes to show that we should have 2 chimfex's around. One to put out your shirt and the sofa across from the woodstove, another for the fire in the stove.

food for thought.

pen
 
Ghettontheball said:
if u noticed instructions to the chemfex said open door & put in stove,eh, which preempts the possibility of a "blowback" except from ye blowhards :kiss:

Some people burn wood. Some people just talk about burning wood.
 
meathead said:
firefighterjake said:
I wouldn't have an issue with folks using a clean out door and either firing off an ABC dry powder extinguisher up the chimney . . . heck we use this sometimes to attempt a quick knock down on a fire . . . the other option is to open the clean out door and if there are any hot cinders/creosote put a small cup of water on the cinder/creosote

We talking coffee cup size?

Or less . . . I typically take a cup of water and start "flicking" it on to the hot cinders . . . sounds crazy . . . not very much water at all . . . but it truly does work.
 
BrotherBart said:
Ghettontheball said:
yes but the air flows too when the door is open . a chimfex or whatever is lit & the inserted into the cleanout. its chemically designed so it burns itself without air thus prducing co2 in hopes of extinguishing the chimnifire but id bet all my donuts that steam would work better as would be the case with wet newspaper in woodstove. backflash remains contentious & ur backflash is pretty unusual& stupid= if gas builds up in stove that has no flame it can blow up,duh,

1. Go buy a wood stove and install it.

2. Have a chimney fire.

3. Throw one of your damned wet newspapers into the stove.

4. Get back to us.

Where does the Mystical . . . I mean Magic Heater figure into this equation? ;)
 
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