Has anyone had a Chimney Fire

[jakehunter]

Hello,

I am looking at getting a wood stove or a pellet stove. I am leaning towards a pellet stove maybe easier to maintain? Has anyone had a chimney fore with a pellet stove / corn stove??

 

[krooser]

While it's not impossible, pellet stoves generally don't have the creosote buid-up that you'd fine with a pellet stove...routine maintenance will avoid any potential problems... plus you don't have to cut and split your pellets.

 

[IceNine]

While it's not impossible, pellet stoves generally don't have the creosote buid-up that you'd fine with a pellet stove...routine maintenance will avoid any potential problems... plus you don't have to cut and split your pellets.

what he means is a "Wood Stove"

 

[imacman]

Hello,

I am looking at getting a wood stove or a pellet stove. I am leaning towards a pellet stove maybe easier to maintain? Has anyone had a chimney fore with a pellet stove / corn stove??

What do you mean "easier to maintain"?

If you mean removing/cleaning ashes of a wood vs. pellet stove, there is definitely more maintenance w/ a pellet stove.

If you include the chopping, splitting, stacking, dirt, splinters, etc, etc that also come along with a wood stove, then a pellet stove is the better choice, IMO.

I've had both types.

 

[jakehunter]

macman

Thanks, for the post may I ask why you have both wood and pellet? If you where going to start over from square one witch one would you pick wood or pellet?

 

[Swaybar]

While it's not impossible, pellet stoves generally don't have the creosote buid-up that you'd fine with a pellet stove...routine maintenance will avoid any potential problems... plus you don't have to cut and split your pellets.

I can't imagine the exhaust getting hot enough to start a creosote fire IF getting creosote build up was possible. I would think a plugged up exhaust would happen long before a fire, but I have never heard of a chimney fire on a pellet stove or creosote buildup.

BTW ... an old fireman's trick...put rock salt down the chimeny in case of a chimney fire...due to the heat the salt "explodes" breaking up the creosote...a LOT better than water. I was a fireman for 16 years in Northern Maine so I rolled on plenty of chimney fires. If we went to the same place 3 or more times in one winter, we would use water to teach the homeowner a lesson, ( water makes a mess in the basement, and can crack a liner), otherwise we used rock salt. DRY Chem agent works too!

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

While it's not impossible, pellet stoves generally don't have the creosote buid-up that you'd fine with a pellet stove...routine maintenance will avoid any potential problems... plus you don't have to cut and split your pellets.

I can't imagine the exhaust getting hot enough to start a creosote fire IF getting creosote build up was possible. I would think a plugged up exhaust would happen long before a fire, but I have never heard of a chimney fire on a pellet stove or creosote buildup.

BTW ... an old fireman's trick...put rock salt down the chimeny in case of a chimney fire...due to the heat the salt "explodes" breaking up the creosote...a LOT better than water. I was a fireman for 16 years in Northern Maine so I rolled on plenty of chimney fires. If we went to the same place 3 or more times in one winter, we would use water to teach the homeowner a lesson, ( water makes a mess in the basement, and can crack a liner), otherwise we used rock salt. DRY Chem agent works too!

Most creosote build up occurs above the burn pot on the metal surfaces behind the fake brick and around the pellet feed during long low burns. I normally burns off when the burn rate is increased.

You have to actually go looking for it.

It is however theoretically possible for it to build up elsewhere in the exhaust system and get touched off when the burn goes to high. Some pellet stoves put out a very hot active flame at high burn that can reach the mess that sometimes forms around the heat exchanger tubes so it could touch off things there and progress to any that has accumulated further up in the exhaust system.

If it slowly burns wood it will form creosote somewhere and when the burn goes to high it will ignite.

That all having been said, pellets form very little creosote compared to burning a large amount of wood in a slow burn situation inside a wood stove.

 

[Highbeam]

The bigger question you seem to have is pellet vs. wood. I like wood but would like to also have a pellet stove for those unattended, thermostatic, clean burns when I'm not home or if there's a burn ban. There have been many pellet vs. wood debates over the years that would provide plenty of reading for you.

Maintenance on the pellet stove can be extensive with motors and computer chips. Feeding a pellet stove is thermostatic and from prepackaged product which is way less labor intensive than wood. The time you spend changing and cleaning motors is nothing compared to the attention required for wood fires.