Help please! Chimney fire or what???

[Burningbridges]

Just after reloading our warm fire box which had a few coals in our blaze king ashford wood stove. Spouse had to relight with paper and kindling. After about 20 minutes to half hour our ceiling mounted smoke detector starts going off. We smell a hot burning smell. Our thimble is making popping snapping noises. Spouse goes on the roof. It's pouring rain but he doesn't hear anything or note any sparks etc. The flute was open and the temperature was still low enough that it wasn't in the active zone for our catalitic component. The popping lasts 2-3 minutes.

We've cleaned the pipe aprox 1 month ago and burn 15% humidity wood. Straight pipe from stove to chimney (metal)


An hour later house still smells like hot burnt something but not a wood burning smell. Any ideas what happend? Draft issue from rain? What now?

 

[chemical_man]

Sounds like something I encountered last year: popping, hot stovepipe (double wall, so hot the sticker's glue melted) for a nerve-wracking 15 minutes! I created that problem with wet wood and not enough air. Fortunately I sprung for a system rated for a chimney fire "OK" for 1.5 hour @ 2100 F; no damage from what happened.

Anyways, I see you cleaned the pipe (stovepipe?); did you also scrape and vacuum your stove? If not, it's possible you were burning creosote in the woodstove and those hot gases go up. Did you scrub the thimble?

I'd would let the stove cool, take the pipe off and inspect for warped parts in the pipe, elbow, and thimble. While you're at it, brush again and check inside the stove (clean as necessary).

 

[Burningbridges]

Anyways, I see you cleaned the pipe (stovepipe?); did you also scrape and vacuum your stove? If not, it's possible you were burning creosote in the woodstove and those hot gases go up. Did you scrub the thimble?

I'd would let the stove cool, take the pipe off and inspect for warped parts in the pipe, elbow, and thimble. While you're at it, brush again and check inside the stove (clean as necessary).[/quote]

No we didn't scrape or vacuum. Will do that today as well as inspect the chimney etc. Our double wall stove pipe and stove are only 7 months old so I hope we didn't damage anything and that the pipe can withstand a small burn. Thanks for the tips!

 

[chemical_man]

Hopefully everything turned out OK. Find anything? Has it happened again?