Just had a chimney fire with my BK King!

[bholler]

my buddy just had his flue cleaned out. we stuck my borescope up it and its now nice and clean.
question... in a few parts you can see where there were probably some sticky residue of creosote (not flaky..the bad stuff). the guy used a spinning brush. it looks like its all removed except for a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry thin layer of black the size of a baseball card (iphone for the new generation).

theres no thickness to it. just a stain.

can the stain from sticky creosote cause fires as well?

Well yes i supose it could but it would be a really tiny one if the spot is the size of a baseball card.

And for the record the sticky stuff is worse than the flakey stuff.

 

[Jotel me this]

View attachment 234653

Its like looking at a fresh coat of paint on a 1968 dodge charger

 

[Jotel me this]

Well yes i supose it could but it would be a really tiny one if the spot is the size of a baseball card.

And for the record the sticky stuff is worse than the flakey stuff.

right. thats what i mean. not flaky.. the bad sticky stuff

 

[bholler]

right. thats what i mean. not flaky.. the bad sticky stuff

Ok i misunderstood

 

[Jotel me this]

Ok i misunderstood

thanks for the info

 

[Ludlow]

I have never hit 450 surface on my connector so I dont know what the OP means by saying he didnt get it up to temp?

, flue temp was around 450f 18” above the stovetop. The Cat was almost in the active so I was waiting to close the bypass. Actually both the stove and pipe never really heated up to normal temp, I just started hearing all the snapping and cracking

 

[wooduser]

<<And climbing hastily up onto a roof in an emergency situation sounds like something to avoid doing!

Actually I was calm and ran out to my shop, grabbed my large extinguisher, pulled the cap and gaver hell! It was a dry chemical ext and it worked great, out with 3 blasts and my pipe is 25ft.



Heh, heh! I probably would not have been calm!

Thanks for the report on the effectiveness of the fire extinguisher. I see you pulled off the chimney cap ----how hot was that? As I understand it, many chimney fires have the fire spouting a lot of flames out the top of the stack!

Frankly it would not have occurred to me to go up on the roof in that situation. How did you come to fight the fire that way?

I've tried to imagine how I should react to such a fire, and using a fire extinguisher indoors at the stove is what occurs to me as the thing to do. Would you use your roof attack method again should need be? What would you change based on your experience?


"Be Prepared" is a good motto--- I try to plan in advance for situations like a chimney fire so I'm not improvising should an emergency occur.

Based on your experience, are you happy with having your fire extinguisher located in the garage? Would having a second fire extinguisher be worth considering, or was the garage location handy and accessible when the time came to need to use it?

Personally, I keep my dry chemical fire extinguisher under the kitchen sink, about 15 feet from the stove. My theory is that you want the extinguisher handy to the stove, but not in the same room where a fire might restrict access to it.

 

[maple1]

I have never hit 450 surface on my connector so I dont know what the OP means by saying he didnt get it up to temp?

And it would be a lot hotter inside the pipe.

 

[Skidooer]

I have an ext beside the stove, I went on the roof and the cap wasn’t that hot. When I saw the fire it was easier to run in the garage and go back up the tv tower than back into the house. Fire was following the draft up, figured it made sense to hit it from the top. Worked out well

 

[Diabel]

What are the steps one needs to follow in case at a chimney fire?

 

[kennyp2339]

What are the steps one needs to follow in case at a chimney fire?

Shut stove door, turn air all the way down, get out of the house and call 911.
I also understand some people live in remote areas and fd response times may be +20min if at all, in that case, learn your setup, learn your stove, buy a abc extinguisher, know how to use it, usually it will work best when sprayed into the stove, the draft from the burning chimney will carry it up through the system, spray inside the stove and close the door, exit the house and call the FD.

 

[bholler]

What kenny said

 

[Diabel]

The house in the city I am not too concerned. FD station is within 3min.

At the cottage, in winter they would never make it there. I am on my own there!! I have fire extinguisher by both stoves. So, on the Princess, I would need to open the bypass, open the air 100% and then spray?

 

[kennyp2339]

The house in the city I am not too concerned. FD station is within 3min.

At the cottage, in winter they would never make it there. I am on my own there!! I have fire extinguisher by both stoves. So, on the Princess, I would need to open the bypass, open the air 100% and then spray?

just open the by-pass and spy angled up into the back corner, don't hit the base head on, the pressure will send more embers / coals out of the fire box then in, you just want to knock / check the fire, in a metal bucket empty the inside contents of the fire box out, it will get smoky inside, but if your in an isolated area its all you have to work with, if your in civilization then leave the house and call for help.

 

[Skidooer]

I caught my fire before it got too out of hand. I can see if flames were shooting out the chimney cap then I wouldn’t be standing on the roof spraying at it lol. But I recommend if the fire is in the pipe and not blasting out the top,
Make sure the door and bypass are shut, turn the thermostat all way down, then use a dry chem extinguisher down the pipe on the roof like it did. I had zero mess or sparks fly out the stove, and it went out after 3 short blasts. I know I wouldn’t have even attempted opening that stove door to spray in there! The fire is in the pipe, why would i spray the fire box and blow hot ambers out in the house. Seems like the situation would quickly escalate for the worse doing that!! And my box was completely full of wood from loading... not an option.

 

[Skidooer]

In the end, stay calm and survey the situation. If it’s “oh chit I gotta run” bad then get the hell out!
But if it’s containable, prepare yourself and others of the situation, and if all else fails evacuate and call fire dept.

 

[wooduser]

https://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2011/07/chimney-viscuso-terpak.html


This is a link to a website making detailed recommendations to firefighter on the series of actions they might take in fighting a chimney fire. Interesting reading, I thought.

In particular, they recommend fighting the fire from the top of the chimney, using "bombs" of powder that can be dropped on the fire in the chimney to put it out.

Anyone heard of these "bombs"?

 

[lsucet]

I caught my fire before it got too out of hand. I can see if flames were shooting out the chimney cap then I wouldn’t be standing on the roof spraying at it lol. But I recommend if the fire is in the pipe and not blasting out the top,
Make sure the door and bypass are shut, turn the thermostat all way down, then use a dry chem extinguisher down the pipe on the roof like it did. I had zero mess or sparks fly out the stove, and it went out after 3 short blasts. I know I wouldn’t have even attempted opening that stove door to spray in there! The fire is in the pipe, why would i spray the fire box and blow hot ambers out in the house. Seems like the situation would quickly escalate for the worse doing that!! And my box was completely full of wood from loading... not an option.

Remember, not everyone can climb on the roof that quick. If snowing or raining on a high pitch roof possibly you will end up getting hurt and the house still burn down. Flat roof and short stack plus easy access is okay but not everyone has the age and quick access to the roof.
The option of do it in the firebox is more practical. Just saying.

 

[lsucet]

https://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2011/07/chimney-viscuso-terpak.html


This is a link to a website making detailed recommendations to firefighter on the series of actions they might take in fighting a chimney fire. Interesting reading, I thought.

In particular, they recommend fighting the fire from the top of the chimney, using "bombs" of powder that can be dropped on the fire in the chimney to put it out.

Anyone heard of these "bombs"?

Yes I heard but remember that's their job and they have training plus the right tools. They also avoiding to be inside the house till the fire is contained.

 

[wooduser]

https://forums.firehouse.com/forum/firefighting/firefighters-forum/29651-chimney-bombs


Here is a link to firefighters describing how they make and use "bombs" for fighting chimney fires.

Kind of a fun read --- I don't know that I'd use this method myself.

I am impressed by the efforts firefighters make to avoid making a mess in people's homes.

 

[bholler]

https://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2011/07/chimney-viscuso-terpak.html


This is a link to a website making detailed recommendations to firefighter on the series of actions they might take in fighting a chimney fire. Interesting reading, I thought.

In particular, they recommend fighting the fire from the top of the chimney, using "bombs" of powder that can be dropped on the fire in the chimney to put it out.

Anyone heard of these "bombs"?

Yes i pull the remnants of them out of chimneys all the after chimnet fires

 

[Chas0218]

So just thinking aloud, is that flue temp considered chimney fire status? Maybe because my stove isn't a cat stove but I regularly see 400*-575* on my single wall pipes. My pipes creak and pop when they warm up and get a slight "roar" at the stove when it is ready to be shut down.

 

[kennyp2339]

So just thinking aloud, is that flue temp considered chimney fire status? Maybe because my stove isn't a cat stove but I regularly see 400*-575* on my single wall pipes. My pipes creak and pop when they warm up and get a slight "roar" at the stove when it is ready to be shut down.

Don't think so, when creosote burns it can reach temps north of 2,000 deg f

 

[Chas0218]

Don't think so, when creosote burns it can reach temps north of 2,000 deg f

I always thought the temps needed to get much higher than that for the creosote to start to burn.

EDIT: Looked it up I didn't realize it only took 451* to ignite creosote.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Ignition temperature of creosote is pretty low.

I just did a search, and it shows 451 .

There's a thread on here that mentions 450 , too.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/what-temp-starts-a-chimney-fire.44620/