My advice... Keep the tin foil handy.

[Jukeboxfun]

I had a bit of a runaway fire a few minutes ago. I put a couple of splits in on a hot coal bed and was getting ready to go to bed. I thought I had been doing the wrong thing by pushing the air supply all the way closed overnight , so I left it out a little to help keep a little secondary going for a cleaner burn. I proceeded to go on the computer for awhile before going to bed. In the other room I heard the stove and pipe ticking but didn't think too much about it. But before I headed to bead I thought I would check it out. It was really cooking and my rutland thermo said 650. I closed the air supply and it didn't seem to make the slightest difference. So I went in the kitchen and got some Reynolds wrap to cover the secondary intake hole and after a few anxious minutes it started to slow down. When these suckers get super hot and wound up they can really take off almost uncontrollably. I learned something tonight. Keep the tin foil handy. Oh and maybe watch the stove a little closer too.

 

[kd460]

Good tip, another helpful tool is having some zip lock baggies full of sand at the ready so you can toss them in the stove. Slows things down in a hurry, faster than the tin foil. KD

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Good tip with the baggies.

It's easy to have happen when the temp drops to "Stupid Cold" outside.

Matt

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I don't know about your stove, but in mine and others I've looked at- leaving that air open doesn't help the secondary flame. Quite the opposite- I can only control primary air, so leaving it open a bit makes that the path of least resistance and I get primary flame. Closing it- now the secondary air is the path of least resistance and the secondaries are stronger. In colder weather the secondaries work better because of better draft.

 

[Highbeam]

I wouldn't want to open that doorway to h-e-ll when she's overfiring for long. Talk about radiant heat!

I shut the draft to zero before bed and before leaving the house. Heck, most of the time my stove is set to zero and has a good load of fuel.

 

[Corey]

a couple splits of wood and 650F stove is now being associated with "runaway fire" and "overfiring" ?

By all means, burn at your own comfort level and what makes you feel safe, but wow - I'd barely consider that to be in the 'now we're getting some good heat' range. I got sidetracked warming the place up the other day...stove stalled out at about 550F...didn't think the place was ever going to get warm.

 

[gpcollen1]

I am wondering if this is really a run-away fire - as with some others folks mention. I don't want to discount caution and learning but I would tend to think that - yeah, the fire won't just shut down when closing primary air - it WILL take a little bit - whether 5 minutes or 10 - don't really know. All I have ever done is close the primary air when she is getting too hot and then wait. Now of things are glowing - well that is another story.

 

[karri0n]

I wouldn't consider this a runaway, and depending on the stove, probably not an overfire either. I'm not certain, since it's a stone stove and not steel, but I think at 650 you should be all right. You should be glad you can get that amount of heat from just adding 2 splits with air all the way down. I've only ever had one runaway fire, and that was when my gaskets were shot. Sounds like you just have some good wood, to me. You know you can just close your primary down all the way, and let the secondaries do their thing. very cool(or warm?).

 

[woodjack]

a couple splits of wood and 650F stove is now being associated with "runaway fire" and "overfiring" ?

By all means, burn at your own comfort level and what makes you feel safe, but wow - I'd barely consider that to be in the 'now we're getting some good heat' range. I got sidetracked warming the place up the other day...stove stalled out at about 550F...didn't think the place was ever going to get warm.

I'm with you. In this weather I'm looking to hit 650, maybe 700 before I want the temperature to level off.

I hit 900 last week, by accident, and learned that
A- my house won't burn down as quick as I thought, and
B -that a good fire extinguishing plan is priority one.