Really Frustrating Night...

[teekal]

Hey guys,

For the first time this season, I loaded up the stove before going to sleep (up until now we've had 3 or 4 fires, but just during the daytime, which I didn't load up before night because it hasn't been too cold yet and so it died down early in the night).

Well I woke up at around 1:30 to the sound of the fire alarm going off. It was not constant, just two short 5 second blasts. I've never had my stove trigger the alarm before.

I immediately shot up to check the stove, it was burning hot, but everything seemed to be alright. Then I got a little closer, and I thought I saw a red glow coming from inside the venting on the stack (was either the first or second vent closest to the stove). Thinking about it today, I cannot be certain if it was my state of half-sleep that caused this, or if it is what I actually saw. I opened up the stove and moved any remaining wood around, and noticed that embers shot up through the top of the chimney - which has never happened before, then again I have never been up in the pitch black stoking the fire before either. It did seem like an awfully far way to travel up and out (check the bottom photo below).

I didn't do anything different than I normally would last season, except for that I only had fairly small splits inside so that it what I loaded the stove with instead of large logs.

Needless to say, I lay awake worrying until whatever wood was left in the stove burned down.

In any case, any excitement I had over the good amount of wood that I've stored for this winter and burning my stove as much as possible without using my electric furnace has been sapped. Now I'm worried to use my stove again. Any suggestions? Really frustrated this morning...

 

[fire_man]

I can understand your concern. I would certainly pay attention to any sounding smoke alarm, but I can also say it's unusual for one to go off with no smoke smell in my experience. I'm a little confused by your description of "red glow on inside of venting to the stack". I assume you mean inside the flue as it exits the stove, but how could you see this before you opened the door? If the outside of the pipe was not really hot, I can't imagine how a glowing pipe set off your smoke alarm if there was also no smell.

As far as the shooting embers, It's not unusual for a good draft to shoot sparks around when the door is open on a hot fire.
If it were me, I'd consider the alarm has a problem. Add another alarm and give it another go.

 

[Diabel]

I second the faulty alarm.

I have two smoke alarms on each floor. All identical and hardwired.
In the stove room I have one of them plus a co detector.
For some strange reason the smoke alarm in the stove room needs to be replaced every 18 months, none of the other ones needed replacement in the past 6 yrs. no idea why, I got used to it. Around 18 month mark I expect the smoke alarm going off, the faulty sound not the "smoke" sound (they are different). When one of them trips the sound they all go off. I always know which one to disconnect and of course a trip to HD the next day.

 

[jatoxico]

Is the stove or any pipe new? Maybe you reached a new temp the stove has not seen before or even over fired, hence the glow, and out-gassed some paint or summer dust/debris.

 

[Nick Mystic]

I disagree with the folks who are telling you that you probably just have a defective smoke alarm. Here is why: You said when you got up and looked at your stove to see what was going on you noticed the flue pipe glowing red hot through one of the vents of the double wall pipe. You also mentioned that you loaded the stove with a bunch of small splits, as opposed to the larger splits you have been burning. Small splits loaded into a stove present much more surface area than large splits and can burn much hotter since they all burn up at once instead of over a longer period of time with big splits. That would explain your glowing flue pipe. Your stove was burning way too hot, in my opinion. A stove pipe never glows red hot when a stove is burning in a safe temperature range. Do you have a stove top thermometer or IR thermometer? If not, you need to get one and read your manual to see where the manufacturer recommends placing it for accurate readings.

When you make a change in your burning technique, such as switching to small spits from large splits, you should make a habit of making the switch when you are going to be in the room to monitor the stove to see how it reacts. Going to bed or leaving the house after making such a change can end in disaster. Even a stove that you have been burning for years can react much differently when it is burned in a different manner than usual. Good luck getting your situation sorted out.

 

[begreen]

Agreed. When I first read the post my thought was that the stove pipe paint baking caused the alarm trigger.
What model VC is this stove? Was the bypass closed when this problem happened?

PS: Welcome to Hearth.com

 

[teekal]

I disagree with the folks who are telling you that you probably just have a defective smoke alarm. Here is why: You said when you got up and looked at your stove to see what was going on you noticed the flue pipe glowing red hot through one of the vents of the double wall pipe. You also mentioned that you loaded the stove with a bunch of small splits, as opposed to the larger splits you have been burning. Small splits loaded into a stove present much more surface area than large splits and can burn much hotter since they all burn up at once instead of over a longer period of time with big splits. That would explain your glowing flue pipe. Your stove was burning way too hot, in my opinion. A stove pipe never glows red hot when a stove is burning in a safe temperature range. Do you have a stove top thermometer or IR thermometer? If not, you need to get one and read your manual to see where the manufacturer recommends placing it for accurate readings.

When you make a change in your burning technique, such as switching to small spits from large splits, you should make a habit of making the switch when you are going to be in the room to monitor the stove to see how it reacts. Going to bed or leaving the house after making such a change can end in disaster. Even a stove that you have been burning for years can react much differently when it is burned in a different manner than usual. Good luck getting your situation sorted out.

Thanks for your advice, Thinking about what you said, I definitely agree that it was probably burning too hot. Part of the problem is that I have an excess of smaller pieces sitting in my garage right now, and I loaded too much smaller stuff. I should be ok if I stick to loading it up with large pieces at night time, and then I will have my wife feeding the smaller stuff from the garage as needed during the day.

 

[teekal]

Agreed. When I first read the post my thought was that the stove pipe paint baking caused the alarm trigger.
What model VC is this stove? Was the bypass closed when this problem happened?

PS: Welcome to Hearth.com

Bypass was closed.

Thanks for the welcome - I've been around for a while, but only in the Wood Shed section of the forum.

 

[begreen]

It most likely was the small splits. Stick to larger splits and chunks for overnight burns. I'd also get a stovetop thermometer to put on the middle of the griddle plate.

 

[teekal]

It most likely was the small splits. Stick to larger splits and chunks for overnight burns. I'd also get a stovetop thermometer to put on the middle of the griddle plate.

Does anyone have a brand recommendation for a thermometer?

 

[begreen]

Condar unless you like a high precision instrument. Then a Tel-Tru is nice. Be sure you get one that reads at least up to 750F.
http://www.condar.com/Stovetop_Thermometers.html
http://www.teltru.com/s-54-dual-magnet-thermometers.aspx

 

[fire_man]

I've had really good luck with these:

http://store.woodstove.com/product.php?productid=16283&cat=&page=1

 

[xman23]

We had a bad set of alarms for years. The stove heat and the moon rising would set them off. They were house powered wired system. Eventually I got tired of shutting them off. I got kindle s at HD with one of them a combo smoke and CO2. Each has a 9 volt battery backup, which last forever. Just today I checked them and the batterys were over 9 volts. It was cheep enough, and I haven't had the new ones ever falsely go off.

 

[teekal]

I've had really good luck with these:

http://store.woodstove.com/product.php?productid=16283&cat=&page=1

I picked one of these up. Seems good so far.

When I got it, the indicator was a little above 0 to start. I know it's just a cheap thermometer, so it isn't perfect. But is yours like this also? I'm wondering if it corrects itself as it warms up, or if I should always take the reading minus a little bit to account for the imperfection.