So I had a small fire going in the stove for about 45 min. Just some kindiling and red oak cutoffs from my shop. Was burning down to coals but still had some small flame. I threw in a fresh piece of 1x6 oak. And had a good flame and secondary burn going. Suddenly the flames went completely out, which I thought was odd because it was going well just seconds earlier. I went and looked at the acc lever and it had closed on its own almost all the way. As I went to use in the lever just slightly everything ignited vigorously like a small explosion. Scared the living chit out of me. Everything was blazing for a minute. And then suddenly dies down for a few seconds and then it happened again. It has been fine after that. But what is causing this?
Small explosion in firebox
- Thread starter Millertime2531
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All the air supply was cut off, so the firebox filled with flammable gases ("wood gas") and smoke, but there was not enough oxygen to burn it. When you reopened the air, now you have all three ingredients for fire, (fuel, oxygen and ignition source), so boom.
TE
Same reason you don't open a door or window if you come home and find your house smoldering. Give it oxygen and boom.
Was it closed off too early? I m just wondering the difference between say an overnight burn when the damper is closed off? It closes on it own as the fire heats up so I’m wondering what made it do this. Would this just be the result of cutting the air while the fire is burning to hot?
It sounds like the burn rate selector was set too low. On that unit, there should be a separate air control that sets the amount of air the fire gets once the auto-start feature is warmed up.
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