Smoke Alarms Sounded Last Night

[fdegree]

About a 15 - 30 minutes after reloading the stove last night, all of the smoke alarms in the house went off. I believe it was the paint on the pipe curring a little more. The fire in the stove was centralized in the center-rear, directly under the pipe. I didn't notice this right away because I was sitting in a chair that is off to an angle from the stove, and I was waiting for the entire stove to get fully involved before I engaged the cat and lowered the t'stat. It wasn't fully involved yet, but I could see the reflection of orange flickering from my chair. Apparently, the flames were going straight up the pipe and heating it up more than it had ever been...causing the paint to cure more than it was. I think it was the curring paint fumes that caused the smoke alarm to sound. The mistake I made was not moving the coals to the front of the stove before reloading...I just placed the splits on top of the coals however they happened to be laying. This is the first, and last, time I'll do that.

I don't believe it caused a chimney fire...if it did, it must of been rather minor. Is there a way to tell if there has been a minor chimney fire?

The good thing is...I know my smoke alarms work.

 

[LLigetfa]

Usually, a chimney fire will create a super draft that makes enough noise to notice. Still, if in doubt, go out and look at the cap. My parents had a masonry flue on the cookstove and we didn't always realize when the chimney was on fire.

IKWYM about rearranging the coals. Sometimes I think it'll be good enough and then regret it.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I agree about the chimney fire. I highly doubt that was it. However, leaving the draft open too long will super heat the flue so you do need to be aware of this. Also, if you start turning the draft down a bit earlier, the stove will heat faster rather than sending the heat up the chimney. This is a common mistake that folks make; the tend to get a time in their mind that they will leave the draft open full....and that is wrong! A time is only a general rule. You still have to do things according to the fire in the stove.

One example is our stove that we let die way down several times in the last few days (the warmer weather felt nice too). Upon getting the reload lit off, we then watch the temperature of both the stove top and the flue. We generally engage the cat when the stove top reaches 250 degrees. Most folks would simply leave the draft open until that 250 was reached and then turn the draft down. Not so! We always turn the draft down before that 250 is reached and when we do turn the draft down, the temperature of the stove top rises dramatically. We do not let the flue temperature go above 500 (exterior, single wall). If it gets there, we turn the draft down, usually to 1 (draft settings from 0-4).

On rearranging the coals, we do many times tend to push most of the coals forward but not always. Many times we simply level them off and put the wood in. If there are very few coals, then I definitely will push them forward and usually when stocking for the night I'll also push them forward. Other times, I just level them.

 

[wkpoor]

I have found smoke alarms to be a real pain heating with indoor stove. I have 2 very near each other and one is always going off for what appears no reason. Most of the time I just disable them. Not sure if they can be put off with just heat but the one at the top of the stairs is always going off only when bedroom door is closed and rising heat is somewhat trapped.

 

[fdegree]

Usually, a chimney fire will create a super draft that makes enough noise to notice. Still, if in doubt, go out and look at the cap. My parents had a masonry flue on the cookstove and we didn't always realize when the chimney was on fire.

IKWYM about rearranging the coals. Sometimes I think it'll be good enough and then regret it.

Thanks...I may go up on the roof sometime today and have a peek down the chimney, just out of curiosity.

 

[fdegree]

I agree about the chimney fire. I highly doubt that was it. However, leaving the draft open too long will super heat the flue so you do need to be aware of this. Also, if you start turning the draft down a bit earlier, the stove will heat faster rather than sending the heat up the chimney. This is a common mistake that folks make; the tend to get a time in their mind that they will leave the draft open full....and that is wrong! A time is only a general rule. You still have to do things according to the fire in the stove.

One example is our stove that we let die way down several times in the last few days (the warmer weather felt nice too). Upon getting the reload lit off, we then watch the temperature of both the stove top and the flue. We generally engage the cat when the stove top reaches 250 degrees. Most folks would simply leave the draft open until that 250 was reached and then turn the draft down. Not so! We always turn the draft down before that 250 is reached and when we do turn the draft down, the temperature of the stove top rises dramatically. We do not let the flue temperature go above 500 (exterior, single wall). If it gets there, we turn the draft down, usually to 1 (draft settings from 0-4).

On rearranging the coals, we do many times tend to push most of the coals forward but not always. Many times we simply level them off and put the wood in. If there are very few coals, then I definitely will push them forward and usually when stocking for the night I'll also push them forward. Other times, I just level them.

Thanks Dennis

As usual, very helpful information

Usually, I leave the draft open, and bypass open, until flames completely fill the firebox. Then I start closing the draft, even if the cat temp is below the active range. I engage the cat when the cat temp is around the 500 - 700 range. If the cat temp reaches the 500 - 700 range before the firebox is full of flames I will engage the cat, but leave the draft open until the firebox is full of flames. Basically, I engage the cat based solely on cat temp, and I back down on the draft based solely on firebox flame level...regardless of which occurs first.

Should I reconsider this method?

 

[LLigetfa]

Not saying you shouldn't look now, but what I meant was to look at the cap when you think there may be a chimney fire in progress.

As for smoke detectors, I don't know how many people know this but the NFPA recommends the replacement of home smoke alarms every 10 years. There are two basic types, optical an ionization or a combination using both. The ionization type can go off with no visible smoke but the optical type can as well but usually from dust/spiders/insects. The ionization type have the radioactive warning on it.

 

[fdegree]

Not saying you shouldn't look now, but what I meant was to look at the cap when you think there may be a chimney fire in progress.

That is what I thought you meant. I was just curious what it would look like after what happened last night. So...

...I just came down off the roof. The cap has very little creosote on it. The pipe just has some grey, flaky dust built up in it...a little heavier than I had during last months inspection. But, nothing black or shiny. So, I highly doubt anything ignited within the chimney.

 

[firefighterjake]

Random thoughts . . .

I suspect, like others, that you are right . . . higher temp in the stove pipe caused the paint to cure a bit more and the particles released by the warm pipe set off the detectors.

For folks who routinely disable their detectors I might suggest an alternative to yanking batteries or unhooking them . . . look at repositioning them, look at another type of detector as LL mentioned or consider one of the newer models with the hush/silence button -- some even can be silenced with a TV remote which is handy for high ceilings. In 20 years on the line most fatal fires I was involved in were not in homes without smoke detectors -- they were in homes without working smoke detectors -- at some point someone disabled the smoke detector(s) due to a false alarm and they forgot to put them back into operation . . . and paid the ultimate price. For the record, you have my sympathy . . . I've been dealing with a detector that has gone off twice in the last two mornings due to steam . . . even when I used the vent . . . still working on fixing this issue.