wood burning stove and CO detector

[ashleysash]

So I had my CO decor go off today while burning my wood burning stove. I immediately panicked opened up windows and doors and fled outdoors with my dogs like any nervous woman lol. There was no smoke at all.

I would love to find out why. As it stand right now I'm so freaked out about using the stove I vowed to the boyfriend I'll never use it again.

This thing has been a pain in the ass sense day one. Bought it brand new it's called a "Vogelzang Deluxe 106,000 BTU Boxwood Stove BX42E"

Possible issues:
I was filling up hot ashes in metal pail in the morning leaving the pail in the house.
We had an earthquake earlier...maybe a pipe losened? Checked nothing seemed out of order.
No strong wind really just 5 or 10 mph wind gusts with rain.
?????

 

[begreen]

Glowing coals will emit CO. The metal ash pale should be set outside on a totally non-combustible surface like some bricks or a concrete pad. The coals can take days to fully cool off.

FWIW, I'd be concerned using that stove in a house period. They are hard to control and not the best built appliance to have a raging fire inside the home. They are no longer sold as of Jan 1st. In an earthquake prone area you may want to consider screwing down the stove legs so that it can't walk during a good shake.

 

[mellow]

Post some pictures of your setup.

 

[firefighterjake]

. . .

Possible issues:
I was filling up hot ashes in metal pail in the morning leaving the pail in the house.
. . .

^^^^ This is the most likely source.

 

[ashleysash]

Glowing coals will emit CO. The metal ash pale should be set outside on a totally non-combustible surface like some bricks or a concrete pad. The coals can take days to fully cool off.

FWIW, I'd be concerned using that stove in a house period. They are hard to control and not the best built appliance to have a raging fire inside the home. They are no longer sold as of Jan 1st. In an earthquake prone area you may want to consider screwing down the stove legs so that it can't walk during a good shake.

No kidding? I had no idea about this thing not being sold anymore! NOW I FEEL REAL SAFE! LOL...I had no idea about the coals until I read it here but I had no lid on it, ever, it doesn't. Have one.
Ugh and talk about hard to control! I thought I was an idiot because this my first personal wood burning stove. I've used em before but when you start a fire in this thing it will just fill your house with smoke...then once it get hot enough then it flows up the pipe. I will post pics soon

 

[mellow]

This is the usual picture we see of those nasty things:

 

[ashleysash]

Post some pictures of your setup.

If it looks like a crappy job it's because this rental house is from the 40's and didn't want to go through the roof with it. We are thinking of selling it and putting money down towards a nicer one.

 

[mellow]

That is quite the scary looking setup, no wonder you are frustrated with it.

 

[Nick Mystic]

Better make sure your life insurance policy is up to date if you keep burning that set up! Very Scary to say the least. And please heed begreen advice on the ash bucket. Storing hot ashes in the house is a disaster waiting to burn your house down! And with no lid you won't even know it because the CO will get you first if you're lucky. Glad to found this site and are learning about proper burning behavior. Good Luck.

 

[ashleysash]

Better make sure your life insurance policy is up to date if you keep burning that set up! Very Scary to say the least. And please heed begreen advice on the ash bucket. Storing hot ashes in the house is a disaster waiting to burn your house down! And with no lid you won't even know it because the CO will get you first if you're lucky. Glad to found this site and are learning about proper burning behavior. Good Luck.

Yeah I refuse to burn in it any longer. We have no other source of heat in this tiny house lol. Should have gone through the roof?

 

[Zkx14]

Yup, I sure miss them. Lol. Had one of those in my house when we bought it. I never had a wood stove before that, so it was something to start with... Burned extremely hot and hard to control cause of all the air gaps. Ate a lot of wood and most of the heat went out the chimney with a lot of smoke. Smelled like a campground in and out...
I keep my ashes in a closed trash can n basement near the stove, but I usually let the stove go cold before cleaning out. Either way, I try not to remove anything but ash. Always had smoke detectors, but did not have CO detector years ago when using that stove. Have had them for a couple years now and I only recall ever tripping one once from smoke due to the Dutchwest backpuffing.

 

[Dieselhead]

The top of you chimney is way to low to be legal. It should be 2' higher then 10' over.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

I'm sorry to say but these pictures look like the headline to the 'Don't' section in a 'Do' and 'Don't' book about stoves.

 

[Chimney Smoke]

Holy cow... You couldn't pay me enough to burn that setup. The stove needs 36 inches clearance I believe and it has either single wall or double wall stove pipe run through a combustible wall and acting as a chimney. Don't burn it - buy some space heaters.

 

[ashleysash]

There's a triple wall pipe going through wall. As stated before this is our first wood burning stove and my dad did his best to set it up but then my step dad came over to do work on it.

No offence but I have no idea what I'm doing and apparently the two fireplace shops in town and most of my family have no clue either....so instead of saying hey your set up looks like bad and dangerous (which we already knew) how about offering some advice in retard terms on how to fix this? Peaz and thanks! I've heard you want to go past the peak of the house, ok fine how much past? and is there no point to persuing warmth using a wood burning stove if we can't go through the roof with it?

 

[ashleysash]

Holy cow... You couldn't pay me enough to burn that setup. The stove needs 36 inches clearance I believe and it has either single wall or double wall stove pipe run through a combustible wall and acting as a chimney. Don't burn it - buy some space heaters.

It has triple wall....we can't afford to run space heaters we are on a farmers salary

 

[ashleysash]

I'm sorry to say but these pictures look like the headline to the 'Don't' section in a 'Do' and 'Don't' book about stoves.

As stated before I know it looks like crap how about you offer suggestions on how to fix it. I'm missing the constructive part of your criticism.

 

[ashleysash]

The top of you chimney is way to low to be legal. It should be 2' higher then 10' over.

Thank you!! Will make sure raise it up! How far past the peak of the house should I go?

 

[ashleysash]

Yup, I sure miss them. Lol. Had one of those in my house when we bought it. I never had a wood stove before that, so it was something to start with... Burned extremely hot and hard to control cause of all the air gaps. Ate a lot of wood and most of the heat went out the chimney with a lot of smoke. Smelled like a campground in and out...
I keep my ashes in a closed trash can n basement near the stove, but I usually let the stove go cold before cleaning out. Either way, I try not to remove anything but ash. Always had smoke detectors, but did not have CO detector years ago when using that stove. Have had them for a couple years now and I only recall ever tripping one once from smoke due to the Dutchwest backpuffing.

Talk about this stupid thing not being air tight I know! And when I bought it and we started going through 7$ in wood a day I was like ummmm either we are doing something wrong or I don't know lol. We are selling this thing and getting a good solid one with glass doors and one with better reviews lol

 

[ashleysash]

This is the usual picture we see of those nasty things:

View attachment 171332

What the hell happened to that thing lol

 

[mellow]

What the hell happened to that thing lol

Overfired one to many times, easy to do with those box stoves, yours is starting to turn white at the collar.

As to configuring it correctly many things will be needed, but to get an idea you can use the chimney configurator from ICC to get an idea on a correct through the wall setup: http://www.icc-rsf.com/en/chimney-configurator

 

[begreen]

If it looks like a crappy job it's because this rental house is from the 40's and didn't want to go through the roof with it. We are thinking of selling it and putting money down towards a nicer one.

One needs to respect the heat that this stove can produce, especially if it runs away and overfires. There is some evidence of this already on the top near the flue exit. The tile wall is not a proper shield. To be a proper wall shield it needs to sit on 1" spacers and be open at least 1" on the top and bottom to allow air to circulate behind it. There needs to be chimney pipe outdoors. Regular stove pipe is not allowed. It corrodes and rusts too easily. Here is the rule for the chimney pipe height relative to the roof. (click to enlarge)

 

[Dieselhead]

you need to get a install manual for both the stove and the chimney system used and follow it to the T! for someone to sit here and type it all out for you would be a huge waste of time. google search it yourself.

 

[firefighterjake]

Hang in there ... yes there are some serious safety concerns with this install, but you're in the right place to get your questions answered and you've already taken the first ... and sometimes hardest ... step ... realizing there is a problem.

Ok ... money is tight, but we all need to burn safely so let's all tackle this together one step at a time.

First step ... are you keeping this stove for this year or are you seriously considering another stove?

 

[begreen]

Search is good, but there are site specific problems you may or may not find the answers to. Proper chimney installation is covered in the manual. That is a good thing to read. It's short and to the point. For example here are the clearances and chimney install.


There are sometimes exceptions or options that may not be mentioned in the manual. For sure ask questions here that you can't find the answers to. First and foremost we want you to be safe.