Speaking of chimney fires.

[Dale_Alan]

What's the story on a chimney fire? How do you know there is a fire in the chimney? How do you put it out?
I have single wall porcelain pipe up to the ceiling and then triple wall SS pipe through the roof on my Vermont Castings stove.
Dale

 

[schmism]

generally you happen to go outside to get more wood and you see fire spewing from the top of your chimeny. Or a neighbor comes over and tellls you the same.

Perhaps you happen to lay a hand on the wall were the chimeny is and feel its HOT.

I suppose the most common way to put it out is to shut the stove down. reduce/ cut off the air supply and the fire goes out.

if its critical, like its starting to catch stuff on fire in the house the fireman will stick a hose down the chimney, but you really want to avoid that.

 

[CurlyDave]

Sometimes you hear a roaring noise, sort of like when they warm up the engine on a 737. This is a sure clue.

If the stove is good quality, damp it down completely. If you have an el cheapo stove, damp it down, close all the windows and doors, and get out of the house.

 

[kenstrac]

To put it out or control it spray water on coals or flame from a squirt bottle keep doing this and you will convert the water to steam and will put out the fire. Or throw snow in the stove taking care of not having snow come in contact with cast iron.
If you have a chimney fire the metal pipe will more then likely have to be replaced

 

[DennisArrow]

+1 on all of the above.......Usually will be a total roar, they dont just sit and smolder. The creosote/tars need a LOT of O2 movement to get HOT enough to actually burn. Best way to shut it down is to throw an 8 ounce glass of water on it and shut the door and air inlets.......the steam and lack of air puts it out........YES, and replace the pipe...........

Keep that puppy clean once a year, burn good wood, and perhaps a creosote "remover" once a week.........A good HOT fire once a day helps a lot to burn out accumulations......GOOD seasoned wood is the best though..........NO spruce, pine, alder, poplar....etc.......God bless......Dennis

 

[Bedlam]

One of my first burn clean outs was more of a ball of fire on top of the chimney. Someone driving by stopped and told us and someone called the FD.
They arrived and I had shut it tightly down , which was the right thing to do. They had me open it back up and burn it out to clean it while they were there.(this was a Woodstove )

My next one I 'cleaned' was a fireplace, Wrapping paper in it got it going good.Again the FD arrived,And they waited by the street as it burned itself out this one having such a draft sounded like he train going by and all sorts of black dust soot etc fell onto the ground
One fireman yelled that we were supposed to do it before Christmas morning so they would have the call pay before Christmas day, while another yelled asking if we were burning our old money.

That was in a larger town where they could arrive quickly where I am now they would get there after the fact.(not because of a poor response just the distance)

So that convinced me to clean clean and I have ever since for the 30 plus years
Not to stir the bees nest but the temp it burns makes a difference. I bur a couple cord of pine easily a year, try to have it dry and seasoned .Burn it hot at the beginning of the season. But so many people turn their nose to pine. It has it place..Usually in the beginning of the season when you need the quick fire.

 

[jimmyj]

Yupper - Good Advice from the TBN'ers as usual.

"Soft wood for the soft times and hard wood for the hard times"

Inspect your chimney regularly, if you are seeing creosote build up you gotta do something about it (clean, change wood, burn hotter, etc)

Safe burning!

 

[RobertN]

Ya, a glass of water. At 212F water expands to approximately 1700 times it's original volume.
All that steam cools it, imagine 1700 glasses of steam now.

Just like the little trick to put your campfire out... You can add a little dallup of dish soap to a 5 gallon bucket of water. It breaks the surface tension, and allows the water to abosrb in to the wood and coal. That is why all the wild land fire engines have "foam" on them. It is fancier and works better than soap. But still the same basic concept.

Best way to shut it down is to throw an 8 ounce glass of water on it and shut the door and air inlets.......the steam and lack of air puts it out........YES, and replace the pipe...........

 

[Ductape]

Anyone ever damper down the stove, then squirt a fire extinguisher in the cleanout door to put the fire out? Just wondering if this works.

 

[SPYDERLK]

generally you happen to go outside to get more wood and you see fire spewing from the top of your chimeny. Or a neighbor comes over and tellls you the same.

Perhaps you happen to lay a hand on the wall were the chimeny is and feel its HOT.

I suppose the most common way to put it out is to shut the stove down. reduce/ cut off the air supply and the fire goes out.

if its critical, like its starting to catch stuff on fire in the house the fireman will stick a hose down the chimney, but you really want to avoid that.

You dont catch it it will burn your house down from the top. -1st thing you know is the ceiling collapsing on you. Killed my brother.
larry