Major issue with wood-stove - Need advice!

[MossRoad]

A good read....
The Facts About Chimney Fires - Chimney Safety Institue of America | Plainfield, IN

 

[MossRoad]

At a minimum, you should keep an ABC rated fire extinguisher nearby, or a chimney fire stick to toss into the stove.

 

[dave1949]

At a minimum, you should keep an ABC rated fire extinguisher nearby, or a chimney fire stick to toss into the stove.

These are good chimney fire suppressors, ACE Hardware is one source.
About Chimfex® | Chimfex® chimney fire extinguishers and chimney fire suppressants for controlling chimney fires.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

From one Moss to another... I know your situation. I've followed your posts...

You have some serious issues with that setup that you really need to consider addressing. Those being...
- The stove is home-made.
- You may not be covered by insurance should your house burn down because of that setup.
- Single wall pipe and long horizontal run inside the house.
- Don't know what the outside pipe is.
- Don't know if there's a cleanout at the bottom of the pipe outside.
- Don't see how the chimney is supported to the house other than where it goes through the porch floor.
- No cap and screen on top of the pipe.
- Don't know when or if the chimney has ever been cleaned or inspected.
- Extremely long run of exposed pipe that cools smoke and promotes creosote buildup.
- Don't know if the stove seals at the door, which could allow gases to seep back into the house, or allow oxygen to feed a runaway fire. Its a two-way leak.

... Good luck to you and yours. :thumbsup:

Moss,

Thank you.

The "home-made" part is a concern to me as well, clearly it cannot be UL certified... I am concerned about the insurance risks, plus it is not airtight and it seems complicate to make it so.

Yes there is a clean out (a very small one), yes there is a fire brick lining...

The chimney I have no idea what it is made of, but it is very, VERY solid and it does not get that hot as I recall, (But I would need to verify).

Yes money is tight (an understatement) and I have more wood than I can possibly burn... But if I cannot put the fire out without smoking up the house... All the other risks become meaningless...

The simple truth is that the stove works FABULOUSLY. It work so well a total n00b like me can easily use it for weeks with only 1 minor, and 1 major issue, both entirely due to my n00bness and not the stove. It works too well even with ALL it's flaws... That is the problem...

This place has both been a blessing (I love living in the woods, horses, tractors, etc...) and a curse costing me my marriage & loss of time with my kids, and possibly loss of capital $$$ as this house so desperately need to be bulldozed and start all over...

Maybe I need to change the name of this place to "Albatross around my neck-Woods"...

Thanks,
David

 

[ruffdog]

For best draft, I have been told to keep my pipe clean, straight, and warm. The less elbows and horizontal runs the better and the best is straight up. Keep your pipe inside the structure for as much of the height as you can to keep heat in it. Also, a double wall pipe will resist it cooling off too.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

... but I ain't having a hysterical, knee-jerk reaction either ...

Thank you RS. Thank you very much...

I'm not an idiot, in fact I've been one h3ll of an engineer in the past, but I am a newbie being exposed to things I've never experienced and I come here for the advice and lessons I learn. I've learned a wealth of stuff since coming to TBN, and I'm not afraid to admit when I don't know something and ask those with more experience for advice.

Thank you very much.

Be well all of you...

David

 

[dave1949]

Okay, some practical tips that are free.

Take the pipe off from the stove to the wall thimble and inspect and clean it. You can use a grill cleaning wire brush if you have to. Take it outside and strip nekkid. :laughing: If you see lots of creosote then you can expect some in the exterior stack too. Do what you can to clean what you can.

Reassemble the stove pipe if it is still solid. If no screws, pin the joints together with three small (1/8" is plenty big) evenly spaced screws, stainless is best but not necessary. Drill small pilot holes for the screws and it will be easy. Don't drill and it will not work. Adding two 45* elbows would be good if you can to take out the long horizontal run.

If you need new stove pipe--There are different weights of plain stove pipe. It is best to use the thicker wall pipe from a wood stove shop, most hardwares carry a light weight pipe. If you can find heavier pipe at a hardware it will be cheaper than from a stove shop usually.

Stove pipe is cut by opening the locking seam, spread the pipe out mostly flat but don't kink it, and use tin snips for the cut. Open the pipe by compressing the pipe at the seam by pushing it in toward the middle of the pipe, it will usually unlock for you then. Do the same to close the seam.

To fit one pipe inside another when cutting custom lengths--which you will likely have to do, a crimping tool is used to put the "wrinkles" on the end of the pipe that will be the male end. They sell those at any decent hardware and they work fine. Plan your stove pipe so you have a male end the farthest from the stove for each section of pipe. This helps keep the smoke from leaking at a joint.

The cleanest. least creosote fire is one that burns with a bright flame. It's better to add small amounts of wood to flaming fire than to stuff in bunches of wood that smoke and smolder. Smoke up the chimney is partly unburned hydrocarbons (heat) that you are throwing away. Adding enough air to get a good flame on a big load of wood will likely overheat the stove.

For overnight heat what you want is to build up a deep bed of coals in the ashes before bedtime, then add just a bit of wood. This is safer and cleaner burning than stuffing a bunch of wood in and closing down the air damper. You just have to get ahead of the clock by building that bed of coals in the evening.

 

[tcartwri]

Thank you RS. Thank you very much...

I'm not an idiot, in fact I've been one h3ll of an engineer in the past, but I am a newbie being exposed to things I've never experienced and I come here for the advice and lessons I learn. I've learned a wealth of stuff since coming to TBN, and I'm not afraid to admit when I don't know something and ask those with more experience for advice.

Thank you very much.

Be well all of you...

David

Dave, at least put a piece of strapping on that horizontal run. I've had two chimney fires and the second one made the stove pipe white hot, almost translucent.... It was a horizontal run like yours and I was sure it was going to collapse on itself. More importantly, without a sealed fire box, you will not be able to control a fire that gets away from you.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Dave, at least put a piece of strapping on that horizontal run. I've had two chimney fires and the second one made the stove pipe white hot, almost translucent.... It was a horizontal run like yours and I was sure it was going to collapse on itself. More importantly, without a sealed fire box, you will not be able to control a fire that gets away from you.

Tim,

I just went and took this picture... The horizontal is insulated/double wall o some sort, as i the part going through the cement wall. the upright is single wall.

I think the stove is at least 1/2" steel everywhere, it will be impossible to move I'm afraid and unused it does get cold when it is really old outside.

The lack of a way to make the firebox airtight is almost more than I can handle right now, so I'm shopping for a space heater thing to make TV watching and the small play space I'm doing for my youngest daughter more comfortable...

I love the idea of heating with wood...

Thanks,
David

 

[CanadianBeaverS370]

The only advice I can give is based on my personal experience with a chimney fire that I think all wood stove owners should know. I had a fire about 3 years ago in my metal double wall insulated chimney. I was lucky to catch it on time and that my chimney was cleaned not long before it happened, so no damage occurred. My first reaction was to snuff the fire out, but despite my best efforts there seems to always be some leaks from the window seal. The fire department arrived with in 7 minutes and here's how they put it out, they grabbed my turkey pan, filled it with water and soaked full newspapers folded in 1/2, then laid them on the burning logs. this had a 2fold affect, it put out the fire in the stove and created a ton of steam that starved the fire and help cool down the chimney. I did not have extreme flames coming out of my chimney like the video posted on this tread, but I did see a red glow under the cap and I had sparks coming out.

Since then I had one runaway fire about 2 weeks ago and I used the same technique to suppress it. saved me calling the FD and an other potential chimney fire.

So the lesson, keep a big pot or pan nearby that can be used to soak the newspaper. And keep at least 15-20 newspapers handy. And a good set of welding glove so you don't burn yourself putting the paper in. I would not call this a fail safe technique and if the fire is at the same extreme as the video posed on here GET THE **** OUT OF THE HOUSE and let the pro's take care of it.