chimeny/house fire

[nomak]

Please be careful everyone I suffered a house fire tonight started by my chimeny. it was cleaned by a professional a month ago and the fire dept couldnt tell me what caused it but I will get the report tommorow. Thankful to the people who stopped and woke me up so I could get my son and myself out safely cause there was no smoke in the house till the fire dept opened the fireplace and doused the fire with water and plus opened up a few holes on side of house. then the smoke detector went off.. but had the people not saw the fire it could of been much worse..so please evveryone be careful.this was only a 2 yr old fireplace that I had used one season already and then cleaned this fall and had only been using for a month at most this yr and disaster stuck..so again please be careful all and take all proper safety precautions if you burn wood. Im staying with relatives but got to get my house fixed now.. it wasnt total loss just confined to the room the fire place was in and the outside of house around chimeny and roof.

 

[dingeryote]

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank goodness you and the family are safe!!!

Good to hear some good folks stopped, and gave you time to get things under control. Coulda been a LOT worse.

Bieng just cleaned, I wonder if a joint wasn't busted loose or something and your sweep missed it. Any ideas or still guessing?

Any idea yet how long you'll be out of the house?

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[John R]

Thankfully you and family are OK, the house can, and will be rebuilt.

 

[Wife'nHubby]

nomak,

So glad you and your son got out okay.

Thank goodness for Good Samaritans! When you feel you can, let us know what your setup was and what might have been the cause.

Shari

 

[DangerTree]

Yeah thats tough I am a volunteer firefighter up here in BC and every winter we get lots of call outs for chimney fires. The major cause is burning cold fires in the beginning ( warmer ) part of the season. It causes incomplete combustion and creates excessive amounts of creosote on chimney walls/pipe very quickly.
Unseasoned or green wood can exacerbate the problem. If you have a masonry chimney cracked and broken flue liners can be a problem also. It is also very possible the sweeper did not do a thorough job and left combustible material in the pipe. Also it may not have been assembled correctly. Do you need a WETT certified installer where you live?

It is good you are safe and I hope you will still have a nice holiday season.

 

[FFemt5287]

Glad to hear everyone is OK.

Quite a few chimney fires in my district this year so far. A lot of people starting up their fireplaces for the first time this year without having them cleaned in umpteen years. Not full time burners most of them, just recreational fires.

Here's to a quick rebuild!

 

[nomak]

well first off thanks to all for the concern you have shown for myself and my family. Im currently able to stay in the house due to the quick response of the local fire dept. Not to many holes in the hose that couldnt be covered up. Just have to deal with the burnt smell for a lil while to the insurance company gets the cleaning company serv pro to come out and clean up the mess. as far as structurial damage quite a bit on outside of house and inside around the fire place hearth and mantle and Im sure the insert is ruined as well. I was burning with a Regency fireplace insert that was placed inside of the original open face brick fireplace that was built with the house in 1979. So I had a regency insert retro fitted into it and a new stainless steel liner installed the whole lenght of the chimney with a 6" diameter pipe and a cap on top. This was all installed by professionals from the company I bought the insert from for they do heating and cooling installations as well as sales.I had just had this setup installed in July or August of 2009 and used it all of last winter season. Had it cleaned about month or two months ago and only been burning with it for about month now ever since its has gotten cold at night .We actually have had snow sitting on the ground here about 2 inches for the last three days to give you an idea of the temps. I didnt start burning the insert round the clock until about a week and half ago when we had a major temp drop in our area. Was only burning at night to take the chill out of the air and not burning during the day. Fire dept isnt sure what caused it but the insurance company is having a investigation company to come out and make sure the fire place was installed properly or any other flaws that may have caused the fire. although a fire detector didnt help in this situation for the roof and top of chimney was burning and all smoke was going up into the night air I think Im going to purchase a few more smoke detectors. I just hope and pray for a speedy clean up and repairs and that the insurance company does not try and under cut me on the price to fix the damages..Im also going to look at things alot differently in life now than I have before and not take things for granted that I may have in the past for you never know when your time will come..thankfull for the complete strangers that live up the street and am going to do something for them for basically saving my sons and my own live.If they would not have stopped people may have been planing funerals not how and when the house is gonna get fixed..Im think a healthy sized gift certificate or something . I rethanked them again today but I feel like I owe them more. now a days some people dont care or dont want involved even if it does make a difference in wether some one lives or dies. thanks again everyone for all your concerns for me and my son.

 

[woodfarmer]

thats a tough one especially with a stainless liner, let us know what was discovered

 

[pook]

glazed creosote dont get removed by brushing & SS liner requires a plastic brush. chimni cleaning stuff, logs, etc. will loosen the glazed creo so brushing, still required, is more effective........just guessing at cause....good lux

 

[nomak]

it was cleaned with a brush (non steel wired brush) and I was there watching him the whole time doing the cleaning.. he cleaned it from up top then cleaned the inside out from bottom as well. I called a reputable service in my area to do the cleaning of the liner. They have been in business for past 30 yrs so I trust there work and that they know what they are doing. but thanks for throwing out some possible ideas of the cause.. I want to know myself what caused it cause it should of never happened in the first place. I done alot of research on safety steps to take when using a fireplace in the home and made sure I took all the proper safety procedures like yearly cleaning and inspection of the insert and liner and also making sure I did not burn unseasoned wood. Hopefully the fire investigator that is coming out can shed some light on the cause and I will know for sure what happened. The fire dept thinks it was just a freak accident because I told them of all the safety precautions and cleaning and inspection on it I had done before burning with it and the commended me on making sure it gets cleaned every yr. He told me he goes to way to many chimney fires and they same story, havent had it cleaned in several yrs or I burn anything and everything in the fireplace which causes buildup and fire hazzards.. so im just waiting on some answers for now and thankful for my son and myself to be alive..

 

[jrr344]

Thank God your house wasn't hurt it could of been alot worse, you must have good neighbors.

 

[nomak]

Thank God your house wasn't hurt it could of been alot worse, you must have good neighbors.

yeah I dont know them cause they just moved in a few months ago but they are greatest neighbors in the world in my book..

 

[jimdad07]

I would say I'm sorry to hear about your home, and I am, but I am much happier to see that you are here posting tonight. Bad things happen to good people, but fortunately you have good people up the road. I am not an overly religious man but I would have to say someone was looking out for you last night and for your son. I hope you get some good answers from the fire investigator that will make you confident in being able to burn wood again some day.
God Bless, Jim

 

[CTYank]

glazed creosote dont get removed by brushing & SS liner requires a plastic brush. chimni cleaning stuff, logs, etc. will loosen the glazed creo so brushing, still required, is more effective........just guessing at cause....good lux

Once again, WTF is a "chimni"? Do you mean "chimney"?

Then, say so. :yoyo:

 

[DangerTree]

Another potential cause for chimney fires is burning and cooling repeatedly. Also using excessive amounts of paper to start a fire. Ash can collect on moist creosote and build upon itself very quickly. This can both choke the insert down restricting draw and also create fuel for combustion in the chimney pipe. We use birch bark and graduated kindling to start our fies and find this to be very effective. Good luck in the future.
Oh and when draw doesn't seem good ( smoke entering the room on light up) or fire reaching out of the box if you open the door it is likely time to clean the pipe. We do our chimney approx 3-4 times throughout the burning season. We heat entirely with wood.

 

[SpiralAcacia]

Another potential cause for chimney fires is burning and cooling repeatedly. Also using excessive amounts of paper to start a fire. Ash can collect on moist creosote and build upon itself very quickly. This can both choke the insert down restricting draw and also create fuel for combustion in the chimney pipe. We use birch bark and graduated kindling to start our fies and find this to be very effective. Good luck in the future.
Oh and when draw doesn't seem good ( smoke entering the room on light up) or fire reaching out of the box if you open the door it is likely time to clean the pipe. We do our chimney approx 3-4 times throughout the burning season. We heat entirely with wood.

What d'ya think: I start the wood stove rolling a large newspaper sheet to heat the chimney. I stuff it above the smoke shelf and light it when I put a match to the kindling.
Should I consider it bad practice?

Happy for Nomak the fire only did some damage and didn't hurt no one.

SA

 

[DangerTree]

What d'ya think: I start the wood stove rolling a large newspaper sheet to heat the chimney. I stuff it above the smoke shelf and light it when I put a match to the kindling.
Should I consider it bad practice?

Happy for Nomak the fire only did some damage and didn't hurt no one.

SA

No not at all, creating a draft using that method is clearly a practical method. Though the large flakes from news papers can accelerate build up necessitating more frequent chimney sweeping. I use birch simply because it has a long burn time and produces less ash residue. There are likely better ways than mine I'm sure.
And yes a house can be rebuilt, a life not so.

 

[mga]

Once again, WTF is a "chimni"? Do you mean "chimney"?

Then, say so. :yoyo:

seriously?

you gonna take points away from him for spelling? wtf.



as for the OP, glad you're all OK.

do you guys shut the dampers down at night on that thing? burning hot fires keeps the chimni clean.

 

[DangerTree]

Dood hooz doowin dat too yoo dats cwappy@

 

[mga]

Certain conditions encourage the buildup of creosote. Simply put, restricted air supply, unseasoned wood and cooler-than-normal chimney temperatures are all factors that can accelerate the buildup of creosote on chimney flue walls.

Air supply on fireplaces may be restricted by closed glass doors or by failure to open the damper wide enough to move heated smoke up the chimney rapidly (the longer the smoke's "residence time" in the flue, the more likely is it that creosote will form). A wood stove's air supply can be limited by closing down the stove damper or air inlets too soon and too much, and by improperly using the stovepipe damper to restrict air movement.

Burning unseasoned wood – because so much energy is used initially just to drive off the water trapped in the cells of the log – keeps the resulting smoke cooler, as it moves through the system, than if dried, seasoned wood is used. In the case of wood stoves, fully-packed loads of wood (that give large cool fires and eight or 10 hour burn times) also contribute to creosote buildup. Cool flue temperatures speed creosote production, too.

Condensation of the unburned by-products of combustion occurs more rapidly in an exterior chimney, for example, than in a chimney that runs through the center of a house and exposes only the upper reaches of the flue to the elements.

http://www.ridgwayfire.org/facts_about_chimney_fires.htm