Bad day

[stihlfanboy]

Went to start a fire in the burner and dozed off after work. Woke up to the burner at about 700 and the pipe at 900. After shutting down and about an hour later I ended up calling the fire department when flames were about 2 foot out of my 30 foot brick chimny in the center of the house. Well they dropped Chem bombs down and ran there poker and chain down. It's plugged pretty good. Fire was about 8 foot down in the attic. They left now. We think it's out. Top 4 foot of chimney cracked. Gunna rebuild from the 2nd floor calling up. Me and my father inlaw being brick layers this is no problem, have everything on hand. The issue is the chimny only has one 8x12 flue liner, and the oil furnace and wood stove both feed into it. This and my poor cleaning I'll admit are the reasons for the fire. So the question is what's everyone's opinion on running a 6 inch pipe up the flue for the furnace? That would leave a 6x8 cavity for the stove to vent and should cut down on the creosote. Just thinking about it well ill have the chimny opened up. Hour 2 on space heaters and it sucks.

 

[merc_man]

Thats crappy.

When was last time you cleaned chimney?

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[stihlfanboy]

About a month ago. Only burned 2 truck loads and about 20 gallons of diesel sense then. I think the issue is I didn't run the rods up high enough when I cleaned. The roof being a Manchester I cleaned it from the clean out in the basement.

 

[turnkey4099]

I'd sleeve the chimney to the stove, easier to clean and the stove is what produces the bad stuff.

 

[Motorsen]

IDK if this is what turnkey means. But put in a full length stainless steel liner in the chimney and hook oil furnace and wood stove on it. Now you can take down the bricks and rearrange them as your time and the weather permits. Still possible to heat with stove and furnace.Sorry if this is what you meant turnkey4099.

Happy Xmas everyone.

 

[Motorsen]

By the way stihlfanboy. Sorry to hear your misfortune. Especially the last days before Cristmas. But a couple a years from now it will be a conversation incident. Remember when Dad were about to burn down the house before Xmas, haha cheers. All though this sucks big time you were actually lucky not to burn the house down. Chimney fires can be pretty dangerous if there is alot of creosote and tar in there. Bet you had a big cold one afterwards to put out your own fire.

 

[lknchoppers]

Go with a liner, it will perform better, pull a better draft, heat up quicker, be easier to clean and be a much easier fix.

 

[stihlfanboy]

Well being that my father inlaw is good buddys with the whole fire department they were all having some good laughs well they put the fire out. Being a mason I understand that the chimny should contain the fire. The reason for rebuilding into the attic is I had a few joins leaking smoke out so I'm assuming a flue liner joint is bad. I'd love to line the chimny or run the furnace out the side of the house but the money's just not there. The furnace is only used once a day to take the chill of mostly in the morning so probably won't run it anymore. Gotta climb up there and look it over now that it's light out.

 

[JeffHK454]

Can you even have a oil furnace and wood stove dump into the same chimney?

 

[Babaganoosh]

Can you even have a oil furnace and wood stove dump into the same chimney?

I do not believe you can. Just rebuild it so it's separated into 2 internal flues. Line the wood stove side and make sure it's taller than the furnace side.

 

[stihlfanboy]

I do not believe you can. Just rebuild it so it's separated into 2 internal flues. Line the wood stove side and make sure it's taller than the furnace side.

Ideally that would be what is done but the chimny is 40 feet though the center of my house. The pipe is the only option there other then a liner. Being on unemployment and selling fire wood + putting 4 grand into my wife's jeep to basically rebuild it killed any funds I had not that there's much to begin with. The only reason I can rebuild what I have is do to I own scaffold, have most material already and can get the rest on credit from my boss. Yes the chimney is legal the way it is. Bought the house 3 years ago from my ex wife's father, his grandfather set it up in 88 and the bank and home inspector grandfathered it in.

 

[Mac&Homelite]

Sorry about your misfortune @stihlfanboy , glad it didn't end worse though. I 2nd the stainless steel liner idea. That's what we did for our wood stove (that or the furnace, I can't remember). It was really pretty easy to install, and haven't had any issues with it. Worst part of that job was removing the old asbestos liner. Gets heavy dragging it out of the top.

 

[Marshy]

Sorry for your misfortune. I won't lecture you too bad because I bet you already know most of this but you should not be sharing a flue per code (I've done it too). Second of all, by your description it sounds like the flue (8x12) is over sized for a woodstove. It's too bad it's not 8x16 so you could set two 8x8 liners down the chimney and have two flues for each appliance. From your description, I don't see running a liner down the 8x12 flue as a good option knowing you will have flue gas flowing up around the liner. I doubt the any liner company out there would agree that's a good idea. Their ratings are based on flue gasses inside the liner not outside. They probably don't have any data to in that scinero to predict what could/would happen long term. You might want to consider running two insulated 6" liners down the chimney and connecting them to the appliance. I was told an insulated 6" liner fits well inside a 8x8 clay lined chimney. The 8x8 square clay liners are 8x8 outside dimensions and 7x7 inside. Seeing as you have a 8x12 it's likely a 7x11 inside dimension. I would try to put two iners in but lightly insulate them. You could also pour vermiculite into the area around the insulated liners once installed provide more insulation. Let us know how you make out. Best of luck.

 

[Marshy]

I do not believe you can. Just rebuild it so it's separated into 2 internal flues. Line the wood stove side and make sure it's taller than the furnace side.

That would require him to rebuild the entire chimney. I don't think he can take on that much given his previous post.

 

[Marshy]

Ideally that would be what is done but the chimny is 40 feet though the center of my house. The pipe is the only option there other then a liner. Being on unemployment and selling fire wood + putting 4 grand into my wife's jeep to basically rebuild it killed any funds I had not that there's much to begin with. The only reason I can rebuild what I have is do to I own scaffold, have most material already and can get the rest on credit from my boss. Yes the chimney is legal the way it is. Bought the house 3 years ago from my ex wife's father, his grandfather set it up in 88 and the bank and home inspector grandfathered it in.

Codes change and fire inspectors and insurance companies are not likely to honor such things. Just because a chimney has more than one thimble doesn't mean I can mix a forced air combustor and a woodstove on the same chimney. Doesn't matter when my house was built, code says that's not OK. If my house burnt down from a chimney fire and they saw I had both I could be screwed. I wouldn't bet the farm on it is all.

 

[mohick]

Dam expensive nap !! Sorry about your loss, really sucks to come home that totally spent, been there !!!!!!!

 

[stihlfanboy]

Well didn't take any pictures of inside the flue but from the fire down its a mess. Won't be running the furnace anymore. Gunna have to give it a he'll of a cleaning between the creosote and all the Chem bombs they dropped in it. I will be building a second masonry chimny this summer on the house for the furnace.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

It's a good day... no hospitals or funerals to go to.
I suspect the clay tile liner is junk all the way down, cracked. They simply can not take that kind of heat. (and rapid, quick cooling) They, the clay tile liners, are sacrificial in that sense. It kept the house from burning down. Once cracked creosote tar weeps in the cracks in the tile and mortar joints, streaking the outside of the chimney. All is good still... until the next chimney fire, and the creosote becomes a wick on the outside of the chimney. This is my understanding of how it works, the next time there is a chimney fire being a really, really bad day.

Glad you posted. A serious reminder for all of us to check our chimneys today.

I should say I ruined a VC stove by starting it and overheating it, by forgetting to close the catalytic bypass. No different than what you did. We replaced the stove. I now set my phone timer for twenty five minutes every time I relight the stove whether I leave the room or not.

 

[svk]

Sorry to hear but glad you and the house are ok.

 

[merc_man]

So just curious how often do ypu guys check your chimney for creasote build up. I normally clean mine before burn season then go up half way through season and check and clean if neaded. Its supposed to be 10 degrees celcius on monday so gonna plan to go on roof and have a look.

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