psych038
ArboristSite Member
had one two nights ago. i guess i will clean my chimney but havent had time to get it done. man i hated having to turn the furnace on!!!!
chimney fire!! whoops!!
- Thread starter psych038
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jburlingham
Addicted to ArboristSite
Not to worry
As a firefighter and Deputy fire Marshal, I have responded to hundreds of chimney fires over the past decade and a half. There rarely exists a safety issue unless your chimney is damaged or improperly installed.
Not to down play safety, you should see your chimney cleaned at least once per year, but if your burning heavily every 6 months wouldn't hurt either. Just be sure to burn hot and you'll reduce the accumulation of creosote.
It's typically wet wood and smoldering fires that cause the build up.
If the fire dept came out then you chimney is clean enough for another 6 months
As a firefighter and Deputy fire Marshal, I have responded to hundreds of chimney fires over the past decade and a half. There rarely exists a safety issue unless your chimney is damaged or improperly installed.
Not to down play safety, you should see your chimney cleaned at least once per year, but if your burning heavily every 6 months wouldn't hurt either. Just be sure to burn hot and you'll reduce the accumulation of creosote.
It's typically wet wood and smoldering fires that cause the build up.
If the fire dept came out then you chimney is clean enough for another 6 months
AOD
Addicted to ArboristSite
once a month....
I like to punch a brush down my stack once a month during the heavy burning season, that way I have nothing to worry about. I have never seen creosote in my chimney, only fine black soot.
I like to punch a brush down my stack once a month during the heavy burning season, that way I have nothing to worry about. I have never seen creosote in my chimney, only fine black soot.
ericjeeper
Addicted to ArboristSite
Big handful
Of wadded up black and white newspaper every morning.. You will not have flue fires... Get the flue hot daily.
Of wadded up black and white newspaper every morning.. You will not have flue fires... Get the flue hot daily.
AOD
Addicted to ArboristSite
Where do you find black and white newspaper? All I find is color stuff. Does B&W burn hotter?
jburlingham
Addicted to ArboristSite
I believe that the intended reference is standard news print, the glossy pages don't burn well or as hot and won't achieve preheating as well.
AOD
Addicted to ArboristSite
I don't like burning the glossy stuff, it smells like a trash fire and makes a lot of smoke. If I lived out in the country I wouldn't care, but I have to be conscious about my neighbors air quality living where I live.
KsWoodsMan
Addicted to ArboristSite
Thats creosote, when it builds up and gets hot it melts into hard sticky globs that catch more of the fine stuff. Then the biuld up gets worse faster.
.........
I cleaned out a chimney for a friend the other day that had enough build up it was peeling and ready to cause problems. We got out about a 2 gallon bucket full of it. On the edges of the peels was the little feather of fine black sooty stuff sticking up like the wick of a candle ready to catch.
All it needed to catch was the roght fire with flames licking up past the damper and it would have been like a volcano spewing hot burning tar. Not good when you consider the consequences of putting it off, ...ounce of prevention.... .
MR4WD
ArboristSite Guru
So other than the fact you have a fire on top of your house, what's wrong with a chimney fire and how long do they last? I have a clay flue surrounded by brick; No cracks I can see... I burn only soft woods and cleaned the pipe around 3 months ago. Letting the fire burn down to clean the flue again means a cold house. The girlfriend is pretty worried about it though while I'm out of town. I guess I'll try and have a look at it again to check it out, but I wonder what the heck happens IF you have a chimney fire? How do you know you have one, if you're inside the house?
ericjeeper
Addicted to ArboristSite
How to tell you are having a flue fire...
Generally it will sound and feel like the Train decided not to stop and it is blowing right on through the station.
Flue fires get extremely hot, they can do great damage to a masonry.clay flue,.typically they do little damage to a class A pipe or a stainless liner.
Generally it will sound and feel like the Train decided not to stop and it is blowing right on through the station.
Flue fires get extremely hot, they can do great damage to a masonry.clay flue,.typically they do little damage to a class A pipe or a stainless liner.
I had one years back,not fun.I was able to stop the fire in the chimney by closing the damper, but then had to deal with a raging, un-vented fire in the fireplace.I had some welding gloves nearby, so I picked up each log and threw them out in the snow.I always have had Chimfex flares around since then, but I heard they are no longer available(?)
Major Wood
ArboristSite Lurker
I've had 2 in six years, I believe design has a lot to do with how susceptible your chimney is to ignite. I have an external chimney that is 25 ft high. After my second fire I told the guy than cleans my chimney to change the cap, it was very large with slotted vents. I felt that due to the length of the chimney the smoke was already cooled when it reached the cap and swirling around creating deposits thus plugging the cap. He replaced it with a smaller cap with square screening, I'll let you know if this works as it has been in place a year and no fire yet. By the way they sound like a jet engine when they are fully engulfed and I had both out by the time FD arrived, one with water the other with a fire extinguisher, always have one at the ready. Both times my smoke alarms went off, can't say enough about the importance of having these ours are hardwired with battery backup, odd thing there was no smoke in the house when they went off! They somehow sensed the fire??
gretschdrummer
ArboristSite Lurker
okay newbie here,
I have always paid somebody to clean but it has not been cleaned for 2 years and I run a buckstove 90% in the winter plus a few electric heaters as my source of heat... How do you clean a chimney with a buck stove insert??. do you just brush the chimney and leave your dampner open and hope it falls in your stove to clean out?? Sorry I am real ignorant on this?
Thanks,
Scott
I have always paid somebody to clean but it has not been cleaned for 2 years and I run a buckstove 90% in the winter plus a few electric heaters as my source of heat... How do you clean a chimney with a buck stove insert??. do you just brush the chimney and leave your dampner open and hope it falls in your stove to clean out?? Sorry I am real ignorant on this?
Thanks,
Scott
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Zodiac45
Paleostoveologist & Sawwhisperer
I've had a couple over the years and while scary, out of control (till they burn out) initially smokey, other than that funky smell of burned creosote, there was no damage too the house. In the old days that's how the oldtimers cleaned the chimney! I prefer to avoid them. 
A few years back you could buy a fusee(flare) called Chimfex - that you would light and toss into the woodstove. It put out a gas to extinguish the chimney fire. I have one sitting on the mantel. Can't find them anymore.
DonB
ArboristSite Member
I've had one before but as soon as I closed the damper, it went out. Scary stuff.
Joshlaugh
ArboristSite Operative
My parents had one when I was growing up. I have fond memories of my mother wanting to call the FD right when the fire started but my father telling her to wait until he was fully dressed!
I have a fire place insert and every year I run a brush up and down my chimney. I did the same this year. I notice while I was cleaning I had a nice glossy black glaze in my flue. I didn't think much about it I just thought that mint it was clean. I decide to take out my insert and just burn the fireplace It wasn't long and I heard a train in my flue. I grabbed a pitcher of water to put out the fire and it put out the flue fire as well. Instasteam I guess. After checking everthing out real well I found out the black glaze started melting and was pileing up on my damper. That's what caught on fire. I decided after that to do a few small controlled flue fire burns to clean out my chimney. All the melted globbs turned into a black substance the size of golf balls and baseballs. The balls where falling into my fire, blowing out of my chimney, and lining my flue. There were two kinds of black balls shiny heavy ones. These were pure creosote and burned very well, and sooty light ones. These had all the creosote burnt out of the them and would not burn at all. After I was satisfied I had no creosote left just porkrines I run a brush down my flue. This time when I was done I had no black glaze just blackened red clay. I desided that the insert doesn't let the flue get hot enough to burn up the creosote. It was just glazing over my flue. Glaze is bad! From now on I'll pull out my insert and burn out my flue every year. If I due it every year I don't think I'll have enough creosote build up to catch fire. This year it had about 3-4 years of glaze build up. I bomb waiting to go off. The chimney brush does'nt do anything to remove the glaze.
:censored: Creosote!!!
:censored: Creosote!!!
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If I understand your post, you are running a insert without a liner?Very bad idea, for the reasons that you have already learned.If this is so, get yourself a liner that goes from the insert to the top of the chimney...you'll sleep better
Again, maybe this is an epidemic.You cannot run a fireplace insert without using a steel liner.1) it will not get hot enough to burn off the creosote 2)you will not be able to stop a chimney fire by shutting down the air intake, and 3) your insurance company will not pay for the house that you just burned down.The liner is not that expensive, and you will get a better draft when you install one.
