House fires

[Backyard Lumberjack]

never had a chimney fire... and don't want one. I have some build up in one of my big fireplaces due to soft woods in addition to mostly oak... in ckg my others I only burn oak in flues look great! i'd like to know more about that creosote spray bottle product...

 

[Patrick62]

Ok, I'll get a detector of some kind and hang it up somewhere handy. no excuses as I work in the hardware store... and get a employee discount. it'll have to be battery only as the electric goes off all the time with me (off grid power).
I am careful with the stove, you really can't overload it much as the firebox is really tiny.

Workshop is another matter.... more extinguishers are handy, but also a LOT more hazards compounded with the big old Shrader stove. Plenty of additional fuel sources (gas, oil, solvents, etc). We operate that in a relatively safe fashion as well. Smoke detector would not help as the place gets full of welding fumes often (exhaust fan a cranking as well).

wood stoves can be safe, and as pointed out, safer than gas in some ways. It is the operators responsibility to be certain of a safe installation. Be honest with ourselves, for every stove that is installed correctly there are two more that are compromised one way or another....

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Please get at least one smoke detector they are $10!!
Never went to a house fire that had a death with a working smoke detector!!
Lost a family because they were on a shelf with no batteries.
We came across some stainless chimmney that the aspestos settled in and they would set things on fire.
Stainless chimmney can have the liner crystalize if it gets hot enough, touch it and it falls like broken car window glass.
Be safe out there.
BBB

Yeah, not even $10. I just bought a few for an apartment I was cleaning up to rent out and they were $6 and change. Apartment is heated with wood and never had a fire extinguisher or smoke alarms!

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Ok, I'll get a detector of some kind and hang it up somewhere handy. no excuses as I work in the hardware store... and get a employee discount. it'll have to be battery only as the electric goes off all the time with me (off grid power).
I am careful with the stove, you really can't overload it much as the firebox is really tiny.

Workshop is another matter.... more extinguishers are handy, but also a LOT more hazards compounded with the big old Shrader stove. Plenty of additional fuel sources (gas, oil, solvents, etc). We operate that in a relatively safe fashion as well. Smoke detector would not help as the place gets full of welding fumes often (exhaust fan a cranking as well).

wood stoves can be safe, and as pointed out, safer than gas in some ways. It is the operators responsibility to be certain of a safe installation. Be honest with ourselves, for every stove that is installed correctly there are two more that are compromised one way or another....

Get heat detectors. I have one in my garage and in the shop for same reason. They measure heat change, ie... a fire.

 

[hupte]

throw in a dozen empty aluminum cans. that will bust up the creosote.

 

[svk]

throw in a dozen empty aluminum cans. that will bust up the creosote.

I've heard this. Is it confirmed to work?

 

[Oldman47]

What is confirmed pretty regularly is that the stuff you try to use to keep your chimney clean is so much snake oil. Burn dry wood with a hot chimney at least once a day and quit spending money on all that snake oil.

 

[hupte]

I've heard this. Is it confirmed to work?

yes I have used this trick many times. it has been discussed. I believe it was white spider that went into great detail.

 

[Patrick62]

Snake oil salesman...
I have been back there in isle 30 (stove isle) and been asked if the creosote log actually worked. My usual reply is that "they" claim it does, I know that brushing it works good. We sell a lotta creosote logs tho...

I have heard the aluminum can theory before... probably a old wives tale... I wonder if Budweiser cans are more effective than pepsi cans?

 

[flotek]

Gotta really watch. Because some of those soot creosote remover products you toss in are said to be very corrosive to stainless steel liners . Nothing on the market replaces burning dry seasoned wood and frequent sweeps .. Nothing

 

[Red Elm]

Nothing on the market replaces burning dry seasoned wood and frequent sweeps .. Nothing

This man speaks the simple truth.

 

[olyman]

My dad plumbed in a spray nozzle in the top of the chimney. The upstairs bathroom has a little door with a ball valve inside. Open it up and the chimney gets a bath. Never had to use it. Think its a great idea though

depending on the nozzle size,,,,you actually want the nozzle somewhere at the bottom...why?? cause the draft is UP, and if it starts,,it would have to be a damn big nozzle to drown the fire downward....like one said,,F18

 

[turnkey4099]

depending on the nozzle size,,,,you actually want the nozzle somewhere at the bottom...why?? cause the draft is UP, and if it starts,,it would have to be a damn big nozzle to drown the fire downward....like one said,,F18

Yep, a good chimney fire would just laugh at a spray at t

And Spokane, Wa (I think) racks up another one. Ashes dumped in metal can, set on wood box on balcony, fire. Just caught it on the evening news. I think they said it was an aparment complex in Spokane but it may have been in some neighboring town/city.

Harry K

Found the article in the newpaper. It was in Pullman, Wa home of Washington State University (Cougars). Disposed of a cigarette in a butt can "encased in wood". Set on balcony, 90,000 dollars later the fire was out.

What moron would encase a butt can in wood!?

Of course I have also seen articles of fires started by putting ashes in a paper bag so...


Harry K

 

[Wood Doctor]

Cigarette butts cause hundreds of house and apartment fires a year. Sometimes a smoker falls asleep with one lit. I wager that cigarettes cause more dwelling unit fires than stoves and fireplaces combined.

Actually, what amazes me more is that houses catch fire from electrical failure far more than from the flames of any furnace such as natural gas, propane, fuel oil, or wood.

 

[Snowchaser]

depending on the nozzle size,,,,you actually want the nozzle somewhere at the bottom...why?? cause the draft is UP, and if it starts,,it would have to be a damn big nozzle to drown the fire downward....like one said,,F18

If i remember right, its a 1" stainless pipe with a nozzle pointing down. Definately high flow just dont have a clue what the particulars are on it. Been 20 years since he put it in. He pulls it out once a year to make sure it isnt plugged. As he puts it, "it'll flood the d*mn house son, so dont play with it". Something i wouldve tried just to see how well it worked. Never used it as we've never had too.

 

[olyman]

If i remember right, its a 1" stainless pipe with a nozzle pointing down. Definately high flow just dont have a clue what the particulars are on it. Been 20 years since he put it in. He pulls it out once a year to make sure it isnt plugged. As he puts it, "it'll flood the d*mn house son, so dont play with it". Something i wouldve tried just to see how well it worked. Never used it as we've never had too.

DEPENDS
on they nozzle pattern.. even a straight on spray,,with the chimney at full tilt...wellllll....serious.....

 

[Snowchaser]

DEPEN
dS on they nozzle pattern.. even a straight on spray,,with the chimney at full tilt...wellllll....serious.....

Yeah, now i want to pick his brain to see if he remembers what the nozzle is. Wish i had a spare stove and chimney i could set out in the back yard and mock up the scenario to see.

 

[olyman]

Yeah, now i want to pick his brain to see if he remembers what the nozzle is. Wish i had a spare stove and chimney i could set out in the back yard and mock up the scenario to see.

ever hear a roaring train??? plus the pulsing?? pulsing is what breaks the chimney.....masonry or clay...

 

[Patrick62]

it was more like a throbbing. We used to burn ties in a "relatively" safe system, and once a week I would burn the flue intentionally. It gets into a oscillation. The air going up the stack is depleted, and when more arrives is flashes into a small explosion blowing burning embers out the top, and filling the firebox on stove with flame. Fun stuff.

smoke detector is obtained, battery installed, and screwed to wall. Cat might jump outta his skin if the thing goes off.

 

[esshup]

If i remember right, its a 1" stainless pipe with a nozzle pointing down. Definately high flow just dont have a clue what the particulars are on it. Been 20 years since he put it in. He pulls it out once a year to make sure it isnt plugged. As he puts it, "it'll flood the d*mn house son, so dont play with it". Something i wouldve tried just to see how well it worked. Never used it as we've never had too.

Is it plumbed so the line can't freeze during the winter? Just thought about that since it's 10°F here now.....