# Kuuma stove pipe keeps lighting on fire



## MN~Nice (Jan 22, 2018)

Hi I am new to this forum but I need advise.

I bought a house last year which came with a wonderful add-on wood furnace setup. The unit is a Kuuma 1. 

After a few months I lit a fire and before I knew it I had a gnarly chimney fire. So after that I installed a seamless single wall chimney liner and a new stove pipe. It's drafted way better. I read the stove manual front to back and hooked it back up per the recommendations with a key damper in the stove pipe, only 1 90 elbow into the chimney, etc. 

Now the crazy part is I have great wood I know pine isn't ideal but it's all I've got right now and it's bone dry. Flue temps run 400 to 450 consistently. But when I go to restoke the fire it's nothing but a few coals and when I open the smoke bypass slide the flue pipe thermometer temp instantly maxes out and sparks are in the chimney. 

I can't figure it out it's like my stove pipe starts on fire and I'm worried it will lead to another fire. Any thoughts or anyone experience this before?


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## Tar12 (Jan 22, 2018)

STOP burning! Its not normal! Did you have the chimney cleaned prior to the first time you ever used it? If not you have no way of knowing if they burned properly in the is Kuuma. Have you checked your wood with a moisture meter? You can't just look at it and say ...yep...thats good. The Kuuma people have a presence here and will hopefully see and be along to help you out more than i can.


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## MN~Nice (Jan 22, 2018)

Tar12 said:


> STOP burning! Its not normal! Did you have the chimney cleaned prior to the first time you ever used it? If not you have no way of knowing if they burned properly in the is Kuuma. Have you checked your wood with a moisture meter? You can't just look at it and say ...yep...thats good. The Kuuma people have a presence here and will hopefully see and be along to help you out more than i can.


I had the old chimney flue cleaned thoroughly still residual glaze but not much. I installed a new liner though and stove pipe too. Just cleaned out both a couple weeks ago and it's still doing it, just can't figure out why. I post pictures of my setup


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## brenndatomu (Jan 22, 2018)

A Kuuma 1 huh?! Wow, I never even heard of them until a few months ago, now here you are and have one, live and in captivity...got any pics?  I bet there aren't two other people on Hearth (other than the manufacturer) that know what these are. (but I could be wrong too)
The best people to answer any specific questions on it would be the manufacturer @lampmfg ...or you could call them at 1-800-358-2049...talk to the owner Daryl...he can tell you all about it I'm sure.
For everybody else, as I understand it, the Kuuma 1 is an early version of the current Kuuma VF200 add on furnace. I think it is smaller and was totally manually operated...very much unlike the current computer controlled Kuuma furnaces.

To answer your questions...you are having chimney fires due to creosote buildup. Creosote comes from 2 things, cutting the air back too far/too fast which smolders the fire, and/or burning wet wood. You said you have dry wood, are you positive? How long has it been cut/split/stacked? Do you have a moisture meter? I'm betting your wood is not as dry as you think (internally) and this is your issue.
The other thing is to run the air a little further open, you want to run the flue temp (internally) above 250* (and likely higher) for at least the first 2-3 hours after loading. (after that the creosote causing ingredients are pretty well burnt off) Get a probe type flue thermometer to monitor the flue temps.
Also you need to clean your flue often until you get this straightened out...maybe even weekly.
If there was no creosote, there would be no flue/chimney fire.
Kinda crazy reading about a Kuuma having chimneys fires since the modern ones are known for being the cleanest burning furnaces out there...the VF100 is currently the only forced air wood fired furnace in the world certified to the EPAs 2020 specs.


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## JRHAWK9 (Jan 22, 2018)

Depending on where in MN they live, they could be down the road from the manufacturer in Tower, MN.  I can't imagine they sold too many of these units too far removed from where they were made in Tower, what, 30+ years ago maybe...??  Damn, we need pics


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## brenndatomu (Jan 22, 2018)

Well, I know of at least one that made it down to Ohio.
I dunno when they quit making them...I found 'em on a "price list" dated 2001. 
http://www.rangenet.com/kuuma/heater.html


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## JRHAWK9 (Jan 22, 2018)

Holy crap.  I think I gotzed over charged!


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## BrotherBart (Jan 22, 2018)

Folks, let's get back to the problem here. As much chimney cleaning and replacement as has been done it ain't the pipe. That pine is popcorn fart dry and going nuclear.


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## MN~Nice (Jan 22, 2018)

brenndatomu said:


> A Kuuma 1 huh?! Wow, I never even heard of them until a few months ago, now here you are and have one, live and in captivity...got any pics?  I bet there aren't two other people on Hearth (other than the manufacturer) that know what these are. (but I could be wrong too)
> The best people to answer any specific questions on it would be the manufacturer @lampmfg ...or
> 
> 
> ...


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## MN~Nice (Jan 22, 2018)

As far as creosote. There really isn't any in the stove pipe or the chimney liner. It's almost like the stove pipe is acting like one of those secondary burners you see in newer stoves


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## brenndatomu (Jan 22, 2018)

BrotherBart said:


> That pine is popcorn fart dry and going nuclear.


How can that happen when its down to coals?


MN~Nice said:


> when I go to restoke the fire it's nothing but a few coals and when I open the smoke bypass slide the flue pipe thermometer temp instantly maxes out and sparks are in the chimney


There's gotta be buildup...clean steel don't burn and coals can't go nuclear...at least not that I have ever heard of or seen. About the closest thing I've seen may have been Mulberry coals giving me a spark shower upon opening the door...


MN~Nice said:


> As far as creosote. There really isn't any in the stove pipe or the chimney liner. It's almost like the stove pipe is acting like one of those secondary burners you see in newer stoves


Man, I dunno...have you ever called Kuuma?
What kind of flue temps are you seeing when this happens?
Where are you seeing the sparks, out the top of the chimney?


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## brenndatomu (Jan 22, 2018)

Thanks for the pics...never actually seen one before.
So looking at the pics, your stove pipe doesn't look like it has been overly hot...


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## MN~Nice (Jan 22, 2018)

Luckily I've become paranoid and watch it like a hawk for about 20 minutes every time I load it up. When it does take off I cut air off and it starts to cool down.

When I am loaded up and running my stove probe reads between 400 and 450 on avg. when it gets down to around 250 I know it's just coals and it's time to load it up again. But if I take too much time putting wood in the temps on the thermometer skyrocket until I shut the whole stove down. It only happens when I open the smoke bypass tho. If it's open along with the door  and that thermometer reads 300 it takes off on me even if there is only a minimal amount of coal in the firebox.


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## Tar12 (Jan 22, 2018)

MN~Nice said:


> Luckily I've become paranoid and watch it like a hawk for about 20 minutes every time I load it up. When it does take off I cut air off and it starts to cool down.
> 
> When I am loaded up and running my stove probe reads between 400 and 450 on avg. when it gets down to around 250 I know it's just coals and it's time to load it up again. But if I take too much time putting wood in the temps on the thermometer skyrocket until I shut the whole stove down. It only happens when I open the smoke bypass tho. If it's open along with the door  and that thermometer reads 300 it takes off on me even if there is only a minimal amount of coal in the firebox.


Brother Bart is correct....any time you load super dry wood on a bed of coals its gong to fire right off...pine is probably the best for this....load faster!


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## blacktail (Jan 23, 2018)

What do you mean by "sparks are in the chimney"? Sparks from your coals are being sucked up the chimney? Sparks are shooting out the top of the chimney?


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## brenndatomu (Jan 23, 2018)

I think I may have misunderstood whats going on here...of course the title leads one to believe this is a chimney fire issue.
Are you saying the stove just goes crazy with flames right after a reload on hot coals? Or the stovepipe/chimney is burning?


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## kennyp2339 (Jan 23, 2018)

I'm confused my the op description also, Is he stating that when he loads with the by-pass open it looks like the flames get sucked up the chimney? Or is he stating that after loading he goes outside and see's sparks / flames coming out of the chimney stack.
If it's the 1st I would say its normal, keep a chimney pipe thermometer on the single wall and only be worried after the temps get past the 700 deg mark.


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## sportbikerider78 (Jan 23, 2018)

Pine can snap and crack like a son of a gun.


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## MN~Nice (Jan 23, 2018)

kennyp2339 said:


> I'm confused my the op description also, Is he stating that when he loads with the by-pass open it looks like the flames get sucked up the chimney? Or is he stating that after loading he goes outside and see's sparks / flames coming out of the chimney stack.
> If it's the 1st I would say its normal, keep a chimney pipe thermometer on the single wall and only be worried after the temps get past the 700 deg mark.


The fire doesn't have to be burning at all for it to happen. Even if I have coals in the firebox it still happens. To clarify I mean the stove pipe temps skyrocket and I cut the air out to choke it off. This is when I use a mirror and flashlight to look up chimney to verify I don't have fire transfer into the chimney liner. What I usually see is a small clump of smoldering embers where the stove pipe attaches to chimney liner. 

I'm just trying to figure out if my stove pipe is the cause or is my furnace damaged in some way that might cause this kind of stuff.


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## kennyp2339 (Jan 23, 2018)

MN~Nice said:


> The fire doesn't have to be burning at all for it to happen. Even if I have coals in the firebox it still happens. To clarify I mean the stove pipe temps skyrocket and I cut the air out to choke it off. This is when I use a mirror and flashlight to look up chimney to verify I don't have fire transfer into the chimney liner. What I usually see is a small clump of smoldering embers where the stove pipe attaches to chimney liner.
> 
> I'm just trying to figure out if my stove pipe is the cause or is my furnace damaged in some way that might cause this kind of stuff.


Is the stove pipe entering to deep past the thimble in the chimney?


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## Marshy (Jan 23, 2018)

So to recap @MN~Nice, upon reloading the stove on a small bed of coals the wood will catch fire and flames and sparks are pulled out of the firebox and into the chimney connector pipe. Your concern is possible chimney fire from the flames and sparks from the firebox during refueling. Your concern is based on a previous chimney fire that you experienced before. Since then, the chimney was cleaned and a new liner and connector pipe was installed. 

Since the new liner and connector pipe has been installed you are (or are not) getting creosote buildup in the newly lined chimney?

If you are not getting any residue buildup in the new liner I see no problem with how it is operating. I would expect the flue temp to spike while reloading the stove. As the fire is catching and pulling flame and sparks up the flue connector your flue temp is bound to go up. As someone mentioned, as long as you're only reaching 700-800 flue temp momentarily I don't believe there is a concern, especially if the flue is clean and no creosote.


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## Marshy (Jan 23, 2018)

MN~Nice said:


> The fire doesn't have to be burning at all for it to happen. Even if I have coals in the firebox it still happens. To clarify I mean the stove pipe temps skyrocket and I cut the air out to choke it off. This is when I use a mirror and flashlight to look up chimney to verify I don't have fire transfer into the chimney liner. What I usually see is a small clump of smoldering embers where the stove pipe attaches to chimney liner.
> 
> I'm just trying to figure out if my stove pipe is the cause or is my furnace damaged in some way that might cause this kind of stuff.



Sounds like excessive draft or lack of air inlet control. Does the stove have an internal baffle to deflect flame and sparks from directly entering the single wall connector pipe?


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## ratsrepus (Jan 23, 2018)

Ive had two wood furnaces in my home, first was a Fire Chief, the 2nd was a Charmaster. They were both chimney clogging turds. Thats the nature of the beast. The Kuma is probably the most expensive forced air furnace you can buy, but I think they are all creosote makers. I also got tired of tossing 5 cords a season in mine.


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## Mnpellet (Jan 23, 2018)

MN~Nice said:


> The fire doesn't have to be burning at all for it to happen. Even if I have coals in the firebox it still happens. To clarify I mean the stove pipe temps skyrocket and I cut the air out to choke it off. This is when I use a mirror and flashlight to look up chimney to verify I don't have fire transfer into the chimney liner. What I usually see is a small clump of smoldering embers where the stove pipe attaches to chimney liner.
> 
> I'm just trying to figure out if my stove pipe is the cause or is my furnace damaged in some way that might cause this kind of stuff.


Just curious how your looking up the chimney if it’s attached to a liner.


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## ratsrepus (Jan 23, 2018)

Another big problem at least with the two I had, was if you lost power and the blower couldn't run, they will go nuclear on you. No air between the burn box and the outer cabinet.


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## begreen (Jan 23, 2018)

Moving this thread to the boiler room where fellow Kuuma owners can chime in.


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## JRHAWK9 (Jan 23, 2018)

ratsrepus said:


> I think they are all creosote makers.



  That's the problem, you think but you don't know.  You have owned two really crappy furnaces, of which I would NEVER even think to put in the basement of any house I or any loved ones of mine own.    



ratsrepus said:


> Another big problem at least with the two I had, was if you lost power and the blower couldn't run, they will go nuclear on you. No air between the burn box and the outer cabinet.



That's because you purchased ones which were not rated for gravity flow.  This is again a decision you made.  If this was a concern/problem of yours you should have purchased one which was rated for gravity flow OR install a battery backup/generator system.


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## JRHAWK9 (Jan 23, 2018)

Has the OP called Lamppa?


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## brenndatomu (Jan 23, 2018)

JRHAWK9 said:


> That's the problem, you think but you don't know. You have owned two really crappy furnaces, of which I would NEVER even think to put in the basement of any house I or any loved ones of mine own.


Show 'em that pic of the inside of your chimney...


JRHAWK9 said:


> That's because you purchased ones which were not rated for gravity flow. This is again a decision you made. If this was a concern/problem of yours you should have purchased one which was rated for gravity flow OR install a battery backup/generator system.


Or install an emergency heat dump door...that can be done on almost any wood furnace


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## ratsrepus (Jan 23, 2018)

JRHAWK9 said:


> That's the problem, you think but you don't know.  You have owned two really crappy furnaces, of which I would NEVER even think to put in the basement of any house I or any loved ones of mine own.
> 
> 
> 
> That's because you purchased ones which were not rated for gravity flow.  This is again a decision you made.  If this was a concern/problem of yours you should have purchased one which was rated for gravity flow OR install a battery backup/generator system.




Well I guess Im just a awful person.  Thanks for pointing that out,  Im sure someday you'll be man enough to respond to people with out  being a complete jerk


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## MN~Nice (Jan 23, 2018)

I have a central masonry chimney in my house with a clean out hatch


kennyp2339 said:


> Is the stove pipe entering to deep past the thimble in the chimney?


no my liner has a tee on the bottom with a collar that comes out flush to the outside of the chimney and my stove pipe connects to that probably 2" or 3" into the collar


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## JRHAWK9 (Jan 23, 2018)

ratsrepus said:


> Well I guess Im just a awful person.  Thanks for pointing that out,  Im sure someday you'll be man enough to respond to people with out  being a complete jerk



Awful person, heck no (although it's possible seeing I don't know you    ).  Just mis-informed.


As far as the OP.  Like others have stated, I think it's just a combination of dry pine and higher than what he was used to draft due to the new liner and not adjusting his loading procedure accordingly.  I don't know this for sure and I think he should still contact Daryl just to be safe.


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## MN~Nice (Jan 23, 2018)

Mnpellet said:


> Just curious how your looking up the chimney if it’s attached to a liner.


I have a central masonry chimney in my house with a clean out hatch. I didn't put a ash cap on the bottom of my liner as there's no way I could reach up in there to ever remove it for cleaning. so with a flashlight and mirror I am able to look all the way up my chimney


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## JRHAWK9 (Jan 23, 2018)

Is your clean out hatch sealing properly when it's closed?


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## Fred61 (Jan 23, 2018)

Didn't get how you terminated your liner but if any smoke/exhaust comes in contact with that high mass chimney it wouldn't take long to build up a "collar" of creosote due to the cooling effect. I've only pine a few times in my lifetime so the question arises. Is the residue from pine different/more flammable because of the pitch. That's east coast talk: pitch, tar gum, etc?


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## brenndatomu (Jan 23, 2018)

MN~Nice said:


> I have a central masonry chimney in my house with a clean out hatch. I didn't put a ash cap on the bottom of my liner as there's no way I could reach up in there to ever remove it for cleaning. so with a flashlight and mirror I am able to look all the way up my chimney


I have the same setup...only on an outside wall. What I did so that I could cap the tee and still clean it out was to have the bottom of the tee crimped, then clamped a short section of liner onto it, just long enough to get down to the cleanout door. The cap can then put removed through the cleanout door...I keep a brick under the cap to make sure it can't come off until I'm ready.


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## begreen (Jan 23, 2018)

Make sure that cleanout door has an air tight seal on it. If air infiltrates at the door it will dilute and cool the flue gases causing creosote to condense further up the flue. You can make a basic seal by putting a bead of silicone around the rim and then closing the door on it. Or just used duct tape.

Another source of dilution and cooling can be a barometric damper on the stove pipe. And if the chimney has any cracks or leaks in it they can also be a source of cold air getting sucked into the liner. For this reason I prefer something like brenndatomu's solution with the tee extended and a cap on the bottom of the extension.


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## brenndatomu (Jan 23, 2018)

begreen said:


> You can make a basic seal by putting a bead of silicone around the rim and then closing the door on it


I like to use wax paper as a release on the surface that I want the silicone to _not_ stick to...have had good luck with it


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## maple1 (Jan 23, 2018)

Sounds to me like a simple case of too much chimney draft? You should get a manometer and measure it. You might need a barometric damper. I suspect this wouldn't be happening with different wood.


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## BoiledOver (Jan 23, 2018)

MN~Nice said:


> Luckily I've become paranoid and watch it like a hawk for about 20 minutes every time I load it up. When it does take off I cut air off and it starts to cool down.
> 
> When I am loaded up and running my stove probe reads between 400 and 450 on avg. when it gets down to around 250 I know it's just coals and it's time to load it up again. But if I take too much time putting wood in the temps on the thermometer skyrocket until I shut the whole stove down. It only happens when I open the smoke bypass tho. If it's open along with the door  and that thermometer reads 300 it takes off on me even if there is only a minimal amount of coal in the firebox.





MN~Nice said:


> The fire doesn't have to be burning at all for it to happen. Even if I have coals in the firebox it still happens. To clarify I mean the stove pipe temps skyrocket and I cut the air out to choke it off. This is when I use a mirror and flashlight to look up chimney to verify I don't have fire transfer into the chimney liner. What I usually see is a small clump of smoldering embers where the stove pipe attaches to chimney liner.
> 
> I'm just trying to figure out if my stove pipe is the cause or is my furnace damaged in some way that might cause this kind of stuff.



These temp spikes are to be expected. When the firebox door is opened in the Eko 25 and there is still some sticks remaining, flue temps can quickly jump to over 1000F. This is caused by the added oxygen to an active fire that has a good exhaust draft. It sounds like you have a very good draft in your chimney, which is good.

Is this about what you are trying to convey? When first using the heater you experienced a chimney fire. You then addressed that issue with a new liner. Now you see the exhaust temps skyrocket while you are reloading.

As stated, this "to me" is expected. I see that often and the temps quickly return to the proper flue temps once the door is closed and blower is restarted. I say quickly even though the gauge is a bit slow at reacting to a temp drop, my manual gauge looks much like yours. It is a kiln thermometer.

For years with an old style wood stove, I held to a daily procedure of a hot and fast fire first thing in the morning. This was to clean the chimney of any creosote. I have never in many, many  years experienced a chimney or flue fire.

Best of luck in getting to the bottom of this concern.


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## Fred61 (Jan 24, 2018)

If you're comfortable knowing that the liner above is free of creosote, let it burn. I've observed thin coatings of creosote burning within a chimney. It looks like a photo of a grass fire taken from a distance. thin glowing streaks that ignite for a few seconds. Doesn't make much heat. Not enough fuel.


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## maple1 (Jan 24, 2018)

The thread is a bit confusing. Title pretty well says chimney fires - but also from posts it sounds rather like strong draft is sucking firebox fire into the smoke pipe when the door/bypass is open. Maybe also creating some secondary burn in the smoke pipe - truly dry pine would be pretty flammable.

My old boiler used to do that (not the secondary thing), I had to watch it when the wind was gusting outside. It had a pretty direct path from the firebox to the smoke pipe.


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## Bad LP (Jan 24, 2018)

For testing purposes is there any way you could acquire some dry hard wood, say at the local store by the small bundle and see what happens when you reload the fire box with something dry other than pine? 

We all know that dry pine takes off like a wildfire at the touch of any ignition source.

On my old stove in the basement I would purposely set a dry kindling fire to clean out any creosote that might have formed. When I replaced that pipe for another stove prior to my boiler install the pipe and flue tiles were very clean.


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## lampmfg (Jan 24, 2018)

The Kuuma 1 is why we designed the Kuuma Vapor-Fire 100 and 200.  We took what worked really well and changed the rest.  We figured out that to burn the cleanest, it needed to be automated. Call the shop at 218-753-2330 or shoot us an e-mail at lampmfg@gmail.com and we will help you the best we can.  I don't think we've sold one for 15-20 years.


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## MN~Nice (Jan 25, 2018)

maple1 said:


> The thread is a bit confusing. Title pretty well says chimney fires - but also from posts it sounds rather like strong draft is sucking firebox fire into the smoke pipe when the door/bypass is open. Maybe also creating some secondary burn in the smoke pipe - truly dry pine would be pretty flammable.
> 
> My old boiler used to do that (not the secondary thing), I had to watch it when the wind was gusting outside. It had a pretty direct path from the firebox to the smoke pipe.


You are correct, I am indeed meaning chimney fire. I played around with it the last couple days. 
I use a spot eater to clean my chimney and flue, I ran it up and down 3 times both up the chimney and stove pipe. 

Not much spot in chimney or stove pipe. Maybe a pop can full out of the stove pipe. 

But I was indeed experiencing a fire inside my stove pipe.


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## maple1 (Jan 25, 2018)

MN~Nice said:


> You are correct, I am indeed meaning chimney fire. I played around with it the last couple days.
> I use a spot eater to clean my chimney and flue, I ran it up and down 3 times both up the chimney and stove pipe.
> 
> Not much spot in chimney or stove pipe. Maybe a pop can full out of the stove pipe.
> ...



That is still confusing. A chimney fire isn't the same as fire being sucked into the stove pipe.


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## laynes69 (Jan 25, 2018)

The only way that you would produce a chimney fire after a few days of cleaning, would be if you had glaze deposits which weren't removed during brushing. Deposits like glazing are hard to remove, and are very flammable. I can't tell you how the old Kuumas were designed, however it's common like some mentioned for flames to reach a flue pipe, especially on a simple baffle system. 

I am glad there's threads like this however, there is a same Kuuma as the OP listed locally here on Facebook. It looked old, and I didn't see any computer controls on it. It's nice for Kuuma to comment and mention these models are not the current clean burners, otherwise I would just assume they were the same as the others.


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## BoiledOver (Jan 26, 2018)

@MN~Nice  Did you read post #40 on this page? Please respond to it.

A chimney fire will likely have flames blow out the top. Are you certain you are having a chimney fire?


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## brenndatomu (Jan 26, 2018)

laynes69 said:


> The only way that you would produce a chimney fire after a few days of cleaning, would be if you had glaze deposits which weren't removed during brushing


That's a real good point, glaze will puff up like popcorn when heated to a fairly high temp, and then if it is not taken to a temp that will ignite, it will just kinda glow...I have played around with the propane torch before, heating creosote chunks that were cleaned out of the chimney...just to see what it was like when it starts burning (it is actually kinda hard to light, and doesn't stay burning real well)(but this is only outside of a chimney situation...inside a chimney I'm sure it acts totally different, due to the column of preheated air blasting past...)


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## MN~Nice (Feb 2, 2018)

Sorry for the delay in posting updates.
So I went through and cleaned my whole system again. My wood is dry, I burned a "hot" fire for approximately 6 hours and inspected my chimney again. My liner is clean as a whistle but my black stove pipe has a thin puffy/fuzzy coating on the walls that falls off if touched. 

The only variable I can think of is I do not have a T-cap on the bottom of my liner as I cannot access this through the masonry chimney cleanout hatch for cleaning. 

Would this condition possibly be causing my stove pipe fire issue?


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## brenndatomu (Feb 2, 2018)

That sounds like soot/flyash...nothing to worry about. Is it tan or brown? (not black) Have a pic?


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## MN~Nice (Feb 2, 2018)

brenndatomu said:


> That sounds like soot/flyash...nothing to worry about. Is it tan or brown? (not black) Have a pic?


I will post pics tonight. It's mainly tan/brown and gray


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## brenndatomu (Feb 2, 2018)

That definitely sounds like soot/flyash...no risk of a chimney fire at all from that. Even the modern Kuumas still have some of this buildup in the stovepipe/chimney...it tends to be more white and gray (maybe tan or brown further away from the furnace) but it is dry and fluffy and falls off with any disturbance at all...and has zero flammability.
Somewheres around here I think @JRHAWK9  has a good pic of his stovepipe showing this...


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## BoiledOver (Feb 2, 2018)

MN~Nice said:


> Sorry for the delay in posting updates.
> So I went through and cleaned my whole system again. My wood is dry, I burned a "hot" fire for approximately 6 hours and inspected my chimney again. My liner is clean as a whistle but my black stove pipe has a thin puffy/fuzzy coating on the walls that falls off if touched.
> 
> The only variable I can think of is I do not have a T-cap on the bottom of my liner as I cannot access this through the masonry chimney cleanout hatch for cleaning.
> ...


So, have you read and will you respond to post #40 of this thread. Just in case you cannot navigate to that post, I will rewrite it for you. The following conditions can occur with any model wood burning appliance.

These temp spikes are to be expected. When the firebox door is opened in the Eko 25 and there is still some sticks remaining, flue temps can quickly jump to over 1000F. This is caused by the added oxygen to an active fire that has a good exhaust draft. It sounds like you have a very good draft in your chimney, which is good.

Is this about what you are trying to convey? When first using the heater you experienced a chimney fire. You then addressed that issue with a new liner. Now you see the exhaust temps skyrocket while you are reloading.

As stated, this "to me" is expected. I see that often and the temps quickly return to the proper flue temps once the door is closed and blower is restarted. I say quickly even though the gauge is a bit slow at reacting to a temp drop, my manual gauge looks much like yours. It is a kiln thermometer.

For years with an old style wood stove, I held to a daily procedure of a hot and fast fire first thing in the morning. This was to clean the chimney of any creosote. I have never in many, many years experienced a chimney or flue fire.

Best of luck in getting to the bottom of this concern.


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## JRHAWK9 (Feb 2, 2018)

brenndatomu said:


> That definitely sounds like soot/flyash...no risk of a chimney fire at all from that. Even the modern Kuumas still have some of this buildup in the stovepipe/chimney...it tends to be more white and gray (maybe tan or brown further away from the furnace) but it is dry and fluffy and falls off with any disturbance at all...and has zero flammability.
> Somewheres around here I think @JRHAWK9  has a good pic of his stovepipe showing this...



This is of my chimney after a winters worth of burning.  My stove pipe looks similar, but the flyash is definitely more brown/black and more fuzzy than what's found in the chimney.  Like bren said above, this is non-combustible and NOT an issue.

If you are indeed seeing temps higher than you should be (which the jury is still out on), I'm wondering if you are not adding to the stack effect by not having the bottom of your flue liner capped...?  Like maybe it's pulling in air from in between the liner and inside walls of the chimney which is feeding everything.  I don't think you have a manometer on your stovepipe, but you really need to get one.  A manometer and temp PROBE will go a long way in getting to the bottom of what may not even be an issue.


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## Bad LP (Feb 2, 2018)

JRHAWK9 said:


> .......  A manometer and temp PROBE will go a long way in getting to the bottom of what may not even be an issue.




This. The information obtained by installing both of these items totally removed any doubts and proved I didn't have a problem but it did allow me to burn more effectively. 
I learned here within the forum that stove pipe magnetic temperature gauges are next to useless. A 16 dollar probe type thermometer and a 30 dollar manometer saved me from spending 2000 plus on lining a perfectly good chimney.


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## BoiledOver (Feb 2, 2018)

The OP posted an image that shows they are using a probe thermometer in the flue. @lampmfg reached out to this person by posting in this thread. Did they follow-up? How can we know by the communication skills shown?

The OP is too busy trying to be a "victim" that they are ignoring experienced opinion. The truth is, they _may_ have spent all that money on a chimney liner to fix an issue that never existed. Come into a forum, ask for help of an issue with vague information and doesn't have the decency to respond to communications. The experience of many of the members here did not always come cheap to them, but the OP wants it for free or ignores it. 

Just today, I opened the bypass and firebox door before leaving for town. The flue temp exceeded 1150 until the firewood was shaken and the door closed tight.


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## maple1 (Feb 2, 2018)

MN~Nice said:


> Sorry for the delay in posting updates.
> So I went through and cleaned my whole system again. My wood is dry, I burned a "hot" fire for approximately 6 hours and inspected my chimney again. My liner is clean as a whistle but my black stove pipe has a thin puffy/fuzzy coating on the walls that falls off if touched.
> 
> The only variable I can think of is I do not have a T-cap on the bottom of my liner as I cannot access this through the masonry chimney cleanout hatch for cleaning.
> ...



That coating could be creosote or it could be ash. What color is it? Really fine? Or something else?

If you mean that there is no cap on the bottom of your chimney that is a no-no. But I am not sure of your setup there, I might be misunderstanding. Pics of that might help. A cleanout hatch should be air tight. Or else it will kill your draft because the chimney will instead pull cold air from the bottom of the chimney. Which could also increase creosote production - but that creosote production should be in the chimney and not the stove pipe. Or maybe right at the T connection. 

Still don't have a clear picture of this fire issue. Where does the fire start & stop at? If it is coming out of the furnace how far in the pipe does it go? I still think it might just be an over draft pulling excess fire out of the firebox, that excess fire the result of your very dry & easily lit pine.

Sometimes it is hard to tell things over the internet, without being there & seeing.


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## Bad LP (Feb 2, 2018)

I obviously missed the picture of the probe type thermometer but the balance of my post stands.


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