# Small Chimney Fire.. How Do You Know When It Occurs?



## JotulOwner (Oct 12, 2008)

The title says it all !


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## Corey (Oct 12, 2008)

I've always considered the very beginnings to be when you start hearing a crackling / clicking noise up inside the flue.  Not the normal 'tings' and 'pings' of the stove warming up - but actually coming from the flue pipe. 

I've never had this happen since I've been cleaning my own chimney, but an old rental I had a dozen years ago  - had a freestanding 'fireplace' with an exposed flue pipe 9-10 feet high in a room with a vaulted ceiling.  I ask the landlord if flue cleaning was included in the rent and he said no, so I just went with it because I sure wasn't going to pay to have his flue cleaned out.  One cold night I got a little overzealous with the stoking, the stove got really hot and I started hearing crackling coming from the pipe.  Over a period of about 5 minutes it seemed to work its way up the pipe, finally, I could see light coming from a tiny crack where the flue made a 90 degree bend to go through the wall and out of the house.  A few pretty tense moments there...one hand on the phone ready to call 911 and one hand on the garden hose for 'first response'  

In the end, it kind of burnt itself out and nothing bad happened - the flue was a little cleaner afterward!


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## savageactor7 (Oct 12, 2008)

If you sit by your stove often enough you'll know when you have a small chimney fire. Your hear the air being drawn in an abnormal rate...very noticeable.


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## JotulOwner (Oct 13, 2008)

I have opened the door on my stove and had a roaring fire result after which I closed the door and turned the air down, but it was back to normal in less than fifteen seconds . I don't know if that could have been a chimney fire.


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## woodconvert (Oct 13, 2008)

Intense cracking and popping as was pointed out, a bit of a wind in the chimney sound and if you step outside and look at the chimney you'll see a yellow tornado coming from the stack. It's truly frightening. 

Rule #1 Learn from others so as to aviod the chimbley fire.

***When I had fire my stove was 3 months old, the catalyst was partially plugged with ash, the open part was indeed firing but the unequal heat caused the unit to fracture so it was clearly not operating to it's potential and, at the time of the year I was using it I didn't need a balls out fire. The only thing I could figure was that starting a bunch of mid sized fires caused the cat to plug AND I hadn't yet established a good cleaning schedule (no doubt some wood wasn't up to snuff as I was building a house and not yet in scrounge mode). Anyhow, I opened the lid with a good fire going, ran out to the porch to grab an armfull of wood, threw it in, shut it down and it was running bizzar. Heard the popping in places it shouldn't, looked outside to see the tornado out the chimney, ran inside and threw a chimfex stick in and got the paddles out to get my ticker going again. Sucked, sucked sucked, my fault, could have been avoided if I knew then what I know now. Luckily when I built my  place I did put my exterior masonry chimney inside a chimney (no, really) so there was no way the beast was getting outside of the flu (tho...dunno what I was thinking for not going SS inside masonry) :shut: . I was lucky that I didn't damage the chimney and luckier yet I didn't get any flaming goo on my roof.

Just do whatever you can to avoid them particularly if you have a family.


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## Dustin (Oct 13, 2008)

Last night I lit a fire, had the door open a bit and it was ragining. Didin't hear crackling, but heard "tick tick tick tick tick" in my stainless liner. Followed by the occasional "CLUNK" or "THUD" 

Went outside, and some sparks coming out of the chimney. Freaked me out. Did I possible have a small chimney fire? I have only been burning for three weeks...brand new liner


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## woodconvert (Oct 13, 2008)

D/F said:
			
		

> Last night I lit a fire, had the door open a bit and it was ragining. Didin't hear crackling, but heard "tick tick tick tick tick" in my stainless liner. Followed by the occasional "CLUNK" or "THUD"
> 
> Went outside, and some sparks coming out of the chimney. Freaked me out. Did I possible have a small chimney fire? I have only been burning for three weeks...brand new liner



I don't know with a liner. I would doubt it though as you couldn't get a good enough heat transfer through a liner to anything to go "clunk" or "thud" as far as I understand how liners are installed. As for the sparks coming out of the chimney....never seen that but I don't often look for that. I'm sure at night when i've got a ripper going there is some flaming chaffe escaping but at night when I need a ripper going it's usually too cold outside for me to give a flip so I stay in the warm,dry house


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## BJ64 (Oct 13, 2008)

D/F said:
			
		

> Last night I lit a fire, had the door open a bit and it was ragining. Didin't hear crackling, but heard "tick tick tick tick tick" in my stainless liner. Followed by the occasional "CLUNK" or "THUD"
> 
> Went outside, and some sparks coming out of the chimney. Freaked me out. Did I possible have a small chimney fire? I have only been burning for three weeks...brand new liner



No.

That was just he pipe heating up.  Stainless has strange ways of reacting to heat.  For that matter any metal has its own way for reacting to heat.  Clunk and Thud was part of that.  

A flue fire will almost sound like jet coming down a fire place.  If you think of it, a jet operates on the suck, squeeze, blow, and go concept.  A flue fire has many of the same dynamics involved.  I have not been near a flue fire with a wood stove but fireplace chimney fires get dramatic and loud because of a less restricted combustion air intake.  Combustion air on a stove at least has some restriction if not some degree of contol.

You had a good fire going and the pipe was just heating up quickly.


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## crazy_dan (Oct 13, 2008)

when the stove pipe is glowing more than the barrel stove you have it hooked to.
when the stove pipe is glowing above the second damper.
oh wait you said small Sorry never mind, don't think i ever had one of those.
now for the explaining
#1 had stove pipe that had about a 5' horizontal stove pipe. it gets a little hairy when it is glowing white.
#2 had a Franklin stove hooked to a chimney that drafted way too good it would still run away with one damper all the way closed, so the fix was to put in a second damper and close it to.


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## BJ64 (Oct 13, 2008)

crazy_dan said:
			
		

> when the stove pipe is glowing more than the barrel stove you have it hooked to.



That is a good (err ... I meant BAD) clue.


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## VTSR5 (Oct 13, 2008)

I had a small chimney fire in the Metalbestos flue that serves my cellar stove (Scandia 315) a few winters ago.  It might have gone unnoticed if I had not peeked outside before bed to check my smoke.  

Clue #1: Little chunks of flaming creosote flying like popcorn out of the cap on my metalbestos chimney.  This motivated me to go look at the Metalbestos where it passes through a closet.
Clue #2: Metalbestos in the closet felt unusually hot.
Clue #3: Metalbestos smelled and sounded hot with little ticking/popping noises.

Stove was drawing more strongly than usual, but I would not have noticed this alone.  In my case, the clues were all about the chimney.  I got the thing under control easily enough, but the experience changed how I do things.

A. I burn much hotter now, with primary goal being clean burning, not long burn times like before.  I still get good enough burn times, and the stove seems happier burning hotter.
B. I burn dry wood now.  Has anybody else noticed what a big difference this makes?
C. When the stove is in operation, I monitor the chimney much more regularly for heat and check the smoke.
D. I made it easier to pull the stove in order to check and clean the pipe, and I do this more often.


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## BrotherBart (Oct 13, 2008)

When your neighbor calls and asks you to put out that light on top of your house because it is keeping him awake.  :ahhh: 

Seriously, clean the pipe regularly and burn dry wood at recommended temps and don't worry about it.


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## struggle (Oct 13, 2008)

I had one two years ago and here is what happened to mine. I have/had a clay tile lined chimney. In the morning I started a fire and while I had the doors cracked open I heard what seemed like an incredible vacuuming and raoaring sound coming from the stove but when I looked in the stove the fire was just going normal but the roaring kept going at a speed unrelated to the fire pattern with the doors open on the stove. 

Since I knew I had a chimney problem with creosote I knew it was a chimney fire. Mine was not really small though. I did call the local fire department (volunteer) and asked the chief what he though I might need to do as my chimney is completely concrete and exterior with no wood around the structure of it he said if I felt comfortable give ait a couple of minutes and see if it burns itself out which it did. 

If you have one going they can really roar. It was almost like a jet engine in the distance it seemed to me. It did clog the cap up partially and there appears to be some small burns in the shingles so it is something to take very seriously. In hind site we should have maybe called the fire department to come over just for stand by.

I relined the chimney after this happened and all my chimney problems disappeared


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## Valhalla (Oct 13, 2008)

It may sound like a small jet engine! 

Depending on the airflow and amount of creosote deposits. And as one previous burner described, usually a light at your chimney top.    

Keep the flues clean and your wood dry.


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## CowboyAndy (Oct 13, 2008)

What is the relationship with chimney fires and SS liners in a masonary chimney? 

How does a chimney fire set a whole house on fire?

how is a chimney fire put out?


The thought of a chimney fire scares the crap outta me...


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## Brian VT (Oct 13, 2008)

The fire dept. will probably try to take the fuel out of the stove and then rattle a balled up chain in the chimney.


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## struggle (Oct 13, 2008)

I have heard from old timers around my area that the way to put onew out is to throw a road flare in the stove as it will kill the oxygen to the fire. I have not tried it though. 

Clay chimney fires are more common because there is more room for problems as in shifting tiles from a settling chimney. A steel liner has a lot more give to it and allows for some expansion and movement where a masonry chimney does not have any give to it so any movement and then you have a cold air leak into it which then creates creosote which was my issue. Liner solved that and it burns so much cleaner.


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## Dustin (Oct 13, 2008)

CowboyAndy said:
			
		

> What is the relationship with chimney fires and SS liners in a masonary chimney?
> 
> How does a chimney fire set a whole house on fire?
> 
> ...




Chimney fires can be very serious. My first interior attack on a house fire was resulting from a chimney fire. They had a free standing stove, dumping into an un-lined chimney. The fire in the chimney got so hot that it ignited the walls around it. To put the fire out the interior of the home surround the stove was pretty much gutted. 

I remember entering the door, crawling on the floor and thinking, huh...fire in the wood stove, fire on the wall next to the stove...fire rolling up the stairs...it's hot in here!! 


When we have a chimney fire, that is contained in the chimney...we have whats called a "chimey nozzle" We usually stretch a "booster line" from the Engine, connect it to the chimney nozzle.. 

The nozzle is on the end of a 15 foot rubber hose. It's a large piece of sold steel..I think it's steel anyway..and it has holes in numerous places. It looks almost like an oversized fishing wieght. You open the line a little, make a pass down, and up the chimney. It shoots water Horizontal as to get the sides of the chimney. 


Gernerally before this is happening, we take a "water can" extinguisher inside the house and put the fire out in the stove. It's pretty much high pressure water. THen we close the doors up on the stove, close the air, and take care of the chimney part. 


We then crawl all over the attic, and check any rooms that are near the chimney with a Thermal Imaging Camera. This allows you to see heat, and fire through the walls. It's pretty neat! 


And our fire department is half paid, half Volunteer. 

D/F


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