Had a chimney fire tonight, sooo, how concerned should I be?

[Northof49th]

I cleaned the chimney back in Sept, haven't run the stove too much because of the mild weather. Regardless, I started a fire tonight (BK Sirocco 30). After several minutes (Temperature needle is probably 3/4 way to active zone) I hear some light "popping" or crackling ...didn't think much of it, until it didn't stop, and was getting louder. It was around the area of the box in the picture. I assumed it was a chimney fire, so closed the thermostat (Needle is now in the active zone). Now, this is the part where I really didn't know what to do, but I didn't want the fire to keep going. So I opened the door (Smoke did not billow out into the room), and started taking half burned wood out, a pail at a time, then put it outside, until there was no big pieces left.
Going to disassemble the vents tomorrow (or when it warms up next week), obviously sweep the chimney, and check for damage. So what am I looking for in terms of "damage"? (It probably burned for 2 or 3 minutes)

It's double -walled, stainless steel, and I had read somewhere that chimney fires happen more often than people think, but due to modern manufacturing, they usually just burn themselves out.

 

[stoveliker]

Could it simply have been the flue heating up from the flames going thru the bypass?

You do run with the bypass closed always when the cat is in the active range, right?

 

[kennyp2339]

You can check to see if it was a chimney fire by looking at the cap and seeing if theres any fly ash in the area, expanded creosote. Then send the brush down the chimney and shine a flashlight to make sure the inner pipe isnt buckled. Obviously take the flashlight and if you can see the outside of the pipe look for potential hotspots in the metal - it will be discolored in anyspots that got hot.
But this is also a great reminder to do a mid - season clean out of your system, over by me, we are getting ready for a snowstorm and some of the coldest temps of the winter (-8deg F Monday night) Today I'm burning the coals down in my stove, going to do a full ash clean out and send the brush down the chimney since there's no snow on the roof at the moment, check and brush off the cap just to keep things clean and have peace of mind.

 

[MongoMongoson]

Yes, look at the cap and on the roof, on the ground outside. You should see a bunch of burned up crispy stuff if you had a chimney fire.

If you opened the door on the stove to get wood out and you had an all-out chimney fire going, I would expect that to help the chimney fire really take off, so I am guessing you probably had a little pile of crud collected in the 45 at the base of your straight up chimney, and that little pile of crud could have burned.

It happened to me once. I had a little pile of accumulation burn up. It was sitting on the cleanout cap of a stove pipe cleanout T. I saw that cap glow.... but that was it. I shut the air down and didn't open it again for like 12 hours. It was ignited by a strong backpuff.

Now we always have a couple of these nearby.

 

[kborndale]

What does a fire extinguisher do to a stove? Obviously I'd kill my stove in a heartbeat to save my house, but will emptying a fire extinguisher into the stove damage the stove and chimney? What's the difference between a chimfex vs regular extinguisher?

 

[all night moe]

What does a fire extinguisher do to a stove? Obviously I'd kill my stove in a heartbeat to save my house, but will emptying a fire extinguisher into the stove damage the stove and chimney? What's the difference between a chimfex vs regular extinguisher?

I would suggest a carbon dioxide type. Snuff out the O2 supply.
Won't hurt a thing but feelings....LOL

 

[MongoMongoson]

Chimfex is a flare, like a road flare. You light it, open the door to the stove, and place it inside and close the door. It consumes all the oxygen to snuff the fire. Firefighters use them to snuff chimney fires, so it is not a gimmick.

I also have dry chemical fire extinguishers handy, but those are not intended to be used to fight a chimney fire.

I don't have a cat stove like you do. Since it seems like everything on the planet (except wood) can kill a catalyst, I am guessing the flare would do that. The rest of your stove would be fine.

Spraying a CO2 extinguisher into a burning firebox? Sounds like you would be blowing embers all over the room. Maybe if you could point it up the chimney, that might do it, but I like the idea of keeping the stove door closed during a chimney fire as much as possible. Once the creosote is going, the fire is sucking air in through every place it can to burn hotter. If the stove door is open it is getting all the oxygen it wants.

My plan would be to shut the air down, throw in a Chimfex, remove the sheet metal cover under the front of my stove, and stuff the secondary intake and boost air intake with aluminum foil. I have a screwdriver and foil stashed about 5 feet from the stove. At the same time, I guess I would have 911 on speaker phone. If it can suck enough air in through gaps in the stove pipe, shutting down oxygen at the stove might not kill the chimney fire.

 

[bholler]

What does a fire extinguisher do to a stove? Obviously I'd kill my stove in a heartbeat to save my house, but will emptying a fire extinguisher into the stove damage the stove and chimney? What's the difference between a chimfex vs regular extinguisher?

A fire extinguisher will not hurt the stove but will make a mess. Chimfex can work well if the fire isn't to bad.

 

[bholler]

Chimfex is a flare, like a road flare. You light it, open the door to the stove, and place it inside and close the door. It consumes all the oxygen to snuff the fire. Firefighters use them to snuff chimney fires, so it is not a gimmick.

I also have dry chemical fire extinguishers handy, but those are not intended to be used to fight a chimney fire.

I don't have a cat stove like you do. Since it seems like everything on the planet (except wood) can kill a catalyst, I am guessing the flare would do that. The rest of your stove would be fine.

Spraying a CO2 extinguisher into a burning firebox? Sounds like you would be blowing embers all over the room. Maybe if you could point it up the chimney, that might do it, but I like the idea of keeping the stove door closed during a chimney fire as much as possible. Once the creosote is going, the fire is sucking air in through every place it can to burn hotter. If the stove door is open it is getting all the oxygen it wants.

My plan would be to shut the air down, throw in a Chimfex, remove the sheet metal cover under the front of my stove, and stuff the secondary intake and boost air intake with aluminum foil. I have a screwdriver and foil stashed about 5 feet from the stove. At the same time, I guess I would have 911 on speaker phone. If it can suck enough air in through gaps in the stove pipe, shutting down oxygen at the stove might not kill the chimney fire.

I have only seen firefighters use plastic bags of the extinguisher powder on chimney fires never seen them use chimfex. They certainly may in some areas but here they dont.

 

[bholler]

I would suggest a carbon dioxide type. Snuff out the O2 supply.
Won't hurt a thing but feelings....LOL

Co2 doesn't really work well. There is usually enough heat in the chimney that the fire will just reignite after the co2 dissipates. You want to use chemical

 

[all night moe]

Co2 doesn't really work well. There is usually enough heat in the chimney that the fire will just reignite after the co2 dissipates. You want to use chemical

Good to note.
Thanks bholler.