had a scare last night

[bag of hammers]

And like Kenster pointed out, sand will do the same....or better. It is just a bit scary opening that firebox door when that thing is already running out of control. Wait then until the fire dies down and then go change your shorts.

Another forum member recently posted a tip about keeping the sand in plastic baggies - toss a couple in if needed. Lots of great ideas / advice here!

 

[Kenster]

These are the kind of stories that make me wonder if stoves and inserts are worth the stress. It's hard to convince my family to give up their familiar, trouble free stone fireplace for a finicky piece of metal that requires perfect wood, frequent monitoring of thermometers and numerous mechanical adjustments or it may go "Nuclear". What stoves are safest?

Try heating your whole house, much less your living room, with a stone fireplace. Open fireplaces are worthless as a heat source, actually sucking far more heat out of the house than they can possibly contribute.

 

[corey21]

Try heating your whole house, much less your living room, with a stone fireplace. Open fireplaces are worthless as a heat source, actually sucking far more heat out of the house than they can possibly contribute.

Yes but they are less stressful.

 

[Kenster]

Stress comes from fear and fear comes from inexperience and lack of knowledge. Remember the first time you ever fired up a chainsaw and the first big tree you felled? Talk about stress! Now, respect, knowledge, and caution have replaced fear and stress.

If fear and stress ruled our lives we'd never back the car out of the garage.

 

[Sprinter]

There are some folks here who say the opening the door wide is the best remedy for a runaway. The theory is that it takes the cooler air from the room and flushes the hot gasses right up the chimney and cools both the fire and the stove, since it's the gasses that are burning, not the wood itself. It basically changes it from a stove to an open fireplace.

It's totally counter-intuitive, but it makes sense. I hope to never have to try it...

 

[etiger2007]

Fear and stress come from a stove that is acting totally different than the previous load that consisted of the same wood and same loading pattern and habits. With EPA stoves you have to watch every load or it could run.

 

[etiger2007]

There are some folks here who say the opening the door wide is the best remedy for a runaway. The theory is that it takes the cooler air from the room and flushes the hot gasses right up the chimney and cools both the fire and the stove, since it's the gasses that are burning, not the wood itself. It basically changes it from a stove to an open fireplace.

It's totally counter-intuitive, but it makes sense. I hope to never have to try it...

I tried it and it made my ss liner turn red

 

[corey21]

Fear and stress come from a stove that is acting totally different than the previous load that consisted of the same wood and same loading pattern and habits. With EPA stoves you have to watch every load or it could run.

+1 You nailed it.

 

[Kenster]

Fear and stress come from a stove that is acting totally different than the previous load that consisted of the same wood and same loading pattern and habits. With EPA stoves you have to watch every load or it could run.

I'm glad my VC Vigilant will probably be around another 30 years to take care of my needs.

 

[Kenster]

There are some folks here who say the opening the door wide is the best remedy for a runaway. The theory is that it takes the cooler air from the room and flushes the hot gasses right up the chimney and cools both the fire and the stove, since it's the gasses that are burning, not the wood itself. It basically changes it from a stove to an open fireplace.

It's totally counter-intuitive, but it makes sense. I hope to never have to try it...

I don't know the science behind that theory but suffocation seems, to me, the best way, at least for my VC Vigilant.

 

[tfdchief]

My last pucker factor came while posting on Hearth.com and I smelled something hot. I thought wow, this forum really has strong effects on me.......then I realized the smell was coming from my double wall stove pipe that had just hit a new all time high. I had put a load on and was getting it going and thought I am going to answer that last post, it won't take that long......YIKES.

 

[corey21]

I'm glad my VC Vigilant will probably be around another 30 years to take care of my needs.

You have a pre EPA stove or a cat stove?

 

[Kenster]

You have a pre EPA stove or a cat stove?

A VC Vigilant is very pre EPA. We heat our 4000 square foot house with it. Doesn't require a lot of fiddlin' and tweaking. I like it. It's almost 35 years old now.

 

[Sprinter]

My last pucker factor came while posting on Hearth.com and I smelled something hot. I thought wow, this forum really has strong effects on me.......then I realized the smell was coming from my double wall stove pipe that had just hit a new all time high. I had put a load on and was getting it going and thought I am going to answer that last post, it won't take that long......YIKES.

It's amazing how quickly you can get distracted, isn't it? I learned that on my first few burns when starting with the door open for "just a few minutes, while I get some coffee going". Yeah, right. Now I use a timer routinely.

 

[etiger2007]

I sit by my stove during start up until I get my air closed and Im happy with it, anything that needs to be done during that time is why i have kids.

 

[Sprinter]

I tried it and it made my ss liner turn red

Ed, so what did you end up doing?

BTW, just for general interest, here is a chart showing glow colors and temps:

Doesn’t really matter what the emitter is…stainless steel, cast iron, tungsten in your light bulb, the temps are about the same for a given color. Generally accepted colors/temps are:
C____F
400 752 Red heat, visible in the dark
474 885 Red heat, visible in the twilight
525 975 Red heat, visible in the daylight
581 1077 Red heat, visible in the sunlight
700 1292 Dark red
800 1472 Dull cherry-red
900 1652 Cherry-red
1000 1832 Bright cherry-red
1100 2012 Orange-red
C= Centigrade
F= Farenheit

 

[etiger2007]

Ed, so what did you end up doing?

BTW, just for general interest, here is a chart showing glow colors and temps:

Doesn’t really matter what the emitter is…stainless steel, cast iron, tungsten in your light bulb, the temps are about the same for a given color. Generally accepted colors/temps are:
C F Color
400 752 Red heat, visible in the dark
474 885 Red heat, visible in the twilight
525 975 Red heat, visible in the daylight
581 1077 Red heat, visible in the sunlight
700 1292 Dark red
800 1472 Dull cherry-red
900 1652 Cherry-red
1000 1832 Bright cherry-red
1100 2012 Orange-red
C= Centigrade
F= Farenheit

Ok, my stove top was showing a dull but red glowing top around where my ss liner is connected, I turn the ligh off in the room and could see it. So I opened the door and waited about 30 seconds to cool it off, Im in a unique situation as an insert owner because I can see the ss line about two foot above my stove because I have a fireplace grate that allows me to see about 3 inches of the ss liner and it was cherry red ( im chittin now) so I closed the door pushed the air all the way in and put a box fan blowing on high directly on the stove. Took about ten minutes but the stove started to calm. Notice the brass grate in the photo. Even today when my stove top hits 600+ degrees I freak.

 

[xman23]

Brian and all, I wonder if this wasn't a chimney fire? I've never had one. But my single was chimney, 3 ft above the stove stays close to the stove top temperature. Even when I've had the stove rippin at 700. We (my Wife ) had a runaway one day when she didn't get the ash door closed. You may recall my thread last year " The Fire dept came to my house". I just asked, she said the stove was over 750 and she didn't look at the chimney temp.

 

[charly]

These are the kind of stories that make me wonder if stoves and inserts are worth the stress. It's hard to convince my family to give up their familiar, trouble free stone fireplace for a finicky piece of metal that requires perfect wood, frequent monitoring of thermometers and numerous mechanical adjustments or it may go "Nuclear". What stoves are safest?

Well so far my Woodstock Fireview is a pleasure to run,,,, no monkeying with the controls,,,,, get it up to temp,,,, close the by pass and set your draft to the open you want and your done,,,, no more touching a thing. Doesn't get any easier then that,,,,, and no run away fires for me .

 

[osagebow]

Ed, so what did you end up doing?

BTW, just for general interest, here is a chart showing glow colors and temps:

Doesn’t really matter what the emitter is…stainless steel, cast iron, tungsten in your light bulb, the temps are about the same for a given color. Generally accepted colors/temps are:
C____F
400 752 Red heat, visible in the dark
474 885 Red heat, visible in the twilight
525 975 Red heat, visible in the daylight
581 1077 Red heat, visible in the sunlight
700 1292 Dark red
800 1472 Dull cherry-red
900 1652 Cherry-red
1000 1832 Bright cherry-red
1100 2012 Orange-red
C= Centigrade
F= Farenheit

Hmm.... makes me wonder about my thermometer. I had an episode with a pegged (1000 F) stovetop coil thermometer but nothing was glowing. Stove was just pinging a lot. Quickly resolved with closing the pipe damper and opening up the stove door for a bit. Maybe try a different thermo and see if they match temps.


By the way Brian,, glad you made out OK and NICE STRIPER!

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Why was the flu temp so much higher than the stove temp? I keep an eye on my stove temp, but don't have a way to view the flu with my insert.

Probe thermometer. Read about double what a regular magnetic surface moubt flue thermometer reads. Took me a bit to get used to it when I put in a probe.

 

[corey21]

Ed, so what did you end up doing?

BTW, just for general interest, here is a chart showing glow colors and temps:

Doesn’t really matter what the emitter is…stainless steel, cast iron, tungsten in your light bulb, the temps are about the same for a given color. Generally accepted colors/temps are:
C____F
400 752 Red heat, visible in the dark
474 885 Red heat, visible in the twilight
525 975 Red heat, visible in the daylight
581 1077 Red heat, visible in the sunlight
700 1292 Dark red
800 1472 Dull cherry-red
900 1652 Cherry-red
1000 1832 Bright cherry-red
1100 2012 Orange-red
C= Centigrade
F= Farenheit

That is odd my stove side thermometer's were reading 900 and the stove was not glowing this morning.

 

[Sprinter]

Hmm.... makes me wonder about my thermometer. I had an episode with a pegged (1000 F) stovetop coil thermometer but nothing was glowing. Stove was just pinging a lot. Quickly resolved with closing the pipe damper and opening up the stove door for a bit. Maybe try a different thermo and see if they match temps.


By the way Brian,, glad you made out OK and NICE STRIPER!

Osagebow, where did the smoke go?

 

[firecracker_77]

These are the kind of stories that make me wonder if stoves and inserts are worth the stress. It's hard to convince my family to give up their familiar, trouble free stone fireplace for a finicky piece of metal that requires perfect wood, frequent monitoring of thermometers and numerous mechanical adjustments or it may go "Nuclear". What stoves are safest?

My stove is great as long as I'm not acting like an idiot and throwing small splits on a hot coal bed or using lousy wood.

 

[Machria]

My stove is great as long as I'm not acting like an idiot and throwing small splits on a hot coal bed or using lousy wood.

Whats wrong with small splits on a hot bed...?