Rearscreen
Minister of Fire
If you burn at night when it's dark your neighbor won't be able to see the smoke.
Help, wife is afraid of new insert... :-(
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sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
Is that when you are supposed to put all the tires in?
brenndatomu
Minister of Fire
The list I seen recently listed "fireplace" as #7...but these house fire cause stats seem to vary a bit from one list to the next...some didn't even have wood stove in the top 10...
1.Cooking
2.Kids (this one surprised me, being this high)
3.Smoking
4.Heating (not wood stoves)
5.Electrical
6.Candles
7.Fireplace (wood stoves)
8.Dryers
9.Flammables in house
10.Christmas trees
Now his wi fe won't allow kids or cooking in the house if she sees that list.
My wife for years wanted no part of a wood stove, now she's used to it and loves the warm house. It might just take your wife some time.
Lots of interest in this thread! This is the first time I have installed a wood stove insert and a flexible SS liner. That being said, I work for an HVAC contractor and hold a license myself. I am familiar with flue systems and furnaces.
After she calmed down from the neighbor thinking our house was on fire she admitted she likes it. She is still nervous about the fire when asleep/gone. I know once she is use to it she will be ok but getting her to that will take some time. That is why I was looking for some educational videos or something...
I might resort to having a chimney sweep company come out and inspect it/educate her on proper usage....
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After she calmed down from the neighbor thinking our house was on fire she admitted she likes it. She is still nervous about the fire when asleep/gone. I know once she is use to it she will be ok but getting her to that will take some time. That is why I was looking for some educational videos or something...
I might resort to having a chimney sweep company come out and inspect it/educate her on proper usage....
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This list is pretty far off base . . . last time I looked it up (and the list had not changed for several years) the top causes of fires in the U.S. were cooking followed by either electrical or heating equipment (I forget which was number 2 and which was number 3).
Juvenile firesetters are a cause for concern as many juvenile firesetters end up either hurting or killing themselves or others . . .
Fires started by the improper disposal of smoking materials is more of a concern not in the total number of fires started . . . but rather as this is the cause of most fatal fires.
Candle fires a few years ago had a huge spike in the number of fires -- something like 600% increase in ten years -- but candle fires were still not in the top three causes.
Fireplaces/woodstoves gets lumped under heating equipment, although the NFPA breaks down things further to say central heating appliances are generally safer than space heaters -- and woodstoves are included as space heaters along with gas-fueled heaters, electric space heaters, etc.
Dryers are certainly a cause . . . but not a major cause.
Christmas tree fires are very, very, very low when one looks at the overall number of fires and causes.
First off, I really like what Woodrow wrote . . . he honestly covered a lot of what I would have said . . . but I'll say it again anyways. 
Second . . . a topic I get fired up about . . . fire safety . . . bad pun intended by the way.
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Your wife has every reason to be concerned . . . there is a fire in your home and something that is unfamiliar. Sure, there may be a raging fire in the gas or oil furnace, but folks don't tend to see the actual flames and so there is less of a concern (unless the person knows someone who had their boiler blow up on them -- in which case you may find them to be very concerned.)
Education and experience is the key here.
Education in terms of knowing how the stove was installed (correctly), safety measures in place (smoke and CO detectors, escape plans, fire extinguishers), how the stove will be operated (through the use of safe practices, regular sweeping, thermometers to not exceed safe temps, safe disposal of ashes, ,etc.)
Experience in terms of time . . . learning how to safely run the stove and know what is normal and safe and what is not.
As mentioned . . . it's pretty normal to see smoke and even smell smoke . . . as long as it is coming out of the chimney. We get calls all the time from well meaning folks who call 911 to report smoke coming out of a chimney . . . it's when we see flames that we tend to get a little more concerned.
I think part of this education and experience is best done in small steps . . . as tempting as it is to start the fire and leave the home for now just do the fires when home in the evenings and weekends. Build the confidence in learning to run the stove and knowing the stove . . . in time you can then suggest doing an overnight fire . . . and then before you know it you're burning 24/7.
Second . . . a topic I get fired up about . . . fire safety . . . bad pun intended by the way.
===
Your wife has every reason to be concerned . . . there is a fire in your home and something that is unfamiliar. Sure, there may be a raging fire in the gas or oil furnace, but folks don't tend to see the actual flames and so there is less of a concern (unless the person knows someone who had their boiler blow up on them -- in which case you may find them to be very concerned.)
Education and experience is the key here.
Education in terms of knowing how the stove was installed (correctly), safety measures in place (smoke and CO detectors, escape plans, fire extinguishers), how the stove will be operated (through the use of safe practices, regular sweeping, thermometers to not exceed safe temps, safe disposal of ashes, ,etc.)
Experience in terms of time . . . learning how to safely run the stove and know what is normal and safe and what is not.
As mentioned . . . it's pretty normal to see smoke and even smell smoke . . . as long as it is coming out of the chimney. We get calls all the time from well meaning folks who call 911 to report smoke coming out of a chimney . . . it's when we see flames that we tend to get a little more concerned.
I think part of this education and experience is best done in small steps . . . as tempting as it is to start the fire and leave the home for now just do the fires when home in the evenings and weekends. Build the confidence in learning to run the stove and knowing the stove . . . in time you can then suggest doing an overnight fire . . . and then before you know it you're burning 24/7.
She and You should always be a little nervous about leaving or going to bed, over confidence can lead to carelessness and that leads to accidents like the door not fully latched, or missing an ember that popped out.
Lots of houses burn down from wood stoves, probably a small % overall. I would love to know how many were wood stove or flue failure, vs operator error including not inspecting and cleaning the flue.
Lots of houses burn down from wood stoves, probably a small % overall. I would love to know how many were wood stove or flue failure, vs operator error including not inspecting and cleaning the flue.
Rearscreen
Minister of Fire
I just hope that if my house catches fire I'm not notified by the neighbor via text with a dozen fire emojis.
Stella
Burning Hunk
Jeremy8916
Member
The old one takes 10w30, the new one 5w20. The wife doesn't even flinch anymore when I powerslide the sports cars or handbrake the winter beaters. I don't know if I'd rather the OP's issue or my own though. My old lady laughs at my desire to keep the fireplace lit and makes fun of me in front of family. She does complain when the fireplace goes out though, so there is that
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maple1
Minister of Fire
Stella
Burning Hunk
Yes, I had a huge fireplace open on two sides, ineffective and guzzled wood. Best thing I ever did was to have the chimney breast removed and my Supra Mulhouse stove fitted. As you can see in the little avatar I had the original hearth tiled and so the stove is raised to make it easier for me to load and clean out.
Anecdotal to be sure based on my years of experience . . . but I can say most, if not all, of the fires caused by "woodstoves" was actually a failure of the operator -- stove not installed per manufacturing specs (one had a single wall horizontal run going from one room through a wall to another room and then out the side of the home -- supported in place outside by a 2 x 4 and floor jack), chimney not cleaned/not lined (frequent issue), combustibles (chainsaw specifically) too close to the stove and my perennial favorite being the improper disposal of ashes (ashes in cardboard box, plastic bag, etc. and left in garage, on porch, etc.)
I wanted a stove but wasn't allowed. My wife agrees to an insert so a decent compromise.
Wow. I guess we need a "wall of shame" or something on here to post examples...
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Don't think I would see that from my neighbors but a few of my family members might (being serious).
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sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
Lol... Pretty much, financial and visually inside the house. It is a fixer-upper house and since April 2017 (us moving in) I have ripped out walls (dissabled a bathroom and bedroom for 3 months), relocated laundry room to garage for a pantry, started building walls around washer/dryer in garage, rellcated hot water heater to the garage and was without for a week while I replaced galvanized line, fixed bad shingles/roof deck, dug a 4'Dx3'Wx100'L Trench in the front yard to seal the concrete wall and replace drain (still can't use front door)....Wasn't in your allowance?
I'm surprised she tolerates me... I think if the firebox was bigger I could have talked her into a stove. She didn't want me to demo anything this time :-(
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Yeah, I'm responding to myself . . .
But it's for a good reason. I'm making a few corrections based on a "fresh" set of data . . . "fresh" being a few years old since there is some lag from the time incidents are reported to when the NFPA issues the report.
So cooking is, and has been, the number one cause of fires in the U.S. now for some time. It also is the number one cause of fire injuries and the third leading cause of fire death. Thanksgiving incidentally is the peak day for cooking fires.
In the number two slot is heating equipment (which also checks in at the #2 cause of fire death and #2 for fire injuries) . . . 81% of these fires are caused by space heaters (which includes pellet stoves, woodstoves, electric units, gas units, etc.)
Here's a change though . . . in the third position for leading cause of fires is arson. Most of these fires however occur in schools and storage facilities followed by homes and businesses . . . so this may not be the third leading cause of fire in residences, but just the third leading cause of fire overall.
Number 4 are electrical fires and checking in at #5 are the improper disposal of smoking materials (which is, as mentioned in the previous post, still the leading cause of fire deaths.)
I mentioned candle fires and found the actual stats . . . from 1990-2001 candle fires tripled, but some experts say this may be tied to the exponential increase in candle sales. They now say the number of candle fires is backdown to mid-1995 levels. Candle fires are the 5th leading cause of fire injury.
brenndatomu
Minister of Fire
Thanks for looking that up...like I said when I posted about these stats, I had a hard time coming up with two sources that agreed...but I suppose it depends on when/where they take their samples from too.
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