holy crap has this dude lost it?

[Jags]

Ever notice how the frequency of house fires has gone down when compared to yesteryear......Hmmmmm.

Even comparing it to twenty years ago when I was on a volunteer fire dept., the actual fire calls have gone down drastically. Awareness, smoke alarms, better equipment, better practices....Dunno, but whatever it is, it has worked wonders.

There is a difference in having a daily hot fire to help vaporize and eliminate minor build up or intentionally creating a self sufficient chimney fire. A fire that has a life of its own. Non controllable once it is ignited. And anybody that would intentionally start such a fire is squirrel-ier than a pet coon.

 

[jdemaris]

Ever notice how the frequency of house fires has gone down when compared to yesteryear......Hmmmmm.

Yes to a degree. We still get plenty of house and chimney fires in my area and can't say for sure if there's really less now, than 20 years ago, or not.

Regardless, if so in some areas, it would be tough to find out exactly why. I know in my rural area, 30 years ago there were many more unskilled people working and trying to scrape-by in any way they could. That includes finding food and heating their homes. Sometimes burning green wood the day that cut it (including me at times). Now? There are so many damn government give-away programs, many no longer even think about burning wood or scrounging in other ways.

My daughter makes 40K a year as a nurse, and just bought her first house -with no down payment. House has a nice wood-furnace down the basement along with an oil hot-air furnace. So far the goverment has paid for all her heating oil, so she's not even considering burning wood. And, like I said, she's working. For people who aren't, benefits are even better.

 

[burntime]

Jags, its called natural selection. It will work itself out in the end ;-P

 

[Peter B.]

For the record, I never questioned that the practice of burning hot daily and/or invoking a controllable chimney fire were effective means for keeping a chimney clean.

What I suggested was that I didn't think it was great advice for someone who's fairly new to burning wood.

Yes, for those of us with (at least) a few years of experience, knowingly burning hot enough to spark a chimney fire when there is a significant creosote deposit is akin to putting your hand in the mower blades...

But consider that there's a pretty 'sharp' difference between the two acts in that the condition of the chimney is not always known or visible... whereas the lawn mower is an obvious, tangible danger... or certainly should be.

Perusing the threads on this forum reveals a surprising number of people who haven't done their 'homework'... despite all the information available about burning safely... including people who are clearly ignorant of creosote, its flammability and the potential consequences of a full blown chimney fire.

For clarity, the scenario I imagine goes something like this: First time burner who hasn't educated him/her self properly discovers the Hearth Room, and sees the recommendation to burn that 'hotter than usual' fire daily to keep his chimney clean. This, maybe two or three months into the season, all the while using poor burning practices... and building up a healthy layer of creosote...

What do you suppose will happen with that first hot fire?

I'd be inclined to stress good burning practice and the regular use of brushes (or a sweep) before advocating the hot fire 'cure' to all comers. At least for the first season or two of one's wood burning 'career', during which (it might be hoped) the average user will have learned a good deal from practical experience.

For what it's worth...

Peter B.

-----

 

[jdemaris]

For the record, I never questioned that the practice of burning hot daily and/or invoking a controllable chimney fire were effective means for keeping a chimney clean.

What I suggested was that I didn't think it was great advice for someone who's fairly new to burning wood.

Maybe I haven't read every word in every post with enough scrutiny. I see many opinions and experiences expressed with a few rants here and there. Most that are associated with controlled chimney burning also have cautions attached. This IS, to some degree, a place to share information, correct?

I haven't seen anything that comes close to telling people who are new to burning to just "let it rip" and see what happens.

I think that anybody who takes information from any forum without further research, and uses it, is not long for this world anyway.

Also note that there have been several comments giving the impression that using a modern EPA stove or furnace makes things safe with few chimeny worries - which is also dangerous information in the wrong hands.

 

[johnn]

Peter B. - 20 February 2009 01:30 PM
I think that anybody who takes information from any forum without further research, and uses it, is not long for this world anyway

Glad to see things wind down to the new guy. proceed with caution in all your learning curves involving "fire". The "old school" found many times the right way for the times and many of my lifes lessons have been taught or defended accordingly. However there`s something to be said for being there when learning,,,the look in the eyes, or "now pay attention boy", watching him watch the stack before knowing when to go in and shut her down.. some things are best experienced in the learning curve, not just read. On the other hand if the manual says "35-45-minutes a day" and you dont, is your warranty void

:snake: I`d tell the insurance company "I DID'