House fire caused by a pellet stove in Town of Owego, NY

[Don2222]

Hello

Fox 40 video on how Pellet stoves can cause a house fire.
You must suffer thru the ad before the report!
http://www.wicz.com/news/video.asp?video=02-14-11+stove.flv&zone=News

House Fire in NY
(broken link removed to http://www.wbng.com/news/local/115965924.html)


Investigators Determine House Fire Cause

By Alice Maggiore

Investigators Determine House Fire Cause
Related:

* Fire Engulfs Home In Owego

February 11, 2011 Updated Feb 11, 2011 at 4:46 PM EST

Town of Owego, NY (WBNG Binghamton) Fire Investigators have determined the cause of a fire that destroyed a home in Tioga County Thursday afternoon.

Campville Fire officials say the house fire at 399 Dugan Road started in a pellet stove and quickly spread.

*

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Crews battled the blaze for 7 hours, working through Thursday evening.

The call came in just before 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
Officials say they had the fire out around 11 p.m.

The home is a complete loss, but crews were able to salvage a business and a garage next door.

There were no injuries and firefighters were able to rescue 3 dogs.

Campville Fire officials say it was the homeowner who dialed 911.

Newark Valley, Owego, West Corners and Union Center all assisted.

More info from FOX 40 on 2-14-2011
http://www.wicz.com/news2005/viewarticle.asp?a=17533

Pellet Stove Safety - 2/14/2011
Over the past 20 years, pellets stoves have become quite popular and that''s because they won't burn a hole through your wallet

"Pellets are a low cost per BTU fuel and there's just an economic reason, you can save money burning pellets," said George Conner, owner of Tall Pines Farm in Kingsley, PA.

While a pellet stove keeps you warm and saves you money, it was determined to be the cause of last week's house fire in Owego, proving that consumers may want to take some safety precautions when considering this stove for their home.

A fire could start if the stove's vent pipe is not installed properly.

A thimble allows the vent pipe to steer clear of the walls of your home.

Exhaust gases that come out of the pipe gets it so hot that if it does touch a wall, it could easily start a fire.

"You want to go through a thimble, maintain clearances through the wall and put a cap that actually throws the smoke away from the house a little bit...and it needs to be away from the house probably about a foot or eighteen inches," said Conner.

Tall Pines offers installation for the pellet stove pipes but it's not required to have it professionally done.

"The average home owner should probably leave it to an professional but the advanced-skilled home owner might want to do it himself," said Conner.

Conner also says that pellet stoves must be cleaned daily, that's every couple days, if you want to ensure the stove will work safely and properly.

***Amanda Kenney, Fox 40 News***

 

[rehabbingisgreen]

I'd like to see the set up they had for the stove.

 

[hossthehermit]

Careful, Don, you know how they feel about FOX News here.

 

[Don2222]

Careful, Don, you know how they feel about FOX News here.

Hello hossthehermit

Oh , Do not get me wrong here. Fox did a great job with this story and web video of the fire and a lesson in preventing pellet stove fires.

They all have web ads before videos that cannot be skipped it just seems to go against the grain where the web is more interactive I just feel we should be able to choose weather or not we want to see the ad.

http://www.wicz.com/news/video.asp?video=02-14-11+stove.flv&zone=News

 

[pen]

That's too bad.

Missed that one, that's only 20 mins up the road here. I too would like to see what about the pellet stove or install caused the fire.

pen

 

[MSmith66]

I would also like to saee the way it was in stalled . I have seen alot of installs that should not have passed code enforcement inspection OR the stove was ot cleaned properly for years. There are alot of safety featurs on pellets stove these days.

 

[asteb98]

The stove was professionally installed approx. 7 years ago. It was on a concrete hearth with a stone wall behind it. Had a thimble through the stone into a double chimney which was clean. The stove was a Harmon Advance and was cleaned completely approximately every 4 days through the heating season. This was no handyman install. At the end of the season the unit was torn down to clean and inspect the piping also resealed.

 

[BrotherBart]

So what happened?

 

[Don2222]

Hello

That was a bad fire but how did it start?

 

[slls]

Maybe hopper fire, bottom feeder.

 

[Don2222]

Maybe hopper fire, bottom feeder.

Hello slls

Here is something I found on burn back or hopper fires
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/8919/

Generally the only time we’ve ever seen burn back into the hopper occur was when a VERY VERY poor maintained stove suffered a power outage AND the hopper door was left wide open. There’s a lot more operator error at fault in that case than an actual design flaw in the stove.

So even though it is a bottom feed if the stove was kept clean and the hopper closed up, it is still not likely ??

 

[Fsappo]

Glad it wasnt one of ours.

I wonder who asteb98 is

 

[Vinelife]

Fox News is great ...