New home fire in MA

[NewGuy132]

I am still waiting to buy a stove and have it installed. I reached out to my ins company and they just said to have a professional install it. They said that once I had it installed that they could take the info for the installer and put it in my file if there ever was an issue. Also I am 99% sure that I need to pull a permit and have it inspected.

Not to hijack the thread here, but since there are so mans MA people here does anyone have any recommendations on a hearth store in Central MA? I am in Westborough, about 10 miles east of Worcester. Just looking to purchase a stove and have it hooked up to an existing liner.

 

[Caw]

Hey small world...I also live in Westborough! I'll shoot you a DM. But for hearth stores there are a couple nearby:

There's a place in Holliston called Hearthside on rt 16. I go there mostly these days for accessories and to look around...my parents live down the road so I'm in the area a lot. They have an impressive selection of stoves from most of the big brands and are always willing to talk wood with me. I was recently talking to one of the guys and they've been there 30+ gears. Almost unanimously 5 star reviews online too.

I got mine at The Stove Place in Shrewsbury on rt 20. I was able to get a good deal on his last 2019 Osburn 1600 before the 2020 epa regs kicked in so I jumped on it. They have very mixed reviews online, seems like it's either a 1 or a 5 but I had a good experience. It's owned by 2 brothers who inherited it from their father and they were helpful when I had issues with my glass seal early on.

I'd recommend checking out both shops before making any decisions. See what they recommend and then compare prices/see who you like better.

Good luck!

 

[PaulOinMA]

I'm in Marlborough. Bought my insert at Energy Unlimited on Florence Street in town. They carry several brands. Looks like their web site isn't loading for some reason. Hope they're still there.

Edit: Wonder if they're not there now. Went to Lopi's web site, and they don't show up as a dealer.

 

[jetsam]

I have never seen a fire from such a new install, it seems to me it would take longer than that for the wood to pyrolysis enough to catch fire. Very interesting.

I bet a piece of 2x butted right up to a piece of single wall flue pipe would catch pretty fast on a cold day. You only need about 350° to light off dry wood in 15 minutes or less.

I know this is an example of an install with multiple severe issues, but it is also quite possible.

 

[jetsam]

I am still waiting to buy a stove and have it installed. I reached out to my ins company and they just said to have a professional install it. They said that once I had it installed that they could take the info for the installer and put it in my file if there ever was an issue. Also I am 99% sure that I need to pull a permit and have it inspected.

Not to hijack the thread here, but since there are so mans MA people here does anyone have any recommendations on a hearth store in Central MA? I am in Westborough, about 10 miles east of Worcester. Just looking to purchase a stove and have it hooked up to an existing liner.

I had mine professionally installed.

I had to pull the whole thing out and redo it after I learned a little bit about stove venting.

Professional just means you get paid to do something, not that you have ever spent 5 minutes learning about that thing.

 

[bholler]

I had mine professionally installed.

I had to pull the whole thing out and redo it after I learned a little bit about stove venting.

Professional just means you get paid to do something, not that you have ever spent 5 minutes learning about that thing.

To be fair long island has some of the shadiest chimney pros in the country. Many other areas are not nearly as bad

 

[Caw]

For the MA guys - I'm happy to share the chimney guy I use locally if you're ever in need. Very nice guy and I was impressed with the quality of the work. He came highly recommended and followed through. He's out of worcester, I know he does Westborough and would likely do Marlborough too.

Dont want to go advertising so just shoot me a DM if you're interested!

 

[jetsam]

To be fair long island has some of the shadiest chimney pros in the country. Many other areas are not nearly as bad

It's not just chimney guys. It's cultural.

 

[WoodBurnerInWI]

When installing our stove back in 2019, our insurance required a pro install, permits and all that good stuff. Which I was fine with so I should be ok in the event anything happens to my house.

That video though with those idiots throwing an aerosol can in the stove...Darwin award winners for sure!

 

[MoDoug]

We live in an area where it's a crap shoot to get someone to do a good job on anything, let alone even showing up. I've learned to do anything I can myself. That is why I installed my wood stove, plus I wanted to know everything about it.

I found an installer that would advise me and inspect it when it was done. There were a couple things he was absolutely adamant about. If an ember screen was installed, it had to be installed on the outside of the rain cap. He insisted this was for safety reasons, saying it would get clogged and catch fire. He eventually made the comment that if I do install a screen on the inside of the cap to make sure to secure it to the cap. It turns out he uses the Sooteater chimney cleaner and got it caught in a screen that was not secured inside the cap, causing him a lot of problems. (it wasn't about safety)

The other thing he insisted on was "do not install insulation in the cathedral ceiling box". But after a lot of research and talking to a technician at Selkirk, I installed the insulation because that's what it was made for. After going against the installer on both of those issues, our relationship plummeted. It turned out he has serious anger issues and went off on a rant shortly after I sent him all the info on my install. His last comment before abruptly hanging up was “it may take a month now” (for approval). That ended that, and I hired someone else.

Another thing that just isn't right, is an installer inspecting and approving their own work.

By far most installers are professional and competent, unfortunately the bad ones get the press.

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

Bad pipe connection into a wooden chase apparently. I wonder how that can happen.

Cause of Lancaster house fire identified as woodstove pipe failure

LANCASTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Officials have determined that a Lancaster house fire last Thursday was caused by the failure of a woodstove pipe.Emergency crews responding...

www.google.com

 

[PaulOinMA]

Thanks for the update. I was going to check if there were any.

 

[mellow]

If the pipe was leaking smoke I wonder if a backpuff from the stove could ignite those gasses that built up in the chimney chase? A big *WOOF*.

 

[AlwaysStacking]

I would assume that to be hot enough to have a backpuff you would already have an established draft in the flue which would be sucking air out of the chase in the event of a minor crack and "turning over" the air in the chase to clear out any combustible gasses. Seems to me that for this to occur on a new install the most obvious cause would be a completely disconnected pipe section. I will be interested to see what the pro's on here think.