Over firing Scenario - What to do & is this true?

[Jan Pijpelink]

Speaking of which, NaOH is very alkaline and used as a drain cleaner. It does eat steel.

The moral of the story is that baking soda may be a good idea to put out a chimney fire, but don't put it in your stove unless you really need to.

And like bholler says, for an overfire you can just open the door.

Dry NaOH does not hurt anything. Only if dissolved in water at high concentration.

 

[jetsam]

Dry NaOH does not hurt anything. Only if dissolved in water at high concentration.

Have I ever mentioned that it's awesome having a chemist around?

What if there's a bunch of baking soda breaking down into water vapor and CO2 at lower temperatures all around the sodium hydroxide? Obviously we're not going to get a liquid, but would that be corrosive to steel?

 

[SpaceBus]

Hmmm. I didn't know that baking soda released CO2 when burned.

I'm working up my nerve to throw some in, perhaps when a fire is burning normally and not too big to see what happens.

I'm also wondering if I will see a plume of white baking soda coming out the chimney, like a spouting whale!

Make a video!

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Have I ever mentioned that it's awesome having a chemist around?

What if there's a bunch of baking soda breaking down into water vapor and CO2 at lower temperatures all around the sodium hydroxide? Obviously we're not going to get a liquid, but would that be corrosive to steel?

No, it would not. If it would, you could not use it as a drain cleaner, it would eat away the chrome ring in your bathroom sink. Acids eat away steel, more or less. Sulfuric acid for example, H2SO4 in a very high concentration.

 

[Dix]

Great anecdotes, Dix. Ever figure out what happened on the first one, to get you to 1000? If you could go back, would you be willing to open the door to cool down? If not, why?

The bark was attached, and as seasoned as the firewood. Bark took off like a rocket, best guess, and ignited the driest outer core.

It took an hour and a half, but it finally settled down

 

[rdust]

All these stove top temperatures above 1000. Did the tops glow, crack, melt, paint fail? How did you even know it was so hot? My stove top meters from condar and Rutland don’t go over 800 and I don’t even think the 800 is labeled.

Many stove manuals say everything is fine unless parts glow.

My thoughts exactly. If parts ain’t glowing red I’m turning down the air, turning up the fan and waiting it out. My Lopi scared me on occasion with all that unregulated non cat air, have never been close to an over fire with the cat stove.

 

[wooduser]

I had an ordinary nice fire going, and I threw in a measured table spoon of baking soda ----- nothing.

I got a second tablespoon and threw that in too ---- double nothing.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I had an ordinary nice fire going, and I threw in a measured table spoon of baking soda ----- nothing.

I got a second tablespoon and threw that in too ---- double nothing.

Maybe it was passed its expiration date.

 

[nola mike]

I had an ordinary nice fire going, and I threw in a measured table spoon of baking soda ----- nothing.

I got a second tablespoon and threw that in too ---- double nothing.

The amount of baking soda you'll need will be measured in boxes, not tablespoons.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

The amount of baking soda you'll need will be measured in boxes, not tablespoons.

If I only have baking powder, will that do?

 

[nola mike]

Give it a shot. Guessing this is mostly working by suffocating the fire; the CO2 production creates an inert blanket as a bonus, but end result is no O2 for the fire...
Hell, dumping enough ash on the fire would probably work just as well.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Give it a shot. Guessing this is mostly working by suffocating the fire; the CO2 production creates an inert blanket as a bonus, but end result is no O2 for the fire...
Hell, dumping enough ash on the fire would probably work just as well.

;-)

 

[Ludlow]

A whole tablespoon?

 

[wooduser]

A whole tablespoon?

Heh, heh! Well, I needed to save some to make pancakes for breakfast!

 

[firefighterjake]

Give it a shot. Guessing this is mostly working by suffocating the fire; the CO2 production creates an inert blanket as a bonus, but end result is no O2 for the fire...
Hell, dumping enough ash on the fire would probably work just as well.

Agree on the ash . . .

Disagree on the suffocation aspect . . . my research books says it mostly affects the fire by removing the chemical reaction that allows fire to burn. There may be some smothering action to be sure, but in my fire extinguisher classes I teach I sometimes demonstrate to my students how you can take a pool of flammable fuels, use an extinguisher or two on a fire and even though there is still fuel there the fire will not easily relight with my propane torch.