Last night I was ready for bed and the stove wasn’t quite lighting up as fast as I’d like. I cracked the door to speed up the process, yeah I know. After a short time the fire was starting to go well and was about ready to have the door closed when I heard some popping coming from the double wall chimney. I quickly closed the door and turned the stove all the way down. I stepped outside and there were a good amount of embers and obvious redness coming out of the top of the triple wall pipe. I watched it and it seemed to only last 2-3 minutes before it had pretty much subsided. The double wall pipe didn’t seem to be hotter to touch than during a normal fire. The pipe cooled down to where I could lay my hand on with no issue in about 20 minutes. I let it sit on low for a little bit, then worked the stove back up to temp and turned it down for the night with everything burning well and seemingly no issues. Fortunately it was dumping rain so there was no worry about embers from the creosote lighting anything else on fire. What do you think? How serious of an issue is a short chimney fire like that? Obviously not ideal.
Small Chimney fire last night
- Thread starter Generalminor
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
It's not uncommon for the worst creosote accumulation to be in the upper exterior part of the chimney pipe. That is where it's coldest. The chimney should be inspected for serious damage, but if it was short, and confined to that area it may be ok or just the top section of pipe may need replacement. It needs to be looked at.
If the fire is sluggish to start it may be that the wood is not fully seasoned. That will contribute to creosote accumulation.
If the fire is sluggish to start it may be that the wood is not fully seasoned. That will contribute to creosote accumulation.
MongoMongoson
Feeling the Heat
I had a small chimney fire in 2019, I believe. I had it inspected afterwards and there was no damage. I am sure it prematurely aged the chimney a bit.
So, get it inspected as begreen mentioned. It is probably OK but you really want to know it is OK.
So, get it inspected as begreen mentioned. It is probably OK but you really want to know it is OK.
Nobody is going to tell you it's all good, everyone is going to recommend an inspection. Your home, your choice. At the least I would lower a light down on a rope and take a good look, should be clean inside now.
Similar threads
