The best way to shut an over-fire situation?
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The solution also depends on the stove. The Castine had a single inlet for primary and secondary air. This is the OAK connection. I shoved a ball of aluminum foil up there and it slowed the fire right down. That solution will not work with the T6 which just dumps the OAK air near the separate primary and secondary intakes.
mwhitnee
Minister of Fire
Very messy and almost always unnecessary. That said having a fire extinguisher at the room exit is not a bad idea.How about just having a fire extinguisher around in case it gets really bad?
It makes a mess but it does not carry the many very serious risks that water does. I have one near my stove and i think everyone should. But really like bg said it is almost never necessaryHow about just having a fire extinguisher around in case it gets really bad?
mwhitnee
Minister of Fire
Reminds me when i skim coated my entire hallway and thought i had my fireplace room sealed. Not. New leather couches, wood blinds, oriental rug covered in a layer of compound dust. I thought about crying lol
It may have worked for you but it is a very dangerous practice and i would never recommend that anyone does it ever.
Yeah but the powder from a fire extinguisher is much nastier than drywall dust. I have going to chimney fire calls where retardant was used it is really unpleasant.
mwhitnee
Minister of Fire
The best approach is to keep calm and don't overreact. 750F stovetop is hot, but not dangerously hot. Close off the air control. Plug the OAK intake. If that doesn't work, open the stove door. Then change your underwear.
mwhitnee
Minister of Fire
The fact of the matter is most times you just ride it out. Done that a few times. These stoves and the pipe are tested at temps you would not believe in the UL testing. My old insert ran away because of a crack in the back of the firebox in 2006 and crossed 1,400 degrees. And nothing else busted.
Edit to add: That night I learned that the paint on a stove top thermometer goes "poof" at 1,425 degrees according to the laser thermo.
Edit to add: That night I learned that the paint on a stove top thermometer goes "poof" at 1,425 degrees according to the laser thermo.
electrathon
Minister of Fire
This has been a very informative and interesting thread. I rarely ever have had a stove as hot as people are talking about here. My primary fear of an overheated stove has always been that I was going to light the chimney on fire. I am not hearing that fear reflected here. Are most people not that concerned about chimney fires of do you rarely ever have them as a rule?
Wisneaky
Minister of Fire
Shouldn't have much concern for a chimney fire if your burning dry wood and keep your chimney clean. And no you shouldn't ever have a chimney fire. It's not normal to have one.
I totally agree that it is not normal but honestly most people who heat with wood full time are going to have atleast one. But as long as you burn correctly and use good dry fuel there will be very little fuel there to feed that fire. And as long as you have everything set up correctly you house will be protected in the event of a fire.
Covering the OAK on the back of the Madison should choke the primary, doghouse and secondary air inlets.
Air may still get in under the immense vacuum via tiny gaps between the screwed-together heat shields or rear panel of the pedestal but that's it.
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beatlefan
Feeling the Heat
I agree, very informative. I think most people are cautious of chimney fires, but I myself relate that more to sweeping. I watched my house burn to the ground as a kid because of a chimney fire. My folks had no clue about stoves and hadn't cleaned the flue in 7 years.
beatlefan
Feeling the Heat
Agreed. I've not had a serious runaway, but its jumped up to about 850 a couple of times. I just closed the throttle and turned the blower on high and the temp came down right away. Never knew about the door trick...good to know.
You know Doug that is a really good idea of having sand available. I am thinking, depending on door style, that a medium size tupperware container would work well. Something that you could control/direct the spreading of the sand coming out of the container. You would have to do it quickly with the heat coming out the door. Fire extinguisher at hand would be some good insurance as well.
Safe burning everyone.
I like this idea a lot.
Safe burning everyone.
I like this idea a lot.
I think there are too many air leaks around the shrouds and ash box. If it is really hot and pulling hard. I dont think pluging the oak would stop it. I ve concidered sealing the shrouds and ash box. So the intake air has to come thru tge oak. Then i could plug it off if needed.
I'd probably just cover the OAK, then watch for a while - regardless of what leakage is there, unless you have a chimney fire in progress there probably isn't enough draft to keep that going hot enough. Covering the OAK should cut off the majority of the air.
If it's still rocking a stovetop temp above 700F or so after 10 minutes, open the door wide open ..... unless of course there is a chimney fire
AmbDrvr253
Minister of Fire
Steam burns from throwing water onto a roaring fire are dangerous. I would be more likely to use the sand/dirt if door opening did not work. Not to mention cracking the stove by cooling too quickly. Dry chemical extinguisher throw that powder EVERYWHERE!
How about dunking a roll of TP in the toilet to wet it, then toss that in? It'll be wet / steamy / cold, which should slow the fire down, and in the end, it's just paper that'll burn off once you get it back under control.
As a volunteer firefighter, if you were in my "catch area", I would encourage you to call the fire department and have them heading your way just in case it gets away from you...it's much easier to put out the fire if it happens to get in the walls when it's small and just confined to the area around the stove (and besides we like to drive our big red trucks with lights and sirens going and are always looking for an excuse ;-) )
If you've got it out when we arrive, we can take a look with our thermal imager and make sure that everything is good with your floor/walls/ceiling...pack up and go home.
If the issue is just in the stove, or the flue pipe connecting to the chimney we'll usually take a dry chem fire extinguisher hose, just crack the door and give it a quick squirt...if you do it right it's all drawn into the stove, up the chimney and doesn't make a mess in the house, sometimes it take a few squirts..that will usually knock the flames down enough so that we can let it cool off some then we can start pulling wood and coals out of the stove and take them outside...
If you've got a chimney fire going (go outside and look at the top of your chimney, if it's really cooking you'll have flames and thick black smoke pouring out of the chimney), then we go up on the roof and start dropping dry chem "bombs" down the chimney and that usually will snuff the flames down enough so that we drop our chains down to break up the creosote that is burning inside the chimney, then a few more dry chem bombs, then remove the burned stuff out the cleanout...
We usually always "red flag" a chimney until it gets inspected and given a clean bill of health. Depending on how long it has been burning it can ruin the chimney and can be very expensive to fix....which is why everyone should clean their chimney at least once a year...
We have a couple people in our catch area that pride themselves on having a chimney fire at least once a year and having us come out to clean their chimney for them...which really p@#ses me off since one of these times their chimney fire is going to turn into a structure fire and they're going to lose their house...and put me and my fellow firefighters at risk...sometimes you just can't fix stupid...
If you've got it out when we arrive, we can take a look with our thermal imager and make sure that everything is good with your floor/walls/ceiling...pack up and go home.
If the issue is just in the stove, or the flue pipe connecting to the chimney we'll usually take a dry chem fire extinguisher hose, just crack the door and give it a quick squirt...if you do it right it's all drawn into the stove, up the chimney and doesn't make a mess in the house, sometimes it take a few squirts..that will usually knock the flames down enough so that we can let it cool off some then we can start pulling wood and coals out of the stove and take them outside...
If you've got a chimney fire going (go outside and look at the top of your chimney, if it's really cooking you'll have flames and thick black smoke pouring out of the chimney), then we go up on the roof and start dropping dry chem "bombs" down the chimney and that usually will snuff the flames down enough so that we drop our chains down to break up the creosote that is burning inside the chimney, then a few more dry chem bombs, then remove the burned stuff out the cleanout...
We usually always "red flag" a chimney until it gets inspected and given a clean bill of health. Depending on how long it has been burning it can ruin the chimney and can be very expensive to fix....which is why everyone should clean their chimney at least once a year...
We have a couple people in our catch area that pride themselves on having a chimney fire at least once a year and having us come out to clean their chimney for them...which really p@#ses me off since one of these times their chimney fire is going to turn into a structure fire and they're going to lose their house...and put me and my fellow firefighters at risk...sometimes you just can't fix stupid...
You are right, it is a possible problem. Not to make my water method sound correct but there was no 'major' steam that I saw and zero came out the stove door. I've got a 4 cu ft firebox and honestly, I expected one glass of water to quell the fire a lot more than it did. It was a minor but perceptible pause in the temps rising. After that, I let the open door work it's magic and stood by for another 30 min before things were back to normal. I got the idea of tossing water from a few old threads that talked about adding wet wood. I didn't have wet wood within a 4 min dash and that's too long. I had already waited a few minutes with the door wide open and as I posted, it helped initially but with a full load of dry wood, temps ran up quickly again.
The problem with closing the OAK is that you have to go outside through the snow and cap your OAK. It is not nearly as fast and easy as it sounds. I have looked high and low for a small damper to put in the OAK line but I have not found anything other than getting close and taking heavy shears to trim the damper to size. I'm using flexible metal that comes up and curls 90 deg right at the stove outlet. It's not an easy fix.
In my case, I searched out threads on chimney dampers at installation time and decided that it was not needed. I was not thinking of an overfire situation at the time. I've got one on order now. I do have a strong draft at all times, even in wet, mild weather so that is an unusual situation.
The really scary part is that if I didn't have a digital flue thermometer, I probably would not have known how high the temps had risen. My chimney was new so no creosote at all. I think the pail of sand is the best answer so far other than the obvious answer - STOP BEING STOOPID.
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