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Almost lost our home tonight Chimney fire...

QuickBpBp said:
This is exactly what happened for the past 2 months I have been burning Oak that has been seasoned but the core was still wet. It's been split for about a year but is very dense and while burning it was sizzling with water coming out at the ends while the outside was cherry red... Thanks for all the well wishes and ALL you guys Have a merry Christmas too!!
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What kind of oak were you burning? Lots of live oaks around here but it has a wavy grain and hard to split so about all of that I've ever burned was the smaller stuff. Also didn't like the way it smelled very much. There's lots of large leaf oaks here but there's an abundance of water oaks and so that is usually what was burned in my fireplace along with arizona ash and some bur oak. The ash dries fast and burns clean and usually fired up with it and then put the water oak on top. It wouldn't be long before things were nice and toasty but these days my sinuses are bad enough that just smelling a little bit of smoke would trigger them. Think I lit it up 2 times last winter and once the last fire was out, I cleaned out the ashes and stuck the plug in the top for the next owner to deal with. Also done with splitting unless it's something for the smoker and even that doesn't get used much anymore. One winter the wife went through 3 cords of wood and it doesn't even get that cold here! Asked her if she was trying to kill me lol Anyways, glad y'all got it under control....!
 
Have a Merry Christmas! God has blessed you.
 
I really like the constant , non fluctuating heat that burning wood provides. That is, with a stove with a thermostat vs a fireplace. It is important to have a chimney that keeps the inside liner warm. I like the insulated chimney better than the " triple " wall. I think the triple wall makes the inside liner to cool. With burning dry wood, thermostat controlled stove . and insulated chimney, we never had to have our chimney cleaned in many years ...................MO
 
Cranky said:
What kind of oak were you burning? Lots of live oaks around here but it has a wavy grain and hard to split so about all of that I've ever burned was the smaller stuff. Also didn't like the way it smelled very much. There's lots of large leaf oaks here but there's an abundance of water oaks and so that is usually what was burned in my fireplace along with arizona ash and some bur oak. The ash dries fast and burns clean and usually fired up with it and then put the water oak on top. It wouldn't be long before things were nice and toasty but these days my sinuses are bad enough that just smelling a little bit of smoke would trigger them. Think I lit it up 2 times last winter and once the last fire was out, I cleaned out the ashes and stuck the plug in the top for the next owner to deal with. Also done with splitting unless it's something for the smoker and even that doesn't get used much anymore. One winter the wife went through 3 cords of wood and it doesn't even get that cold here! Asked her if she was trying to kill me lol Anyways, glad y'all got it under control....!
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It is all Red and White Oak. Mature trees that were dropped Green, Split, Stacked and Tarped for a year...
 
@69a100 You know nothing. My chimney was cleaned in October 2019. You are Real disgrace. I don't agree with Steve much but aleast we can see what in the end is really important. Why don't you leave this board like you PROMISED you would.
 
steve from staten island said:
Thank God you and family are ok.
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Thank you Steve. While we don't seem to agree with much I agreed with you on what you wrote(which is now all deleted). I appreciate you saying to that jerk exactly what needed to be said. You and yours have a Merry Christmas and again Thanks...
 
this year i've been experimenting with the processed hardwood bricks, no splitting,no moving wood around,no mess,no bugs!
I bought 2 skids $480 which they say is equivalent to 2 bush cord. I can fit a whole skid inside my stairwell that leads upstairs so the other benefit is not running into the garage everyday to bring wood in. It burns hot,but doesn't burn all night! I've been leary to put more than 6 pieces in at a time it burns so hot and it hasn't been real cold yet! I've got some big ash ready to go when the temps. get in the -20's consistently for all night heat! I heat the 3000sq.ft. house with a heatpump and it really appreciates the help and stops the airhandler from requiring electric element backup,saves me $1500 annually!
 
Macdon221 said:
Glad all worked out! Phew! Enjoy the Holidays with a smile.

I preach to all I know...Smoke Detectors, Smoke Detectors, Smoke detectors! They are cheap. $20 gets ya 2 at any store. At night...when you’re sleeping it’s the only notice you get. I have one in EVERY room. 2 by the furnace...and 4 in the garage!

Now everyone check their batteries! Lol.

Merry Christmas to all!
Click to expand...

I agree but with all this happening they never went off. No smoke in the house and even the carbon monoxide detector stayed silent. Fire chief said they were monitoring the air quality the whole time and detected nothing and they would not have went off until it spread into our home.... STILL with that being said we just got new ones this fall and know they work in other situations.
 
Just saw this while cleaning out some Flower beds. Last night you could see sparks/stuff spewing out the chimney and my big worry was the roof. When I walked out and got the right of our house the ground and the front flower bed you see how much stuff was floating and rolling off the roof it's very light and fluffy like black snow. Scary seeing this now as it could have caused a whole new problem while dealing with another. Glad the firemen stayed so long as these leaves were dry and could have started another fire outside, They were even walking back in the woods checking around...
IMG_1841.JPG
IMG_1842.JPG
 
QuickBpBp said:
Thank you Steve. While we don't seem to agree with much I agreed with you on what you wrote(which is now all deleted). I appreciate you saying to that jerk exactly what needed to be said. You and yours have a Merry Christmas and again Thanks...
Click to expand...
I know we dont agree and I know there has been bad feelings, but I would never never never want to see anything happen to not only you but anybody here if I get along with them or not, have anything not good happen to them or worse yet family.
What happened to you in my opinion is just one of those things but The Lord was watching over you and the loved ones.
I had a experience with a chimney happen to me, not like what happened to you but it could have been fatal. Im cooking fish as is my custom on the Eve and will post about it later....God bless your family
 
When my chimney cap lit up it looked like 4th july outside. luckily my chimney is at the end of the house,actually beyond the end of roof!we could see the snow lighting up outside from bedroom window wife called 911. I promply went outside, stench was horrific,went up on roof to chimney to see how bad it was.by the time I got up there it was out,maybe 2 minutes! fire trucks rolled up on the street 5 mins. later and I yelled at the guys to be carefull the driveway is icy! the reply I got back"next time we'll bring our hockey sticks ,where are you" I said I'm up on the roof at the chimney everythings good,just the chimney cap lit up,go in the house and have a coffee and run your co2 detectors!
 
Sounds like you got an early Christmas present (with the final result). Glad to hear all is well.
 
Well, this has motivated me. I've made arrangements for a professional to come out and give
our entire fireplace/flue/chimney a good cleaning.
Thought about doing it myself at first, then remembered I'm not allowed on the roof anymore. :)
We'll let the pros do it this time (first time in 20 years!), then I'll go about some manner of
maintenance plan from then on.
 
Sorry it happened at all, glad it turned out as well as it did..... I still remember that sound from 1971 and it was the chimney of an oil burner stove that heated our house in Incirlik Turkey... So don't go thinking an oil burner won't do the same thing.... Outside the house that chimney looking like a diesel truck on the spray.... Inside the whole stove & chimney were glowing red... It was a miracle we didn't lose the house but Pops was on it immediately & the fire truck got there pretty quick... If you'd been to Incirlik AFB in the early 70's you'd know the base was so small the fire dept could get anywhere on base in less than five minutes... And in the case of where our house was locate it probably took two minutes...
 
In the winter of 76 which was brutally cold my house was heated by a old coal furnace with a oil burner conversion. In 78 I removed it and installed a gas furnace. The following year as winter approached I switched on the boiler and heard a strange sound. I put my hand near the draft diverter and was nearly burnt. The exhaust was coming out the draft diverter. Had I not found this out I and my wife and baby might not be here today.
There was no safety spill switch which shuts down the unit and no Carbon Monoxide detectors at that time.
What happened was the exhaust gas was now cooler and the soot on the. chimney walls fell to the bottom and plugged up the vent
I removed piping cleaned everything out and was good to go.
The house next door was sold, the new owner had a new boiler installed about 10 years ago. Sometime maybe a couple of years later, the unit would not stay lite. It turned out to be the slate liner had deteriorated and fell down inside the chimney blocking the exhaust vent piping and the now standard safety spill switch kept shutting down the unit.
He had a new stainless steel liner installed and that fixed the problem.
Since our house's were built with in a couple of years of each other back around 1930, I checked my liner and sure as **** it had started to crumple and fall down inside the chimney.
So I also had a stainless liner installed
I guess the motto is check out those chimney's
 
Macdon221 said:
Glad all worked out! Phew! Enjoy the Holidays with a smile.

I preach to all I know...Smoke Detectors, Smoke Detectors, Smoke detectors! They are cheap. $20 gets ya 2 at any store. At night...when you’re sleeping it’s the only notice you get. I have one in EVERY room. 2 by the furnace...and 4 in the garage!

Now everyone check their batteries! Lol.

Merry Christmas to all!
Click to expand...
Smoke Detectors and Carbon Monoxide Detectors save lives. Now you want to hear a scary thought? I wear hearing aids, but not when I am sleeping of course, and I will not hear the beeping of the Detectors. I will positively, surely hear the voice type detectors...so my detectors will say ''FIRE, FIRE'' or ''CARBON MONOXIDE, CARBON MONOXIDE''. In my small house, 3 in the basement, 2 on the first fl., 2 in the garage and 3 on the second fl. Fire extinguishers total is...2 big ones in the basement, 2 on the first fl., 2 on the second fl., 1 in the truck and 3 in the Charger (2 on the back floor and 1 in the trunk), 1 in the shop's office and 1 in the back shop. Fire extinguishers in the living quarters are all sitting on the floor, the floor level is your safe spot. Remember..."Stop, drop and roll". This is strange...it's Christmas Eve, well Christmas Morning now, 0125 hours and here I am wide awake...on fire watch.
Oh, I forgot, 1 extinguisher in the jeep.
 
Last edited:
As long as were on the subject, check those clothes dryers. Make sure they are venting properly, the vents are clear and NO build up of lint.
Dryer fires are real and can happen when the dryer is neglected.
We never go to sleep or. leave the house with dryer running
 
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