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Firewood

Started by Ed_K, January 26, 2004, 08:13:52 AM

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woodmills1

For years I used an ashley barrel stove to heat with.  Great device, fill from the front or from the top, and a very well designed air control.  When I had it set up in a rental house on Schoolyes(sp) Mountain outside Hackettstown NJ I was burning standing dead wood I would cut on weekends and burn during the week.  I got a call from a local monastery asking if I would do some clean up work around there property.  When I got there I found a whole bunch of dead wood on the ground, it had been there long enough that the bark and most of the juvenile wood had gone away.  The heart wood seemed sound so I cut it into firewood and started burning it.  Now, the rental house was the kind of place that we might have just the three of us or many more sleeping over night due to the fact we were all members of this local theater group.  One night around three I get woken up by this loud hubub from about 10 voice.  When I got downstairs that old ashley wasa glowin red from the bottem DanG near all the way to the top, sounded like a chimney fire but just the stove itself.  Seems the fist sized chunks of that dead heartwood, chestnut I think, had slow cooked into charcoal and they was all giving red hot coal heat at the same time.  Never filled that baby like that again, we were all shocked and amazed. :D :D

Funny thing is the next owner of the place threw us out and made me take the stove out, had a "proffesional" installer put one in and promptley burnt the place to the ground. :o :o
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

pappy

cktate,

Sounds just like a chimney fire is what you had.  About the best thing you can do is call the FD, while waiting close the air intake get out your ladder and put a pail or something over the top of the chimney to stop all air flow,  it'll smoke up the house but you'll still have a house.

You came very close to burning down that house :o :o

A friend of mine and a volunteer fireman once told me a trick in slowing down the creosote buildup is toss your potato peelings onto a bed of hot coals. He said they don't know why it works but it just does.  I had a professional chimney sweep check out and clean our wood heating system this year.  He said our chimney was cleaner than most and I hadn't cleaned it in two years.  :)

We burn only dry wood, maple,beech,yellow and some white birch, poplar and chunks of spruce and fir.  The poplar and soft wood is just for warmer days, plus 20F or so.  I like using it cause it doesn't overheat the house, sometimes we only need a small blast.

We only buy our hardwood which has to be cut in the winter months,  two years prior preferably, and split in the early part of the summer,  stacked crossway's to the prevailing wind and covered with a lumber rap from the local hardware store. Bring it in  in late September or early October.

I'll set up a small fan pointing toward the 5 cord pile and set up my dehumidifier,  turn on the oil furnace to 70F down cellar ( I like using the oil a little so I know it's gonna run OK), disconnect one of the hot air ducts, also pointing the duct toward the pile leave this setup alone for roughly two weeks and my wood it dry enough to start the heating season.

I usually have about 1/2 cord left from the previous heating season to start with, I'll open up a small hole at the top of the plenum over the stove to let some heat escape and this really helps dry the wood. :)

Just the way we like to do things, been heating our abodes for 34 years now and only one chimney fire, because green wood was all I could get me hands on that year.

I'll always remember the "ant and the grasshopper"

heat safely,
termite
"And if we live, we shall go again, for the enchantment which falls upon those who have gone into the woodland is never broken."

"Down the Allagash."  by; Henry Withee

woodmills1

that one was just red hot coals no chimney fire.

Had a chimney fire in old house with wood furnace.  Let it fire up too long with the bottem door open.  Heard a cracklin sound and stupid me, opened the clean out at bottem of chimney and whoosh.  Quickley closed the door, ran to get ladder and chimney sweep poles and brush.  Knocked fire down to bottem and it went out.  Looked kinda funny up on the ladder cleaning chimney in a suit dressed for work. :D  No damage though.

O yes then there was that time when I was real young and we were trying to get more heat out of the fireplace.  used a sheet of newspaper to partially cover the flue.  Way more heat for 2 seconds until it exploded and lit the chimney.  Put on the gloves and tossed the burning logs out the front door into the snow and it slowly subsided.  Real bright boys we were. :o :o
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

Den Socling

I have lined, masonery chimneys and occasionally one will catch on fire. I have airtight stoves so I usually adust the draft for a 'controlled burn' unless it's dry outside. Then I clamp them shut and watch carefully until they are out.

My neighbor, however, filled an open fireplace with kiln dried oak blocks. When I saw a flame licking the sky, I went to offer a hand. He had just moved in. They hadn't even closed yet on the mortgage. First I tried throwing in newspapers that were soaking wet. Didn't slow the roar. I went home and got my biggest fire extinguisher and let her loose up the chimney. That didn't slow the roar. I got a sheet of metal and went up on the roof with another neighbor. We tried to hold the metal down tight over the top. Now I saw smoke coming out cracks in the masonery and the sheet metal got red hot. Standing on the roof of a two story house with the flue looking like a rocket pointed in the wrong direction was no place to be. Called the local FD and they were there in a few minutes and had it out in a few more minutes. We were lucky.

Ron Scott

Do you keep any "Chimfex" chimney fire extinguisher sticks on hand to throw in the stove for such occasions? They're a fusee that generates a volume mixture of gases in which fire cannot exist.

Maybe a good idea to have some on hand until the fire department arrives.  ;)
~Ron

redpowerd

where do i find them sticks, ron?
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

Den Socling

I never heard of Chimfex but I'll have to look for it. Thanks for the tip.

beenthere

Chimfex seems to be no longer available. Several hits on web search indicate that the Chimfex was the preferred way to extinguish a fire in a stove, but several also indicated they could no longer get the product to sell. One even said the factory burned down, and wouldn't go back into production.

 Hopefully that isn't a testimony on the product.  ::)

 Anyone know more about it? Sounds like a good emergency back-up to have.

one site:
http://northline.site.yahoo.net/5ru-3412.html
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

SwampDonkey

These folks are the manufacturer but have been telling folks to contact Wal-Mart for a similar product.

http://www.orionflares.com/Contact_Us/index.html

I found this off the following link:

http://www.swva.net/spencers/chimney_fire_extinguisher.htm

I use products by these folks for chimney care: Canadian Tire carries their brand of products.

http://www.timberproducts.ca/
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Ron Scott

Boy, I din't know that they were no longer available or that the factory burned down. That's not good.

I always got them at the local ACE Hardware Store or most places selling wood stoves.  Use to see them in the wood burning supplies section by the cases. I always keep a few on hand if ever needed. I believed that the local fire department even used them on chimney fires when called out and recommended them to home owners burning wood. They're a chimney fire extinguisher as shown on the web pages noted above.

They were made by the Standard Railway Fusee Corp. Boonton, N.J. 07005.

~Ron

Don_Lewis

Drying firewood for people who are concerned about the cost of firewood is usually not a good idea. If you are in a market where it can be justified, plan on spending about $50 a cord in total costs if you put in a wood fired boiler. About $100 if you burn oil or gas. Don't try to use hot water if you are doing this as a serious business. You really need to get above 220F to boil the water out and dry quickly. The higher the temperature the less wood you burn to dry the wood. (I know that sounds odd but its is true). Steam or hot oil should be used as the heat medium. It costs a lot to do it right.

Fla._Deadheader

  Seems that I heard something about throwing salt on the fire or in the stove, to help slow down a runaway flue???  If so, a few bags of salt from a feed supply might be a thought???

  I like heavy duty stuff and built our last flue-chimney outta 6" well casing. Let the fires begin ;D ;D ;D  Just keep a lot of dead air space around the pipe. ;)
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Den Socling



Last weekend, I was testing the heating and vacuum systems in this little vac kiln. I figured I might as well dry something while I was at the testing so I threw in blocks from pallet stock, DanG if I didn't dry them in a day. If I dry firewood, payback would probably be less than a hundred years.  ;D

breederman

I,m a fan of the metlebestos type chimney,ours goes up the middle of the house 2 inch clearance,I think, never been brushed.Just run fire hot once a day or so,take maybe half a gallon of junk out a year.
Together we got this !

Jeff

I really find the idea to take and burn wood in order to dry out wood so you can burn it rather, what word do I want to use, ironic? No, that aint it. I want to say idiotic but that aint it either. :D
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Tom

What always twisted my mind was making charcoal.  Those folks burn wood to burn the wood that makes the charcoal, then take the partially burned wood to stove and use wood to light it and then burn it for heat.  Seems kinda convaluted to me. :D

Oregon_Rob

I have heard the best way to slow down a chimney fire is to throw a couple of cups of water on the fire and then shut the stove down as tight as possible. The theory is that the steam will help to slow down or extinguish the fire. Has anyone else heard this one?

On the soot build up side of things, some of the newer stoves really burn the wood so much more efficiently than the older equipment, that the build up is almost non existent. I am currently in the market for a stove and have pretty much settled on a Quadrafire.
It is really nice that the EPA tests all new stoves and gives a good set of impartial numbers for efficiency and grams per hour of smoke output.
With the newer stoves, you can't even tell, by looking at the top of the chimney, weather a fire is burring or not. All this has to add up to less stuff in the chimney.
Chainsaw Nerd

beenthere

Oregon_Rob

Where is your resource for the EPA tests of all new stoves?  I would be curious to see these numbers, and figure they must be on a site somewhere. Thanks

south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Oregon_Rob

Here is the stove I am looking at:
http://www.quadrafire.com/products/stoves/woodStoveDetail.asp?f=3100actMILL

Here is an EPA document listing a bunch of different makes and models of stove and their numbers:

certifiedwood.pdf
If you do some more searching, you will find all the details about how they conduct the testing....

I wish there were more products that had independent testing like this.
Chainsaw Nerd

beenthere

Thanks for the info site.

I found it interesting that the grams/hour particulates can be so low and the efficiency be low as well. Seems to be contradictory.

I did found my Vermont Castings Defiant stove, which came in at 0.8 g/hr and 72% efficiency. However this one has the catalytic converter. I like it real well.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Jason_WI

Salt will take care of the chimney fire in a quick hurry. All you need is an icecream pail full handy and slowly poor down the chimney.  This what my dad used to put out a few fires.
Norwood LM2000, 20HP Honda, 3 bed extentions. Norwood Edgemate edger. Gehl 4835SXT

Carl_B

Oregon Rob I bought a Quadra-Fire 4300 in 1996 it has the pedestal base the only thing that I would say make sure that you buy one that is big enoughf for the house that you are going to heat with it.All of the people that I talk to said that I didnot need one that big. I am glad that I got one bigger than I need. I have had no trouble with the stove they make a very good stove.

Oregon_Rob

Carl,
Thanks for the words. I feel pretty comfortable that it is the right one. I have a 95' 2000sf manufactured. In Oregon, that equates to 2x6 walls, vynal frame, double payne wndows...
so it's pretty tight. And I'm in western Oregon. We never get below zero, a very cold night is 10°f and we didn't get that cold this year. I would guess our average low this time a year is something like 40°.
I am feeling pretty good about the decision.

Did you get the step top or the flat top?
Chainsaw Nerd

BW_Williams

Hadn't heard Chimfex went out of business, they made a good product and we've used them several times.  Be careful putting water in a chimeny fire as it violently expands 1700 times it volume and may cause injury or damage.  Haven't heard about potatoe peelings or salt.  I like Metalbestous pipe, never seen it fail during a fire, seen triple wall and single wall fail.  Be sure to screw your joints together, or county requires it on single wall, Metalbestous has locking rings.  Good luck and clean that chimeny at least once a year.  BWW
Support your local Volunteer Fire Dept.  (not by accident)
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Carl_B

Rob I have the flat top. I am heating 1300sf that is 40 years old even when it is 20 below zero no trouble in keeping up. I think that the pedestal base with ash pan is a real nice .

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