High wind scare

[Caz]

Just a little warning i thought i'd pass along. My chimney is only about 14’. I’ve never been able to make sparks come out the top no matter how hot or how far open the draft was or even with the door wide open. I live in the woods with lots of leaves on the ground so this was important for safety reasons for me to try and make it do this on wet days after first installing the stove. I’ve always felt comfortable while burning the wood stove since then.
Yesterday we had sustained 60 mph winds. A tree came down blocking my drive and just missing my truck. It was near dusk and i was out cutting up the tree when i saw sparks flying out my chimney. I ran in the house where my friend had opened the stove door to better see the flames and warm her self. It was only open a minute or so but with that 60 mph wind it was running like a jet engine.
Luckily no sparks reached the ground still hot enough to start a fire but if they had in that wind there would have been no stopping it.
So if your situation is similar to mine, keep the door shut when windy and when your reloading your stove, pick out your wood first and have it ready. Don’t open the door, then go looking for the pieces of wood you want to put in. Stay safe : )

 

[Mike Van]

Caz, the chimney on my syrup evaporator is maybe 15 or 16 ft - I get sparks, embers all the time coming out. They show up real good after dark. I run it wide open, as you have to, there's no choking one of those down. Can you add on to yours, or is that a no-go? I'd never have wood shingles on a house I burnt wood in, thats just me though.

 

[mga]

put a screened cap on it.

 

[November Wolf]

A spark arrestor is what you need.

 

[Mike Van]

Would a screen fine enough to catch sparks be a creosote catcher too? Like a spark arrestor in a chainsaw muffler?

 

[Patrick62]

Sparks?

I think a hunk of window screen would be a slight improvement. I rather doubt that a longer pipe would work until it was ridiculously long. Maybe it would be better to run a honkin' huge pipe, wait a sec, I know the answer! Use a barrel stove! With the second barrel on there the sparks would get lost in there and not be likely to fly up the flue.

-Pat

 

[ericjeeper]

Barrel stove???????????

Odds are that the sparks did not originate in the stove.. They originated in his flue pipe when he had a small flue fire going on.

 

[Scootermsp]

Anone face this?

VERY windy here today. OWB is 65' from house. I think some smoke blew into attic via eave vents and tripped whole house smoke detector system (there is a unit in attic-all are interconnected). This is the only thing I can think of. Has never happened before but only thing Ican think of that would trip alarm. It only activated about 5-10 seconds and cleared.

 

[mga]

I think a hunk of window screen would be a slight improvement. I rather doubt that a longer pipe would work until it was ridiculously long. Maybe it would be better to run a honkin' huge pipe, wait a sec, I know the answer! Use a barrel stove! With the second barrel on there the sparks would get lost in there and not be likely to fly up the flue.

-Pat

window screen is too fine. it'll clog up in no time with soot and cause other problems.

 

[Moss Man]

I would think sparks could easily reach the top of the chimney from the stove under the right conditions Jeepers.

 

[Caz]

My stove setup is fine the way it is. A screen would clog with creosote in a matter of days. I also clean my chimney once a month.
My post was only to give a heads up to wood burners that under extreme circumstances such as 60 mph winds greater care should be taken to not leave the stove door open any longer than necessary : )

 

[ngzcaz]

Good post. I've had blue flames coming out the stack on more than one occasion when the draft motor kicked on but it was mostly due to the fact that I had the wood directly under the chimney and it didnt bother going to the top of the barrel and then down again to exit the chimney, it just made a direct route to the top. I now do not put the wood under the chimney and in the spring I'll probably put a diverter so that cant happen. Its a Shaver 165 and the chimney extends down in the firebox about a foot so the smoke has to make a loop before exiting the chimney. The chimney also is not at the end of the firebox, its in about a foot. The chimney then extends up thru the water jacket further heating the water. ( or so they claim )

I wouldnt be too worried in the dead of winter but for those burning year round or even into spring or fall, might be a good idea to find a way to minimize the potential for an accidental fire in the woods.

:greenchainsaw:

 

[Tesen]

Slightly off-topic, but since blue flame was mentioned. I have a triple wall flue outside, 35' odd tall. I have blue tint around the top of the flue. So quick question, what temp is required to get that and do you think it is likely I had a minor flue fire?

The tint actually has been there for a while, it happened during the first year of heating when I was burning coal. No issues with the flue other than the usual draft issues I got before I installed the Exhausto.

Tes

 

[Patrick62]

barrel stove

View attachment 85446

You don't get many sparks out of these.

-Pat

 

[November Wolf]

View attachment 85446

You don't get many sparks out of these.

-Pat

That kind of stove keeps us really warm in a 16 x 32 army tent at deer camp in the Upper Peninsula.