So I lit my outdoor furnace the other night and came in to start some spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, I was talking to my Mom on the phone when I smelled something odd! Quickly hung up and ran out to find flames coming out around parts of the stove. I ran back in, grabbed my kitchen fire extinguisher and ran back out, used that one up so I ran to the garage and grabbed a bit bigger extinguisher and commenced to use that one up too. I did pull the duct work out of the house so that danger was over even though the house had smoke and stench in it. That's when I decided I had better call 911. The firehouse and the chiefs house are about 5/8 of a mile away. Once I got through the dispatchers head what was happening and where it was happening I went back to using up my extinguisher. The chief showed up with a large one and we started unscrewing panels and yanking the insulation out.
When I put this thing together about 7 years ago I wrapped the wood furnace with a product called Reflectex, it's a metallic bubble wrap. I insulated the studs with fiberglass insulation and then wrapped the whole thing again.
I think the problem was two fold, firstly the wife had hung a heavy blanket over the ductwork inside unbeknownst to me to "keep the cat from going in there" and the electric damper controller was apparently stuck, rusted, froze up whatever! I think it just overheated and caught the Reflectex on fire, I also had some high R sheathing in different spots that burned as well. Thankfully the house was fine.
Once we got all the fire down the chief asked if I wanted them to put the wood in the fire box out. I said "why, I don't think there is any damage to the actual stove itself" and he agreed, the fire was left burning into the night until it went out on it's own. I now have it moved into the garage and stripped all the wiring off (most of fit was melted anyway) and I am going to insulate it this time with Rockwool mineral insulation, it has a fire rating of 2000 degrees.
I'll see if I can dig up some pics of the build.
When I put this thing together about 7 years ago I wrapped the wood furnace with a product called Reflectex, it's a metallic bubble wrap. I insulated the studs with fiberglass insulation and then wrapped the whole thing again.
I think the problem was two fold, firstly the wife had hung a heavy blanket over the ductwork inside unbeknownst to me to "keep the cat from going in there" and the electric damper controller was apparently stuck, rusted, froze up whatever! I think it just overheated and caught the Reflectex on fire, I also had some high R sheathing in different spots that burned as well. Thankfully the house was fine.
Once we got all the fire down the chief asked if I wanted them to put the wood in the fire box out. I said "why, I don't think there is any damage to the actual stove itself" and he agreed, the fire was left burning into the night until it went out on it's own. I now have it moved into the garage and stripped all the wiring off (most of fit was melted anyway) and I am going to insulate it this time with Rockwool mineral insulation, it has a fire rating of 2000 degrees.
I'll see if I can dig up some pics of the build.
