House Fires Locally

We've had more than a few house fires lately around my area. A very recent one was due to a pellet stove. From the description it sounded like they had a chimney fire that burned the house down. Long, steep, iced over driveway 1400' long made it difficult to get any water to the fire.

Sad stuff...no one was hurt.

uHH You live about an hour to far north. Scranton/Wilksbarre has at least 2 a night on the news.

http://wnep.com/

Chimney fires are common around here, lots of people burn wood. The fire dept. in town is good at saving foundations.
With the S/S liner to the Fisher I don't have to worry, so much heat goes up the chimney I clean it once a year, it's very powdery.
When I had the Kent Sherwood piped into the back chimney, I cleaned it once a month during heating season. The instructions specifically said metal chimney only, it was so efficient the creosote build-up was terrible. Set the chimney on fire 3 times in 16 years.
It's nice not to have to worry about it anymore.

cArNaGe wrote:uHH You live about an hour to far north. Scranton/Wilksbarre has at least 2 a night on the news.

http://wnep.com/

You see that barn that burned? Guy lost 91 head of cattle. Sad.

Wood'nCoal wrote:Chimney fires are common around here, lots of people burn wood. The fire dept. in town is good at saving foundations.
With the S/S liner to the Fisher I don't have to worry, so much heat goes up the chimney I clean it once a year, it's very powdery.
When I had the Kent Sherwood piped into the back chimney, I cleaned it once a month during heating season. The instructions specifically said metal chimney only, it was so efficient the creosote build-up was terrible. Set the chimney on fire 3 times in 16 years.
It's nice not to have to worry about it anymore.

If you want real peace of mind you need a stainless liner and 1/2" thick insulation. Both of those are required to achieve the UL 2100F rating against multiple chimney fires when using flex stainless steel. A 25' roll of 1/2" thick insulation (insulation kit contains insulation, adhesive and wire mesh to hold the insulation) costs a whopping $275 and is cheap insurance to guarantee your house probably never burns down. Also, the insulation makes the chimney draft better because it's warmer. I used both when I installed my wood burner and this is the peace of mind that allows me to do overnight and/or unattended burns and to know the house will still be there when I return.....

castiron wrote:

Wood'nCoal wrote:Chimney fires are common around here, lots of people burn wood. The fire dept. in town is good at saving foundations.
With the S/S liner to the Fisher I don't have to worry, so much heat goes up the chimney I clean it once a year, it's very powdery.
When I had the Kent Sherwood piped into the back chimney, I cleaned it once a month during heating season. The instructions specifically said metal chimney only, it was so efficient the creosote build-up was terrible. Set the chimney on fire 3 times in 16 years.
It's nice not to have to worry about it anymore.

If you want real peace of mind you need a stainless liner and 1/2" thick insulation. Both of those are required to achieve the UL 2100F rating against multiple chimney fires when using flex stainless steel. A 25' roll of 1/2" thick insulation (insulation kit contains insulation, adhesive and wire mesh to hold the insulation) costs a whopping $275 and is cheap insurance to guarantee your house probably never burns down. Also, the insulation makes the chimney draft better because it's warmer. I used both when I installed my wood burner and this is the peace of mind that allows me to do overnight and/or unattended burns and to know the house will still be there when I return.....

Exactly what I was planning on doing. I made an abrupt turn and switched to coal, the Kent stove is sitting in my mother's garage. No creosote in the chimney now, just fly ash!