Meltdown?

My wife and I were deep in conversation tonight...
What would likely happen if you were to load a fresh batch in a stove, leave the ashpan door wide open and walk away from it, just let her eat?!?
Burning coal, can a chimney fire occur? I'm guessing not, but I'd imagine you'd burn through the chimney pipe coming out of the stove eventually.
Let's say the stove is setting in a basement,setting on concrete, nothing combustible around it, could it burn the house down?
Would it just burn through the grates eventually and drop into the ashpan where it would starve itself out?
What's everyone's opinions? We are curious.
Thanks!!!
Wheelo

Wheelo wrote: What would likely happen if you were to load a fresh batch in a stove, leave the ashpan door wide open and walk away from it, just let her eat?!?

Thanks!!!
Wheelo

Bad things. Really bad things.

It might melt the grates. It might chew up all the available fuel, turn it to ash and choke itself out. Depends on how lucky you are

Bad things. Really bad things.

Yeah... see here.. What Temperature Does Anthracite Burn at?

No, it wouldn't burn the house down (in your scenario), but the carbon monoxide could seal your fate.

Be sure to have working detectors.

P.S. I could expand a little farther.
If the furnace were to 'runaway' ..........it's a tossup as to which would burn out first. The pipe or the furnace. I'm thinking the pipe, which would instantly dump carbon monoxide throughout the house because of the loss of draft. Now if the sides of the furnace were to melt down first, there is the slight possibility that the 'over the fire air' would smother an anthracite fire(from what I've read on here as I have no experience with anthracite), and the chimney 'could' continue to draft the smoke outside.

With Bituminous coal your waking up dead either way.

Lots of old pot belly stoves were run at red hot heat pretty regularly. Smoke pipe red hot at 1000 degrees Would lose strength but if not too stressed to begin with would hold up.

The stove might be damaged by warping or cracking but I think would survive by the fuel bed ashing up and slowing the fire. Same with grates.

My first fire turned my pot a bright orange, it really spooked me, the heat was incredible, I was a greenhorn back then...... but yeah for the new guys don't walk away with the ash pan door open..

grumpy wrote:My first fire turned my pot a bright orange, it really spooked me, the heat was incredible, I was a greenhorn back then...... but yeah for the new guys don't walk away with the ash pan door open..

I agree wholeheartedly.

I do walk away with mine open, but the smell of the hot furnace gets my attention real quick. I haven't had my furnace hot enough to where it shuts down the blower on the 'high limit switch' but I've had the furnace and pipe glowing on more than one occasion. And yes, I've warped the sides of the furnace, and I had to replace the grates because they were warped (that I'm 90 percent sure was because my wife neglected to clean out the ashes).

I am pretty old school in my thinking some days so here is more of that type thinking. I have to recall a phrase told to me by a smart guy many years ago. : " If it can, eventually it will". That's my premise for decisions regarding many things, especially fire. Mike

So who's going to be the first to buy a beater off Craig's, set it up outside on the back 40, and let it rip to document?

I'll keep my eyes peeled for a cheapie stove...

I think a lot would depend on the stove and it's design.

A couple of times I've gotten distracted and forgot to put my range back into indirect mode and close down the dampers after a reload.

Came back to find the coal burned out, but no damage to stove and pipe other than the "eye" plate, which is about 2-1/2 inches over the center of the firebox, is now about 1/16 inch longer from heat swelling, but still straight as new. And the stove polish turned white with the lamp black and graphite burned out.

I expected to see warped and/or cracked parts, but it didn't.

Like Franco said, I ran my small potbelly stove with the entire unlined firepot glowing bright red most of the time. Used it for many years that way and then gave it to a friend who still uses it. No damage.

Same for my friend's father the way he ran the station master sized potbelly they had in their uninsulated garage. Heat output that had us sweating in tee shirts in mid January.

Paul

This time of year is when it is likely to happen to me!

I just went 48 hours between loads and had to leave the ash door open for quite a while to freshen the fire enough to shake it down. Since the Kodiac is in the living room I stay between there and the kitchen for the couple hours it sometimes takes in this mild weather. There is always a project or twelve that needs doing so it's not time wasted.

That is about the only down side to running the stove at about 150F or so is that it is very slow to build up enough to shake.

Yea you get busy and wonder outside to work on something and you're in trouble, but stick close enough to smell the stove getting warm and all is good!

The rest of the year I run a 5 minute countdown timer on my watch each morning so I'm never gone longer than that and im still just in the next room.

SD

scalabro wrote:So who's going to be the first to buy a beater off Craig's, set it up outside on the back 40, and let it rip to document?

I'll keep my eyes peeled for a cheapie stove...

Cast iron, maybe yes, but I wouldn't want to try it with an all steel stove !

Paul

If money grew on trees, it would most definitely be an experiment I'd try!.. And I agree, that distinct smell has caught my attention a few times. But it is somewhat reassuring in way to know that if something crazy were to ever happen, my biggest expense would hopefully be a stove, and one of the many CO detectors would prevent me from waking up dead.
I know the previous owner of the house had the stove hot enough to burn the paint off the sides, and warp the firebox a little. Kinda makes me wonder how hot he had it?!? Because I've seen sections of my chimney pipe start to glow and luckily never did any damage.

Just need the old girl to last one more season before I upgrade to a larger model that doesn't have to work as hard

Wheelo

Hello,
Ive had my mark III "overfire" 2x. Both times I left the ash door open and got it hot enough that the sides discolored and temps wouldn't register on my laser thermometer. I checked it out when I cleaned it this year & didn't see any issues. I've asked a couple other hand fired stove owners and from I've been told it happens to everyone. I'm only on my 2nd year with coal so hopefully I won't do it again.....