Chimney Fire - Is it Possible with a Selaed Insert?

[Wagtail]

You can purchase chimney fire suppressants from various places from Menards, Rural King or other box stores to specialty chimney and fireplace stores or online at places like Northland. Basically it is a log or bag that when heated in the fire rapidly releases CO2. It is better than a fire extinguisher because you put it in the fireplace or stove and then shut it so the only place for the Co2 to go is up the chimney and pushing out the oxygen.

Interesting... I'll have to look into that before (my) wood-heating season starts.

I've always kept a dry chem fire extinguisher by the heater (and in the kitchen, and in the ute, and in the workshop, and on the tractor... I blame my pedantic Navy training) but CO2 would work great.

Oh, and oosik's "wumpa-wumpa" description is very accurate. :thumbsup: Happens with a blocked chimney too. (Scares the living CRAP out of you when it happens!!!)

 

[Erik M]

A dry chemical fire extinguisher fired into the stove will work for sure, but I have a 3 gal bucket full of the dry chemical material in the basement beside the wood furnace and if I ever needed to shut things down a few shovel fulls tossed into the furnace would do it.

Best way to avoid a chimney fire is to clean your chimney at least annually and burn only seasoned dry hardwood.

 

[s219]

We keep a couple of these around:

www.chimfex.us

They are started up like a road flare and then just toss in the fireplace. They are rated highly. I have no idea how well they work, and hope to never find out!

I remember having a couple chimney fires growing up and it sounded like a freight train. We later found out that the cleanout area at the bottom of the chimney was open between both sides (one for oil furnace, other for wood stove) which made it a challenge to put out the chimney fire because it was able to draw air from the second chimney.

 

[square1]

Not heard of "suppressant bags" however - a good 'ol 10 pound ABC extinguisher should do the trick.

Just be sure to pull the pin before throwing it in the fire

 

[Creamer]

Just be sure to pull the pin before throwing it in the fire

that is what the local fire department uses and they say they work well.

 

[PILOON]

I have done a lot of renovation work with some chimney experience.
I have observed that on the sectional 'screwed together' chimney sections that are very common sometimes were creosote caked in a weird fashion.
At some seams or joints there existed a washer like ring of creosote.
I determined it was from ingestion of cold air via the seam that caused the creosote to harden, in some cases an 8" flue might be restricted down to 4-5".
Being a thin cake of creosote deposit it would then be very easy for a subsequent hot fire to ignite that 'washer'. For that reason I always taped all the seams on adjoining sections of flue pipe with aluminum tape.
A bead of quality caulk over the exposed gap would also work.

 

[Creamer]

I have done a lot of renovation work with some chimney experience.
I have observed that on the sectional 'screwed together' chimney sections that are very common sometimes were creosote caked in a weird fashion.
At some seams or joints there existed a washer like ring of creosote.
I determined it was from ingestion of cold air via the seam that caused the creosote to harden, in some cases an 8" flue might be restricted down to 4-5".
Being a thin cake of creosote deposit it would then be very easy for a subsequent hot fire to ignite that 'washer'. For that reason I always taped all the seams on adjoining sections of flue pipe with aluminum tape.
A bead of quality caulk over the exposed gap would also work.

Interesting. I have never heard of doing that but it makes sense that a small cold air leak would cause a buildup. thanks!

 

[Deere Dude]

No exp. with chimney fires as I keep it fairly clean, but what does a guy do if he has one and throws some suppression material in it. I really doubt it will knock all the flames out so how would a guy deal with hot burning logs at that time. Just leave it and hope it all goes out then take care of it???

 

[oosik]

Well - in my one and only experience with a chimney fire. I had very heavy duty gauntleted leather gloves. When things sort of calmed down - a lot of the smoke had cleared out of the cabin - before the smoldering wood caught on fire again - I reached in and grabbed the logs - one in each hand and threw them off the porch - out into the snow. As I remember it took three trips.

 

[TnAndy]

We keep a couple of these around:

www.chimfex.us

They are started up like a road flare and then just toss in the fireplace. They are rated highly. I have no idea how well they work, and hope to never find out!

I remember having a couple chimney fires growing up and it sounded like a freight train. We later found out that the cleanout area at the bottom of the chimney was open between both sides (one for oil furnace, other for wood stove) which made it a challenge to put out the chimney fire because it was able to draw air from the second chimney.

We do the same, and too have never used them. My set up for each wood stove around the place (we have 3 in the house, one in the shop and one in a greenhouse) is like this: Fire extinguisher and Chimfex 'flares'.

They look like oversized road flares:

Then I keep a large Halon gas extinguisher in a kitchen broom cabinet for any grease/electrical fire in the kitchen area....no white powder to clean up in addition to any fire damage.