carbon monoxide alarm going off!

[Steven P]

16 minutes ago, AHPP said:

I reckon your wood ash is stifling your coal and your coal ash is stifling your wood. Clean it out and try one or the other for a couple of days.

 

I find a mix works well - coal for a while then wood for a while (not usually a mix fuelled simultaneously though) - the wood ash will burn through to nothing but kind of 'aerates' the coal ash as it does letting it burn more fully or fall into the ash pan better (dual purpose grids are not so great for coal - gaps are too small meaning the coal ash hangs about above the grate too much) - in my stove anyway

[AHPP]

9 minutes ago, Steven P said:

 

I find a mix works well - coal for a while then wood for a while (not usually a mix fuelled simultaneously though) - the wood ash will burn through to nothing but kind of 'aerates' the coal ash as it does letting it burn more fully or fall into the ash pan better (dual purpose grids are not so great for coal - gaps are too small meaning the coal ash hangs about above the grate too much) - in my stove anyway

 

Aye. I'm hedging by also guessing she's just got it shut down too much.

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

13 hours ago, eggsarascal said:

Can’t help with the initial question but, isn’t CO2 heavier than oxygen. I thought that CO2 monitors should be mounted at head height, not on ceilings.

No.

[Steven P]

6 minutes ago, Sviatoslav Tulin said:

No.

 

Depends on the question,

Carbon Monoxide, CO, is lighter than oxygen (see above),

Carbon Dioxide CO2, heavier than oxygen (see above)

 

 

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

Aren’t we detecting Carbon monoxide?

[Muddy42]

22 hours ago, Squaredy said:

Have you had your chimney/flue checked and swept?

Do this first. It is quite hard to have a carbon monoxide issue if the flue is lined and clean.

[Stubby]

26 minutes ago, Muddy42 said:

Do this first. It is quite hard to have a carbon monoxide issue if the flue is lined and clean.

He says the flue was swept last October . 5 months would not be a problem with my stove but if he slumbers it a lot maybe it needs sweeping again .

[Steven P]

However should still be enough of a draw up the chimney even if it needs a sweep, to take the fumes away unless the fire has been slumbering for a long time and it's colds.

 

Might ask then when did the CO alarm go off, right at light up, part way through your expected fires life of as the embers were dying away

[Steven P]

Back to the original post, not CO related, probably, but how much fire do you usually have if it is tricky to keep going? Is it 1 or 2 logs, or a firebox full?

[Muddy42]

15 hours ago, Stubby said:

He says the flue was swept last October . 5 months would not be a problem with my stove but if he slumbers it a lot maybe it needs sweeping again .

 

Or Jackdaws?  They don't tend to like flues that are in use, but I've had them move in when I've been away for two weeks.  They can put sticks down the chimney to try and form a base for a nest. 

 

Or the sweep in October might have disturbed the chimney pot or liner, causing an issue?

 

Or there could be something wrong with the outflow from the stove to flue - broken vermiculite panel or baffle plate.

 

Personally I'd want to separate the stove from the flue, clean the flue and remove all the ash with a dustpan and brush and then a hoover.  Check the air intakes are working correctly not filled with ash and then smoke test flue and stove in turn with burning newspaper (open windows).

 

Is the base of the firepan designed for multifuel (a grate - metal bars with gaps between them) or wood (flat surface)?  If its the later don't use coal.  Coal needs air and for the ash to escape easily, otherwise it slumbers and could easily cause CO.