Have you ever had a chimmney fire

[openspaceman]

Burned unseasoned hardwood for years without mishap, then lit fire with some well seasoned scotspine (found some undercover behind my shed) within two minutes I could hear it roaring, then the back door slammed and I could feel all the air being sucked out of the house up the chimney. Wandered across the road to have a look at the chimney, and there contrasting nicely against the night sky was 8ft of blue flame rocketing out of the pot with lots of pretty sparks. I got a metal bucket and loaded the burning logs in, took them out to the patio. Within a few mins all the flames were out, got the chimney swept and it's been fine ever since.

 

I had much the same, long time back as we move to this house in 1979. I was cosy in front of the open fire with the latest of several scotch in my hand thinking the fire was drawing well. A passing motorist came to the door to show me the blue flame. This is a difusion flame from carbon gasifying in the flue, once it gets hot enough any CO produced lowere down is reduced by hot char to CO, and then combining with air at the chimney.

 

There used to be a good display of this as you entered Swansea via Jersey Marine, the carbon black company had a pure CO flare which you could see at night.

 

Anyway I was too merry to do much, little chance of blocking the throat, so I called the fire service. They pushed a spray head up on ordinary chimney/drain rods trailing a garden hose which was supplied by a stirrup pump in a bucket of water. Little drama or mess.

 

The chief danger is from the flue being damaged, ultimately making the chimney unstable but more insidiously allowing combustion products through cracks into a room upstairs, not applicable then as it was a bungalow.

[Pat Ferrett]

a length of rope a clump of chicken wire and an old sash window weight

 

A sprig of holly used to be used in the old days

[Hodge]

A lot of the tarry residue that will burn builds up higher up the chimney, your better looking from the top down to get a better idea.

I'm thinking of fitting a liner this year as mine has built up quite a bit and I only burn well seasoned stuff

 

Could you not just sweep the chimney Dean? That would get rid of all the crap would it not?

[Hodge]

Could you not just sweep the chimney Dean? That would get rid of all the crap would it not?

 

I Just read your later post Dean do no need to answer my daft question:)

[agg221]

Unfortunately the real problem isn't the bits of soot that go up the chimney - these can be swept out. It's the tar and creosote that go up as vapour and condense out as they cool. Bits of soot then stick to this and the whole thing ends up like trying to chisel up tarmac - a brush won't touch it.

 

The problem is worse with stoves than with open fires because they're more efficient. This means the smoke is cooler, so more condenses in the chimney rather than going out of the top. This is why insulating the liner helps - keeps it hotter so less vapour condenses out. The other thing that helps is to burn smokeless for a week before sweeping as it's drier, so the residue evaporates off and it's less sticky and difficult to shift.

 

If you have a register plate with an opening, you really should have a liner to narrow the chimney above to the same size hole as the opening otherwise it doesn't do a lot to help draw and makes it impossible to sweep properly.

 

Alec

[Paulfreebury]

I have to climb up onto the chimney pot and rod from the top! I use a a liner brush its brushes are about half an inch long, it does a great job of getting the hard tar off, however I have to do it 3 times a year cos I burn alot of crap wood.

[difflock]

Our flue is 9" earthenware lined surrounded by Vermicilite type stuff.

House was built in 1995, we moved in for the winter of 1996.

A Morso stove has burned for 6 months of each year, sometimes for 24-7.

The flue has NEVER been cleaned.

And probably this past 5 years or so I have been burning mostly softwood.

It has been a long time since I heard it burn either.

But still pulls like a train so I can only presume OK

Cheers

M

[predator]

thanks for all the posts very rewarding all the advice etc i,am now thinking if i did have a fire it would be the top 3rd that would get on fire etc how on earth did people get on in the old days with the cack that was burnt then i remember me mams fire n tar use to bubble out the coal etc and we never had a fire up there but it was a open fire though

 

my mate had one in his liner and he said it was like a roman candle/jet engine and just let it burn out

 

i will have to keep n eye on mine at the top end from now on every now n then i know its ok at the moment as i,ve recently had the chimmney re pointed/repaired so know its in good health i was just supprised how little ash there was at the bottom and any ash i do get from the fire goes on my garden and veg patch

[Dean Lofthouse]

Best thing if it does happen is to shut the fire down, close all vents and starve it of air from below

[predator]

thanks dean will keep that in mind etc