[486 said:
;n198958]
I don't think this one's ever seen a wood fire, they did all sorts of real dumb shit in my house but at least not that.
well, the chimney itself has seen wood from the amount of soot on a few old holes in it, but the liner's only seen gas
still old enough to be rusty and unhappy though. Cemented in right down to the basement that I'm gonna fill in. Woulda liked to use it as a wood flue again, but might end up just knocking the whole thing out of there and put in class A rather than try and save it.
Run the class A through the brick.
Cautionary tales about class A:
Class A is nice stuff but MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS!!! Most, if not all, class A stove pipe still requires a 2" clearance to combustibles which I think gets ignored sometimes and causes problems. Up until this year I thought it was the 100% safe way to do a chimney, but our department got called to two chimney fires that were in fairly new class A stainless that resulted in structure fires in 2020. The first was in the winter time in the middle of the night way out in BFE. Took 20 mins from the call to get there and the fire had already gotten out of the chimney and burned holes in the 1st floor, 2nd floor, ceiling, and roof. Emptied all the water we had on the trucks and it didn't do much. By the time we got a good supply of shuttled water coming we were chasing it. While the house was still standing, everything was pretty much ruined but at least identifiable for insurance. The killer for me was that I'm sure the people that put it in thought it would eliminate the risk of the house burning down by spending that kind of money on the install. I have no idea what allowed the fire to get out of the pipe, the pipe was laying around in sections all over the place afterwards. A common occurrence in a chimney fire is a big sheet of creosote can fall of the wall and block the exit of the hot gasses and then they start traveling out any cracks or additional appliance connections. Or it can fall into the cleanout and get out into the basement and away it goes. I didn't see any spots where the stainless was burned through, all I can guess is that it either worked loose at a joint (is that stuff riveted or screwed after twist locking?) or more likely was installed too close to combustibles.
The second case happened this spring in a chimney fed from a sauna stove in a new home addition, built 2 years ago. All the stars lined up and we had water going on it just in time as the roof started to burn through in a couple spots. I was the first one there and was surprised to see fire around the outside of the triple wall stainless coming out of a wooden chase. I'm making assumptions based on what I saw while trying to slow stuff down by ripping the chase apart and spraying with the homeowners garden hose till the trucks showed up, but it looked pretty clear that the place had been poorly spray foamed and the foam was sprayed right against the chimney pipe. The pipe was also very close if not touching the t-111 chase. Once we had a plenty of water ready and ripped the ridge vent off and opened up around the chimney pipe my suspicions were confirmed. Zero clearance maintained from the pipe, fire started in the attic. If there hadn't been a chimney fire it would likely never have been an issue. If the pipe had proper clearance maintained it likely wouldn't have been an issue. But when stuff like that lines up, house fires happen. Saved most it, water damage in the addition but it was a serv pro and roofer situation. If the homeowner had hesitated to call 911 it would have been a total loss and they would have been brining in an excavator and a big waste management bin. This was new construction, done by a contractor.
If you've never seen a chimney fire, this is a good example of a mild one, like the second case I mentioned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRb4KthIPSI
I need to add a chimney in my house for the wood/electric oven range we put in the kitchen and I plan on using class A to do it, but I will likely run it through double wall pipe to make sure clearance is maintained through the attic. I think it's pretty common to maintain clearance by using some scrap wood to make a dam around the chimney to hold back blown in insulation but this never lasts, seen it.
Sorry for the rambling but the fear of chimney fire turning into structure fires are one of the few things that can keep me up at night. I sleep better knowing that all my wood burning appliances far exceed code and have redundant protection against chimney fire break throughs. I also clean my main chimney every 3-4 weeks, especially in the shoulder seasons when I know I'm not firing as hard and can be making more creosote. A lot of times the chimney will clean itself during the summer so make sure and check it with a mirror and clean the creosote out of the cleanout before you light the first fire.
Last note, if you have a chimney fire call 911 right away. If you notice smoke coming out of the roof or smell it in the house, call 911 back and let them know it's a structure fire. That can make a difference in the first response, especially in rural areas.
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