Did I just have a chimney fire...

So, this afternoon I cleaned out the ash from the stove and loaded it with an old elm cookie (about 16" round and 5 plus years old) and 3 medium almond splits all with a moisture content of 10% or so.

There were some coals still in the bottom of the stove I used to start the fire back up. It was around 45 or so outside and the stove was lagging in getting going so I cracked the door to give it a little more air (Ideal Steel) with the latch in the detent allowing a small air gap. I went up stairs and got busy for about 15 or so and went back downstairs and smelled the "distinct paint cure smell" and saw the stove was raging pretty good...

The thing that really caught my attention was popping sounds coming from the double wall stove pipe and the exterior Class A chimney on the outside of the house. Also, I could barely touch the chimney as it was pretty warm to the touch.

The top of the chimney had a pretty good heat signature coming out it with faint white smoke, no flames or pieces of soot/ creosote.

I shut down the stoves air all the way and the fire in the stove died. The chimney kept popping and I could hear clinking of falling things for a few minutes and everything calmed and cooled. Never saw flames or major smoke....

So I've burnt about 3/4 cord of 10% almond and 1/8 cord of 1.5 year old lodgepole. Heres the before image of the chimney from October 2020. Has slight sooting.... I didn't have a chance to clean it since then.

And the after fire flue... Definitely had something happen in it. Not much left in there now....

I checked all the pipe and everything seems tight and not compromised... I'm pizzed at myself for forgetting to get back down to the stove and not cleaning it in October. Any thoughts from anyone....

 

I don't think you had a chimney fire...if there was, it was a tiny one...a big one would leave the metal almost spotless...I think you just overheated things a bit and crispy fried the soot that was there...that can still make the sounds you describe.
That's why my personal policy is that I never never never leave the stove or furnace unless all doors are latched tight...too easy to get distracted and forget...

 

NVhunter , in the second picture it looks like the pipe is split apart, it could just be me but I thought that I would mention it just incase.

It looks like it's on the left in the picture.

 

I put two red arrows pointing towards the area I think you're referring to. If so thats a seam in the pipe and is the same in photos from 2016 from a cleaning I did then.

 

Here's a photo from 2019 after I cleaned the flue. Same seam there.

 

Oh, sorry.... Thats the 90 degree T intersection going into the house and stove.... The chimney is an exterior Class A with a T mount

 

Yes, its the 90 degree intersection where the chimney pipe goes into the house and joins the double walled stove pipe. Heres a clear photo of the intersection which is circled in red.

 

Get a temp probe or at least an ir gun. My understanding is a chimney fire will sound like a jet taking off.

 

If you had a real bad chimney fire, you'd have seen flames shooting from the cap. I think this was more of an over fire.

 

Class A SS chimney is suppose to be able to withstand a chimney fire; if by some chance you had one, so if everything looks OK after inspection it should be OK to use. However, I am no expert here; just what I read with the literature that came with my chimney.

 

I let mine get away one day; not to the extent you had; I have to start all fires using the crack door method.

 

To really have a chimney fire you would need buildup in your pipe to catch fire. From the pic and your description of what you've burned, you probably didn't have much in there that could have caught fire.

 

The third picture definitely looks like a result of shutting the stove done to far to near smoldering and/or unseasoned wood. The stuff that I clean out is all powder. No chunks and that's burning 4+ cords per year.

 

NVhunter I have the exact same stove and set up. I don’t think you have enough creosote in that thing to have a chimney fire. That cap isn’t 1/4 full. For others the cap is a 6 inch circle 1.5 inches deep at bottom of Tee, 3rd pic down


Even a chimney fire is a fire and needs fuel.

 

I assume the cap is picture #3? Was that picture taken after this "incident", or previously? What is picture #4?

Canadian border VT, your statement about the amount in the cap.....are you meaning there would be more ash/debris in the cap if he had had a chimney fire (assuming the pic was taken after the incident)?

 

I think you are fine. Your stove just got really hot and some of the popping you heard was the metal expansion and contraction. The tinkling sound was the crispy parts of soot falling down.

 

I assumed after cleaning bucket

 

This is what happens when a stove gets really choochin'.