My Pellet Stove up in Flames

[OldHillcrestGuy]

GWguy and Vince my pellet stove caught fire tonight (Fri) and my wife had to call the fire department. I was at work but somehow the pellet hopper caught fire and it was burning along with fire in the burn pot, our smoke detector went off. Only thing I can think might have happened for the hopper to catch fire was the augar might have gotten stuck open with a jammed pellet allowing flames to get into the hopper.
The house is OK after the fire dept ventilated it, cause the smoke was really coming out just as the fire dept got here, but the stove maybe history Im going by the dealer tomorrow to have someone come and check it out, its pretty scorched up inside the hopper box and inside the normal burn area.
I cleaned it 2 days OK, but the burn pot did have quite bit of ash buildup and that may also contributed to the fire as the pellets that were dropping were burning higher up in the burnpot then normal. Wife was thankful she had just gotten home about 20 miuntes earlier and was here, no telling what may have happened if she hadnt come home when she did. It never bothered me to go somewhere for hours and have no one home with the stove running, Ill think twice now.

Hey Speedy I made some really good time from Marlboro to home after I got the call.

 

[toppick08]

GWguy and Vince my pellet stove caught fire tonight (Fri) and my wife had to call the fire department. I was at work but somehow the pellet hopper caught fire and it was burning along with fire in the burn pot, our smoke detector went off. Only thing I can think might have happened for the hopper to catch fire was the augar might have gotten stuck open with a jammed pellet allowing flames to get into the hopper.
The house is OK after the fire dept ventilated it, cause the smoke was really coming out just as the fire dept got here, but the stove maybe history Im going by the dealer tomorrow to have someone come and check it out, its pretty scorched up inside the hopper box and inside the normal burn area.
I cleaned it 2 days OK, but the burn pot did have quite bit of ash buildup and that may also contributed to the fire as the pellets that were dropping were burning higher up in the burnpot then normal. Wife was thankful she had just gotten home about 20 miuntes earlier and was here, no telling what may have happened if she hadnt come home when she did. It never bothered me to go somewhere for hours and have no one home with the stove running, Ill think twice now.

Hey Speedy I made some really good time from Marlboro to home after I got the call.

Glad everything is ok. Did that call go out between 8 - 9 ish last night?, heard something about possible house fire on the scanner.

 

[joedancer]

Glad you are okay. How old and what brand is your stove?

 

[OldHillcrestGuy]

Glad you are okay. How old and what brand is your stove?

It's a Breckwell and has been in use 25 months.

 

[OldHillcrestGuy]

Glad everything is ok. Did that call go out between 8 - 9 ish last night?, heard something about possible house fire on the scanner.

Thats correct about 8:50.

 

[nanstime]

thank god no lasting damage

 

[Mousebaby]

I'm glad everything was ok! Thank God nothing really bad happened! to your wife too! I know that scared the sh!t out of her!

 

[Kain99]

That is so scary! Thank God you guys are ok!

 

[Larry Gude]

Yikes...

Wife was thankful she had just gotten home about 20 miuntes earlier and was here, no telling what may have happened if she hadnt come home when she did. It never bothered me to go somewhere for hours and have no one home with the stove running, Ill think twice now.

Terrifying.

 

[vraiblonde]

GWguy and Vince my pellet stove caught fire tonight (Fri)

I misread that as GWguy and Vince caught your pellet stove on fire last night.

Good thing your wife came home when she did - that is a scary thing. And now I think I will go clean out the ashes from my fireplace.

 

[cattitude]

We just got another wood stove insert for the upstairs fireplace -- we already have one downstairs. I'm scared to death to leave them burning when we aren't home. I'd hate to lose my home but I wouldn't be able to live with the thought of my dear pets being trapped.

Thank God everything worked out okay for your family.

 

[GWguy]

I misread that as GWguy and Vince caught your pellet stove on fire last night.

 

[GWguy]

GWguy and Vince my pellet stove caught fire tonight (Fri) and my wife had to call the fire department. I was at work but somehow the pellet hopper caught fire and it was burning along with fire in the burn pot, our smoke detector went off. Only thing I can think might have happened for the hopper to catch fire was the augar might have gotten stuck open with a jammed pellet allowing flames to get into the hopper.
The house is OK after the fire dept ventilated it, cause the smoke was really coming out just as the fire dept got here, but the stove maybe history Im going by the dealer tomorrow to have someone come and check it out, its pretty scorched up inside the hopper box and inside the normal burn area.
I cleaned it 2 days OK, but the burn pot did have quite bit of ash buildup and that may also contributed to the fire as the pellets that were dropping were burning higher up in the burnpot then normal. Wife was thankful she had just gotten home about 20 miuntes earlier and was here, no telling what may have happened if she hadnt come home when she did. It never bothered me to go somewhere for hours and have no one home with the stove running, Ill think twice now.

Hey Speedy I made some really good time from Marlboro to home after I got the call.

Holy Cripes!!! DEF have someone check out the stove. I'm thinking if the augur got stuck, the flame would go out in no time from lack of fuel. Maybe the insulation between the flame box and the hopper wasn't enough, and with the stove running hot it simply ignited the hopper?? Wow..... I leave mine running 24/7... I'll have to re-think that....

Sorry you had a problem, REALLY glad she caught it before it was a mess. Thanx for the posting.

 

[jaybeeztoo]

GWguy and Vince my pellet stove caught fire tonight (Fri) and my wife had to call the fire department. I was at work but somehow the pellet hopper caught fire and it was burning along with fire in the burn pot, our smoke detector went off. Only thing I can think might have happened for the hopper to catch fire was the augar might have gotten stuck open with a jammed pellet allowing flames to get into the hopper.
The house is OK after the fire dept ventilated it, cause the smoke was really coming out just as the fire dept got here, but the stove maybe history Im going by the dealer tomorrow to have someone come and check it out, its pretty scorched up inside the hopper box and inside the normal burn area.
I cleaned it 2 days OK, but the burn pot did have quite bit of ash buildup and that may also contributed to the fire as the pellets that were dropping were burning higher up in the burnpot then normal. Wife was thankful she had just gotten home about 20 miuntes earlier and was here, no telling what may have happened if she hadnt come home when she did. It never bothered me to go somewhere for hours and have no one home with the stove running, Ill think twice now.

Hey Speedy I made some really good time from Marlboro to home after I got the call.

Thank goodness your family and home are okay. That would be very scary.

We had a house fire once. Mom was cooking tacos and the power went out. She forgot to turn off the stove. In the middle of the night, the power came back on the oil on the stove started a kitchen fire. I will never forget my brother running downstairs screaming THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE. Could you imagine if he didn't wake up and notice it? Now, that's a scary thought.

Again, thank goodness your family and home are okay

 

[clevalley]

Knowing how these work I would imagine a build of of pellet dust got in the chute and up the feed auger... Was it you that had problems with Pennington's caking up in there right?

My manual says to clean the stove after every ton - and that is a pull of the stove and blow it out to include the auger and feed tube... I do mine after every season as I let my hopper burn down to almost zilch every 1/2 ton and vacuum any dust down there to keep any buildup from happening - this was recommended by the installer. It has worked so far and I have not had a problem (knock on wood...) Doing the above, cleaning at the end of the year is a breeze with most of the ash being back behind the heat exchangers - and barely anything in and around the feed system.

I know my QuadraFire has a puck on the feed tube which detects heat... if there is a burn going up the tube it completely shuts off - no fans... but when it starts to burn in the feed tube all bets are off - technically the shut off will slow the violentness of the burn to allow you to kill it with an extinguisher - theoretically that is...

I am sorry to hear about this - Breckwells are REALLY nice stoves... is it salvageable?

Glad everyone is OK! That is the most important thing!!!

 

[rack'm]

Glad everything is ok.

 

[jazz lady]

Wow, how scary and doubly fortunate your wife came home when she did. I'm glad everything is okay.

 

[OldHillcrestGuy]

Knowing how these work I would imagine a build of of pellet dust got in the chute and up the feed auger... Was it you that had problems with Pennington's caking up in there right?

I am sorry to hear about this - Breckwells are REALLY nice stoves... is it salvageable?

Glad everyone is OK! That is the most important thing!!!

I think your pretty close to what may have happened. I usually clean the stove at least the main part every 2 days, brush the ash down into ash bin, empty the burnpot of built up ash, brush of the inside walls and clean the glass, I usually do this every other day and at least once a week, I get the vaccum out and do the more extended cleaning, which I had just done 48 hours before. Yesterday I was busy in the morning and had to go to work in the afternoon and was not able to even do a quick brush job thought Id be good for another day, Im thinking that the burnpot had filled up with ash and as the pellets dropped and burned they must have burned higher up then usual and the flames started to go up the pellet shoot and caught the pellets in the augar on fire and then further up into the bin
Went buy the store today and they are coming by on Thursday and check it out, they believe the stove is fixable, said they would check all the safety sensor to see if something failed and something about maybe a blower motor or fan might have gone bad causing it to really heat up. Im just thinking that some kind of sensor should have kicked off and would have shut down the stove before it got so severe. Yes I was the one who wasnt happy with the Pennington pellets and about half of the pellets in the bin were Penningtons and the other half were the Hamars. The bin was about 3/4's full with pellets. My son has the same stove and he likes the Pennigtons better then the Hamars, says they burn less ash, go figure we are both working off the same ton we bought.
My buddies from HVFD did nice job of not tearing up the stove or house, from what I understand after talking to some of them who were on the call, the smoke was just beginning to start to really roll when they got here another 5 minutes and we may have had considerable smoke damage.
Im still a believer in the pellet stove and I dont plan to get rid of it.

 

[GWguy]

I think your pretty close to what may have happened. I usually clean the stove at least the main part every 2 days, brush the ash down into ash bin, empty the burnpot of built up ash, brush of the inside walls and clean the glass, I usually do this every other day and at least once a week, I get the vaccum out and do the more extended cleaning, which I had just done 48 hours before. Yesterday I was busy in the morning and had to go to work in the afternoon and was not able to even do a quick brush job thought Id be good for another day, Im thinking that the burnpot had filled up with ash and as the pellets dropped and burned they must have burned higher up then usual and the flames started to go up the pellet shoot and caught the pellets in the augar on fire and then further up into the bin
Went buy the store today and they are coming by on Thursday and check it out, they believe the stove is fixable, said they would check all the safety sensor to see if something failed and something about maybe a blower motor or fan might have gone bad causing it to really heat up. Im just thinking that some kind of sensor should have kicked off and would have shut down the stove before it got so severe. Yes I was the one who wasnt happy with the Pennington pellets and about half of the pellets in the bin were Penningtons and the other half were the Hamars. The bin was about 3/4's full with pellets. My son has the same stove and he likes the Pennigtons better then the Hamars, says they burn less ash, go figure we are both working off the same ton we bought.
My buddies from HVFD did nice job of not tearing up the stove or house, from what I understand after talking to some of them who were on the call, the smoke was just beginning to start to really roll when they got here another 5 minutes and we may have had considerable smoke damage.
Im still a believer in the pellet stove and I dont plan to get rid of it.

Something I had noticed in the past when using the Pennington, when there was a lot of sawdust, it would flare and send up lots of small sparks when it hit the burn pot. The sparks usually went up the flue and I never even considered that they might go back up the feeder and ignite something.

Sounds like we're all going to be a it more careful after your experience. Please keep us posted on whatever they find in in the stove, if anything.

 

[belvak]

Wow! Thank God your wife got home at just the right time. Hope the stove turns out to be okay and I'm really glad there was no permanent damage!