Fire in the chimney

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kikie

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Like the thread title says, we had a fire in the chimney this evening.

About 2 hours ago, I was standing outside in our very little backyard and I looked up at the roof of our house. Don't ask me why I did that, because I don't have a clue why I looked up. I was thinking about the chimney and heard the central heating working. When it stopped, suddenly I saw big flames coming out of the chimney. I told my father immediatly of what I saw and he didn't believe me. When he heard a little anger in my voice, he came out of the garage, where he was working, to see what was going on.
I went down in the cellar to check out the central heating device (don't know how it's called in English), while my father checked out the chimney at the attic. Everything checked out just fine and my father when down in the cellar to check out the central heating thing, while I called the fire department. The fire fighter came, he saw and he went :p

At this moment, my father is still working in the cellar. He trying to clean the central heating thing and the chimney.

I'm curious if this is a one-time-event or if it's going to happen again.
 
you probably had a creosote build up in your chimney. yes, it will happen again, if you don't do regular sweeping in your chimney.
 
Creosote is partially-unburned carbon that comes from low-temperature combustion of wood. It will stick to the walls of your chimney like soot, but will ignite pretty easily, since there is still "fuel" in it. Annual chimney sweeps will get rid of it, and will allow your fires to burn hotter and cleaner (I think the ideal temperature is 400-500 F), eliminating the creation of creosote in the first place.
kikie
central heating device (don't know how it's called in English)
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You're probably referring to a furnace.
 
Yeah, the crap that collects on the chimney walls will catch fire if you don't sweep it.
 
I've seen an episode of Dirty Jobs where they were sweeping out chimneys, and they spoke about creosote and fires and whatnot. I think they actually set it on fire purposely to help get rid of it.

I've never heard of anyone around my area having a fire up there. There are people that burn wood in fireplaces around here, but everyone has electric furnaces. Many people don't use their fireplaces at all, and some, like me, have propane fireplaces.
 
Yeah probably creosote build-up as everyone mentioned. Seems like a fireplace is an old thing though. In our house we use a pellet stove to heat our TV room.
 
Yeah, if you're feeling cold, just strip naked and slide around on the carpet 💡.
 
My family had a boiler when we used to live in NH. All i know is that it needed a good amount of oil but would usually not need more for a couple months or so.
 
I have seen plenty of fires in chimneys for wood burning fireplaces/stoves, but never in one connected to a central heating/furnace unit. Usually those are just releasing exhaust from burned gas.
 
Isn't creosote the stuff you use to paint wooden fences?
 
Mark T
Isn't creosote the stuff you use to paint wooden fences?
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Used to paint wooden fences - before it was banned in the UK.

Is kikie's central heating appliance a furnace? - i didn't think they were a popular choice in Europe. I don't see anywhere where someone could add fuel to it. It looks more like an oil or gas fired unit to me.
 

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