Close Call...

The other night I started up a good wood fire in my Romax stove which has this removeable baffle where the fire box transitions into the stove pipe. This baffle sometimes falls out and into the firebox as was the case the other night. I can usually risk catching my arm on fire and kind of knock it back in, but this night I had just gotten a whole load of bit going real good so risking it wasnt an option . Over the next hour the fire nearly died out because I had it damped down too much because the thermometer was reading way too high because the flames were all in the stove pipe, so I had to crack the door to get the fire going good again. Well it was late and I fell asleep with the door open and over the next three hours that entire load burned right up and my stove pipe was a light grey and bit dusty. The shades on the window closest to the stove were drooping where they were even with the dampner . My question is, is the stove pipe still ok to use or since it got so hot it might not be structurally sound now? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I can't believe I'm sharing this with everyone but here it goes... Growing up, my parents and I lived in an old farm house. So bad that when you looked in the knot holes of the clapboard siding, you could see the back of the tounge and groove pine that was in the living room. Single pane windows w/ no storms. Just reminding everyone that we are central NY. Anyway, the house had a really nice fieldstone fireplace and a wide, block chimney with another flu for the old fuel oil furnace we never used. Dad had bricked in the fireplace and inserted a thimble, and built the stone hearth out to put a woodstove on it. We used a square Shenandoah woodstove that vented out the side, and once a month, Dad would send me outside at night to "watch for anything hot landing on the roof." He would have that stove so hot, trying to burn anything out of that chimney, there would be a faint, blue flame shooting out the top, the sides of the stove would be a little red (and eventually very warped), and the section of pipe going into the thimble would be bright orange. I don't ever remember him replacing it. Now if I was you, it probably wouldn't hurt to replace it to make you feel a little more at ease. I'm sure it's fine but for what the pipe costs, I certainly would.

valley trash wrote:The shades on the window closest to the stove were drooping where they were even with the dampner .

YIKES!!
Why does the baffle fall down? Sounds like you need to weld a bracket or whatever it takes to keep that from happening again. I think the stovepipe is fine but I would take the pipe out and inspect everything anyway but...I wouldn't fire the stove again til the baffle is secured.
How far away are the window shades from the stovepipe?

I'll add to that the scariest thing to someone who has not yet burned coal is the fact it can melt your stove if things go wrong, and I have read enough of that..

The shades are a little under 2 ft away from the stove pipe

The recommended clearance for single wall stovepipe is 18 inches from combustibles so you should be fine....thanks for sharing your "close call", I'm sure this kind of thing happens a lot more but few would admit it.

Here are some pics of my setup, its kind of a work in progress. Ive still got to put the inlet pipe through the wall and finish putting more tile down. Maybe next year ill make a bigger hole through the roof and switch over to 8 in. The middle piece of stove pipe is a different color because it was purchased at different store.

My miniature Chernobyl



The baffle. If I could bend one of these arms out just a little bit further it would be fine but hulk doesnt live here so...



Heres the firebox.



This is where the baffle fits in from the fire box. I usually get two arms of the baffle in then use a hammer to pop it up in there. Before this incident I had the baffle twisted to where it was kind of wedged in and held for quite a while.



Does anything here seem really out of place that I should know about or maybe I have setup wrong? I can provide more in depth pics if need be. I really appreciate the feedback from you guys.

WoW! You sure had one hot supper. You might have even been a bit lucky....a few more degrees for a few more minutes and your life could have depended on your smoke detectors.

That baffle....odd little thing.... I can not imagine that it is supposed to be installed from the inside. There's no way to make it not "ready to fall out". I'm thinking that all three legs should be bent outward, and that it be installed from outside the stove. That way there would be no way it could fall in. Measure it and measure the outlet hole....will it fit from the stove pipe side? If it will not, I'd be thinking about redesigning it so somehow it bolted in, or had a clasp of some sort. You just can't leave it living on the edge.

valley trash wrote: Over the next hour the fire nearly died out because I had it damped down too much because the thermometer was reading way too high because the flames were all in the stove pipe, so I had to crack the door to get the fire going good again. Well it was late and I fell asleep with the door open and over the next three hours that entire load burned right up and my stove pipe was a light grey and bit dusty.

I've never fallen asleep with the door open but I have walked away and got focused on something else. Heck, I've even left the house and had to come back or call my kids to make sure I'd closed the door. Thank God, I never actually left it open and left but I didn't know for sure. I solved that problem by always (and I mean always) setting a timer and carrying it with me if the door is open. I have one on a string that I put around my neck. That $5 expenditure has saved my stove from overfiring on numerous occasions. I'm glad things didn't go worse for you. I'm not as mechanically inclined as some of the guys on the forum but is there a way to weld that baffle inside? I know I'd be nervous sleeping with that just hanging around. Good luck, Lisa

I don't know about the stove pipe but from your picture, it looks like the stove is too close to the wood walls. Those blocks don't mitigate the heat to the wood. Radiant stoves generally require 36" clearance to combustibles. That can be reduced to 18" with a properly installed heat shield. At minimum, I'd pull tose blocks out a couple inches from the wood and put them up off of the floor with some kind of spacers so that air can flow under and behind them.

Hulk lives in the head of a 3lb sledge hammer......whoops that Thor!!! ok he will work.

Yeah, *censored* happens ...

Notice the color difference in this stainless pipe? That's because it hit 900° after I forgot & left the ash door open! Turned a shade of bronze ...

The baffle is supposed to be put in from the stove pipe side but when they made it they must have gone a hair too small. Id hate to have to take the stove pipe off, it is a major pain in the a$$ When this puppy gets up and running itll run you outta the house it works so good. Locally made too.