Stove - pipe fire

dooby

This morning when we went to light the stove - using coal - once we got it going we filled the stove about a quarter to a third full and opened up the slider to full to get a really hot fire, we were going to let this burn like this for about 15 to 20 minutes and then turn it down to just over halfway.

It'd only been going for about 5 minutes when we heard a funny crackling noise coming from the chimney, and when we stuck our heads up the hole bit to have a look, where the stove pipe goes through the metal plate we could see a gap and in that gap we could see bright red embers and some flames.

We turned the fire down right away to starve it of oxygen and the 'fire' around the pipe subsided.

We only had this stove fitted about 5 to six weeks ago - it was fitted by a HETA (sp) installer and through a fireplace company. We have our chimney lined with a flue.

What do you think could be causing this to happen?

I have rang the fire company and they have rang the installer and he said he would take a look. I don't want him to turn up and try and bull me - what with being a woman this can still happen in this day and age.

We have had a think and cannot think that we could have done anything wrong - and therefore ruined our guarantee. We have lit fires using mainly coal/smokeless fuel. The small ratio of wood we have burnt hasn't been wet or green or fresh and we haven't been battering it for long periods of time. We haven't knocked the stove or the pipe and haven't done any work near it.

I can't even understand why I could see flames there when the pipe is meant to be attached to the flue that goes up the chimney - the heat expert said on the phone that it could not have come apart.

dooby

I know the answer to this now. The sealant used around the stove pipe where it meats the flue wasn't fire/heat proof. It had dried out, got hot and then set on fire.

Anyways, it's been sorted now. But what sort of fool doesn't use heat proof sealant on a stove pipe.