[Closed] What fire extinguisher for having a logburner in the house?

Not many people know this, but a jar of diesel will put out most fires..

DrP

Ship safety course - 'don't forget, urinating on the fire while it's small may be quicker than fetching an extinguisher'. But don't stand too close.

Sorry, this isn't really helpful to you, but is useful background info.

Haha, yep thats actually mostly true.

Unless theres an out of control stove with a very hot surface temp...

For a carbonaceous fire powder, water or AFFF will all do but AFFF will have the most cooling as well as starvation of oxygen effect. Remember that when it's extinguished you should take away the fuel as soon as practicable.

hosepipe permanently connected to a tap, most wood burner fires are inside tyhe chimney

Why would your stove be out of control?

Soil or sand shovelled in should be capable of smothering it without making a mess.
Flue fire will be a lesson in sweeping.

Why would your stove be out of control?

I am not qualified to advise. I would buy a CO2 extinguisher, assuming they're available, if I wanted to replace the dry powder one in the house.

Oh, shut the baffles and let it cool down. You do have a fire blanket in your kitchen to cover the glass if it breaks, right?

Water, you are only going to be dealing with an A class fire risk (wood, paper, textiles) as classified under BSEN3 (extinguisher manufacturing standard).
Powder isnt great in confined spaces (its been written out of the current British standard in commercial premises within confined areas, cant remember the size of the area it refers to).
There's no need for CO2, plus there are inherent risks with a CO2 extinguisher that you dont need to expose yourself to - much higher operating pressure than a water extinguisher (15 bar), risk of frost burn (if you dont buy a "frost free" horn model), plus they'd cost you a lot more.
Final bit of advice, get one that has a BSI Kitemark or LPCB certification. Buying one that just has a CE mark isnt any verification of safety test or performance.

Halon if you can find it (may need to import). Otherwise water probably most effective.

Good luck buying Halon unless you're an airline with special dispensation. It was banned a long time ago.

AFFF next too mine have a villager A model low canopy and back boiler and multi fuel this one http://www.villager-stove-specialist.co.uk/multifuel-woodburning-stoves/villager-a-woodburning-stove.html and never had a fire yet the extinguisher is serviced annually as I take it into work and have it done with my workshop ones. worth having but you shouldn't need it just don't put any synthetic rugs in front as if it roars up and spits they do smolder lol.

How about a large explosive charge to put the fire out?

Not many people know this, but a jar full of large explosive charges puts most fires out.

DrP

Thanks all, some useful advice above.

Takeaways: pee on it (so drinking a few pints is for "safety" reasons), chuck diesel on it, blow it up, fill the room with halon are options... love it.

Back to earth though, Iguess I'll be going with an ABC chem / dry powder type, it's just as much for the "log fell out of the burner and set the carpet on fire" scenario as much as the chimney fire.

A question re AFFF, I thought that they were intended more for kithen type fires, or are they good general purpose as well?

The bucket of sand/soil and fire blanket idea are great - will be ensuring they're to hand!

Off shopping now..

I'd also make sure you had a carbon monoxide alarm in the room as well, very important

Water would be my suggestion. Having used a few powder and foam would be messy, CO2 is pretty hard to use well.

Fire blanket might be of use, something about blocking the fireplace if the flu is on fire?

Anyone know how effective a Co2 extinguisher would be against a chimney fire if discharged into the flue/top of the stove? Would it suffocate the fire quickly or just get sucked up in seconds followed by plenty of air to rejuvenate the flames?

Not many people know this, but a jar of diesel will put out most fires..

I know it doesn't burst into flame like petrol does, but seeing as our council arborists used to use it to burn the bark off large tree stumps, I'm not sure chucking it on burning wood is a great idea.

The blast from a CO2 jobbie could send the ashes and the bulk of the fire outwards in all directions. Or it might work. Better just to shut the dampers, Eh?

Then there's the effect of that coldness on the steel castings of the stove. Would it crack in a big way? I don't know. If you try it, I'd like to hear.

If the chimney's on fire, close the dampers, no air = no fire.

If it's an open fire then stuff wet towels up the chimney.

If the chimney's actually on fire call the fire brigade, sure they'd rather than than come out a few hours later when the rest of the house catches fire.

Some fantastic advise and comments here 🙄

How about just calling 999 and we will come out and rip your house apart FOC

Is that taxed diesel of the red stuff, Dr P?

A big red watery one in the boiler room (near the door, natch. No good having it by the fuel silo obviously...)

And mainly that's only for managing anything silly going on in the boiler furnace.

I'm not planning on trying to put out my own chimney fire, just interested if it would work or not 🙂

Closing the air down won't normally put the fire out as modern stoves normally have some sort of permanent vent the user can't close don't they...to ensure good emissions. I think mine either won't allow the top vent to be completely sealed, or has a permanent vent top rear.

Just sweep the chimney regularly and don't get it stoked up to volcanic level. What scenario do you envisage that will result in a house fire? A quick look at the statistics I made up and the dishwasher, tumble dryer, phone charger are more likely to incinerate your house..

Thanks all, some good advice. It tallies witht the searching around I'd done before posting up on here.

Research (OK, googling) suggested that chemical / powder is most effective all-round, albeit can me messy when used (mess would be the least of my concerns is something in the house is on fire which should not be!)

If the fire is actually IN the burner / chimmney then as suggested shutting off air is the main priority. In this case water would just turn to steam, creating a whole new problem (not it's on fire AND you can't see plus there's scalding steam everywhere). Opening the doors in that case is a no-no as it just lets more air in.

Water would be good for the" a log fell on the carpet" scenario, but limited for other things.

Chem / Powder it is.

Chimmney sweeping and not running the fire too low / on unseasoned wood should reduce the risk of a chimney fire - chimney sweep coming next week!

Either all the above in combination, or chuck Diesel on it.

What Diesel to make the logburner come alive ?

brickwizard - Member
I'd also make sure you had a carbon monoxide alarm in the room as well, very important

A Norwich City fan confined to a small cage?

DrP - Member
Not many people know this, but a jar full of large explosive charges puts most fires out.

DrP

Probably the best bit of advice so far. I mean, if you no longer have a house you no longer need to worry about trifles like small fires right? Simples...

DONT BUY POWDER

Having released one in a confined space you go from a position where there is smoke and you cannot see to a situation where there is powder and you cannot see. Personally we would have been better just leaving than releasing it as it was also hard to breathe.

As what you will be attacking is a fire in a place for fire fire a bucket of water or soil or sand thrown on it will do just as well with no mess - water will create tons of steam and may crack the fire so I would avoid it personally. If i had to buy one I would use CO2 personally as it will put the fire out and not make a mess and you may even be able to fire it in a vent rather than open the fire.

I also think you are overworrying a bit and the chances of you having an out of control fire - assuming it has easily controllable vents is very low

DONT BUY POWDER

I used t live in a village with only solid fuel for heating. Everyone had a bowl of salt to throw on the fire if the chimney went up. Never tried it myself but did fall for having the salt next to the fire.

There would be 2 or 3 full chimney fires a year that I can remember, none resulted in the houses being burnt down.

CO2 would be completely ineffective on this type of fire, it doesn't cool the fire or dampen it down and the moment the extinguisher runs out, the oxygen would rush back in & you're back to square one.

DONT BUY POWDER

*removes £10 note from nose, looks around sheepishly*

Recently had a runaway wood burner we had purchased the stove with the house my other half was last to bed put two logs on and turned the control the wrong way , the fire boys came with a longish handled small shovel and steel buckets they removed the fire from the stove to out side
it was really scary as in the dark we could see the single wall flue glowing and sparks appearing around the joist box where the flue goes through the floor we had a professional inspect it and build a new flue and hot box in the floor space ,I think the firemen are used to this here and there first action was to get the fuel out of the fire.

even more reason not to be slumbering your stove.

stupid idea anyway - yet people still pride them selves on getting an "all night burn"

Im not sure id be going near a stove with an extinguisher anyway.

Someone once told me that diesel will put out a fire - stupidly I believed them and chucked a bucket full onto a small fire in the garden....luckily I only lost my eye brows..

LOL at using Google as a base for information 😆

I'm a Fire Fighter and can confirm Dry Powder would be a bad idea as you will make one hell of a mess. Think about shaking a bottle of talc about then x100. Co2 also a bad idea. Neither do a very good job of cooling the fire so you run the risk of re-ignition.

Foam.... Would work but will make a mess and is over kill for your intended use.

Get a small water extinguisher (Or keep a bucket nearby), the end. It will cause the least mess and do what you need it to. If a small water extinguisher can't put out the fire then you need to be ringing us, not tackling it yourself.

https://www.northyorksfire.gov.uk/communitysafety/home-safety/chimey_fires

http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/chimney-fires.html

Infact - in what not to use water or salt features highly .....

even more reason not to be slumbering your stove.

stupid idea anyway - yet people still pride them selves on getting an "all night burn"

🙂

And he's off again...

Edit : I should add that I've done exactly that with the same stove for almost twenty years and it's fine.

doesnt mean its A. good B. advisable or C. good for the air quality around you .

But im ok jack.

" Do not slow / slumber burn. Do not “turn the stove down for the night”. There should be good visible flames in the firebox. Some stove users fill their stoves with wood and shut the air vent fully, immediately prior to retiring for the night, in order to keep the woodstove burning all night. This allows the stove to be rekindled in the morning simply by adding more fuel and opening up the air vents. However, this practice should be avoided at all costs – although the burn rate is reduced to such a level that the fire is still burning the following day. Instead of burning the wood to produce mainly carbon dioxide, water and heat, the process is reduced to conversion of the wood into heavy, tarry chemicals which are subsequently deposited on the insides of the flue or chimney. This is a very inefficient process – releasing only a small fraction of the available heat, and causes severe tarring of the flue/chimney which greatly increases the risks of chimney fire, and makes sweeping the chimney necessary more often."

Ive grown up with parents/grandparents that did the same thing for years.

How ever if we always do the same thing we will always get the same results.... a nice smoggy mess. Gives stove users a bad name.

[quote> https://www.northyorksfire.gov.uk/communitysafety/home-safety/chimey_fires

Infact - in what not to use water or salt features highly .....

As in don't go chucking buckets of water over the fire. The OP mentioned dealing with logs/embers that fall out on to the carpet. For this small amounts of water are the answer.

If the chimney is on fire call the Fire Service out. We will then put water on it.

Now I speak from a position of experience here, having a house heated entirely by wood and a wife who is determined to burn the place down one day. Now for what it is worth I would definitely recommend a dry powder extinguisher, to be kept for emergencies. They WILL kill any fire but at the expense of a hell of a mess. But at least your house will be saved. And it is no use relying on the fire brigade if you live out in the sticks.

"If the chimney is on fire call the Fire Service out. We will then put water on it."

your trained too.... difference is bob sees that you stick water on it and he tries to too- the result - most of his livingrooms now on fire as the fires no longer in the fire box.....

Yeah, that's me - giving stove users a bad name.

Not many close enough to get affected by my stove.

But the real issue isn't slumbering, it's the moisture content in the fuel that causes coking issues. Sure, with dry wood you'll get a small amount of soot building up but it'll burn off when you open it up again.

I do wish you'd stop being so evangelical about this particular subject - you're almost matching Northwind's tale of Chris King headsets... 😉

lol.... just providing a service, hopefully stop a few chimney fires and stop giving the government reasons to clamp down on stove users because of the number of respiritory problems in high use areas....

TBH, I think the misunderstanding here is you envisage night burns as a shut down that slumbers but I see it as a slow burn that still has a flame and doesn't smoke too much when compared to a full-on roar.

I'd probably freeze to death in the winter months if I didn't burn overnight - it's my only heating source.

Edit : A good night burn is all about the quality of wood and the way you stack it in the stove.

i dont think your slumbering.... if theres flames its not slumbering its just a low burn.

What i mean is when the stoves shut in and theres just lightly glowing embers all night.... which with most domestic sized (4-5kw) stoves is the only way your going to get an all night burn with the size of firebox they have.

If its your only source of heating you probably also have a back boiler and a fairly decent size of fire box that can take enough fuel to have a propper slow burn with flames.

difference is bob sees that you stick water on it and he tries to too- the result - most of his livingrooms now on fire as the fires no longer in the fire box.....

Then he should read the rest of what I said. 😉

One of the big problems with log burners is that the wood gives off sap that coats the flue. This can then set on fire if not cleaned out every year. Much worse then the products of burning coal. Saying all that, I've been in the job 16 years and have been to loads of chimney fires but very few that have not been dealt with easily. The key is to get us out ASAP.

if theres flames its not slumbering

In which case I definitely don't slumber.

And yeah, mines about a 6 or 7kw IIRC. However, my partner has a little stove, about 4-5kw and I'm quite impressed with it TBH as it will do a good overnight burn without too much trouble - around twelve hours. The glass is cleaner than mine.

Anyway, glad we resolved the terminology issue. 🙂

What teasel and I definitely slumber( I assume that is what i do) it over night so it depends on what the definition is

I tend to do two things

1) Put on wood, get proper flames then cover with ash - is that slumbering?

2) Use those coal briquettes things that burn slowly overnight

For both methods I dont alter the vents

Its the only heat source I use so that it does need to not to have shut down over night

Kerwality posts on here keep it up lads.

I would fit a full domestic sprinkler system to be on the safe side if it concerns you that much.

I work in the engineering industry, and for an automotive sized test cell there would usually be an inert gas "dump" system (used to be, but is no longer halon) - great for putting out fires with no damage. Maybe one of those would work.

The only problem is they suffocate anyone in the room at the time - still at least the fire would be out !

nuke it from orbit.

it wouldnt be out ..... but at least there would be no worrys about the stove burning your house down.