Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011
Subject: Fire
From: Marcus Flynn <pyromasse(at)gmail.com>


    A Close Shave With The God of Hell Fire.

   After the construction and curing of a stove I take the time to sit
down with the clients in front of a large fire, and talk them through
the process from start to finish. During this time I explain the
various dos and dont's regarding efficiency and safety. An important
warning is: Not to stack wood against the stove, particularly over
access doors, and not to pre-load the fire box hours before lighting a
fire. The reasons for this are obvious. However many operators take no
head of this warning.
   Last night a client who has lived with his stove for five years
called to relate a disturbing event. He had pre loaded his stove about
2 hours after the last fire, and left the house for work. When he came
home his house door had been removed and the house was full of smoke
and fire men. The wood load had ignited, and as the damper was closed,
smoke spilled throughout the whole house. The fire men could not
understand why it was smoking so much, but that there was no smoke
coming out of the chimney. They removed the wood load and shot
extinguishing powder into the fire box, ash box door,  all the access
doors and down the chimney.
  The house did not set on fire, but it apparently smells bad, and the
ceilings are black.

   I reminded the client that he had been warned not to do this: His
reply was "We do it all the time and its never a problem".

Marcus Flynn