Investigating Solid Fuel-Burning Appliance Fires

An in-lab program exploring heating with solid fuels and the fires that can result.

Upcoming Dates

Tuition is $595 per person.

Register early! This class is limited to the first 45 students.

People accustomed to the minimal maintenance of gas or electric heat have forgotten (or have never known) that solid fuel heating requires maintenance and correctly installed appliances. If not, fires are likely and investigators will be called upon to make sense of the remains. To assist investigators, enter this popular Fire Findings’ in-lab class.

Course Background

The home building boom of the past few decades brought about the installation of fireplaces in thousands and thousands of homes across North America. Now, homeowners pinching every penny are pressing those appliances into service as auxiliary heat in their homes. Others are turning to pellet or wood-burning stoves to supplement central heat or replace it altogether. It’s no surprise to experts in the field that a lot of fires involving the installation and/or use of these devices has resulted.

As a participant in “Investigating Solid Fuel-Burning Appliance Fires,” you’ll see how these appliances are intended to be used and installed. We’ve installed full-size chimneys in our lab that allow us to connect to a fireplace, pellet stove and wood-burning stove to operate them in our lab classroom. You'll get to check out the displays close up and see if you can find the numerous potentially fire-causing installation issues. You’ll also learn how manufactured chimney systems, both active and passive, function.

Optional CFI test credits and CEU credits available.

Gain useful information about these topics at the
‘Investigating Solid Fuel-Burning Appliance Fires’ seminar:

Fireplace component names and functions.
Site-built vs. manufactured fireplaces.
Temperatures generated in operating solid fuel-burning appliances.
Understanding the various types of chimneys for solid fuel-burning appliances, how they work and the importance of using the correct parts in the proper places. Also, the cleaning and inspection of chimneys.
Obtaining information about manufactured fireplace installation requirements.
Direct vent fireplaces: They’re gas, not solid fuel, but we’ll share new information about why these popular appliances can cause unexpected fires.
Fire causes involving:
- Clearance to combustibles;
- Installation issues – what the installer might have done to cause a fire, whether after a first use or many years later;
- Insulation and chimney fires – a prevalent cause of fireplace and woodstove fires;
- Flaming brands and flying embers.

In addition, you’ll:

Observe fireplaces, wood-burning and pellet stoves in operation. Check the temperatures in hidden areas using our cutaway exemplar demonstrations.
Learn more about the nature and possibilities of smoldering combustion and pyrolysis.
Dissect interesting case studies that illustrate numerous fire-causing failures.
Walk through the complex operation of today’s pellet stoves.
Discover why pellet stoves are more likely to smoke up a home than burn it down. Plus, learn to understand why it happened.
And, if all goes as planned, observe an insulation fire live in our laboratory classroom.

About Your Instructors

Jack L. Sanderson, Fire Findings’ founder and Certified Fire Investigator (CFI), is a nationally known speaker on a wide variety of fire investigation topics. He investigated his first solid fuel-burning appliance fire more than 30 years ago and, in recent years, has conducted considerable laboratory testing of solid fuel-burning appliances. He’s also a former building inspector and a “burner of wood for heat.”

Nathan P. Dwyer, PE, CFI, has a unique perspective on solid-fuel appliance investigations. Since fireplaces can have nearby or include electrical supplies, he is often called on to rule in (or out) a nearby electrical service.