FIRE!! Small, but still a Fire

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greenacres2

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May 2, 2017
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Northwest IN
I've been stabilizing some buckeye burl lately. Had a handful (6 plus a short) that i had done a soak/cure in a nice green, and wanted to do a complete dry before doing the second dye in red (yep, getting ready for Christmas). Since i had a batch of plain in my lab oven, i took the few blanks to the garage and put them in the toaster oven overnight. Went out this morning, the oven door was open and the garage smelled of burnt wood. The Black & Decker convection oven was still purring, but the piles of ash told a story of near-disaster.

At first i thought i had left the door open last night, but looking at the char marks on the window says that the oven door was closed when the fire started. Burn patterns confirm that.

Thankfully, the garage is detached--which is why i use that toaster-oven out there. Would hate to lose the stuff--but would be worse to lose our lives. At any rate--no other damage, and i think even the toaster oven still works. Pretty sure the thermometer will as well--i'll check both in a few days...not ready tonight!!

Be careful out there!!

earl Buckeye Burnt 1.jpgBuckeye Burnt 2.jpg
 
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Dieseldoc

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Oct 28, 2017
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Livermore, Ca 94550
I've been stabilizing some buckeye burl lately. Had a handful (6 plus a short) that i had done a soak/cure in a nice green, and wanted to do a complete dry before doing the second dye in red (yep, getting ready for Christmas). Since i had a batch of plain in my lab oven, i took the few blanks to the garage and put them in the toaster oven overnight. Went out this morning, the oven door was open and the garage smelled of burnt wood. The Black & Decker convection oven was still purring, but the piles of ash told a story of near-disaster.

At first i thought i had left the door open last night, but looking at the char marks on the window says that the oven door was closed when the fire started. Burn patterns confirm that.

Thankfully, the garage is detached--which is why i use that toaster-oven out there. Would hate to lose the stuff--but would be worse to lose our lives. At any rate--no other damage, and i think even the toaster oven still works. Pretty sure the thermometer will as well--i'll check both in a few days...not ready tonight!!

Be careful out there!!

earlView attachment 220727View attachment 220728
Earl: what temp was your setting on the oven ad for how long.
I have mine set on remote temp control relay system with timer. So far not had any problem.

Happy you had little damage.

Cheers. Charlie
 

greenacres2

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May 2, 2017
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Northwest IN
Earl: what temp was your setting on the oven ad for how long.
I have mine set on remote temp control relay system with timer. So far not had any problem.

Happy you had little damage.

Cheers. Charlie

The oven dial was at about 220, which yields about 250. I normally run it through a controller, but i was only going to do about 6 hours since they'd been dried before and held in a zip-lock bag for 2 days--was just trying to dump any residual moisture they may have picked up since the first round of dye.

That is a relatively new (almost a year) convection oven--but controlling the heat is what led to the lab oven purchase. With a temp controller in place, if i set about a 2 deg range (on to off), the temp still rises about 40 deg AFTER the oven cycles off. The elements only come on for a few minutes, but the chamber temp climbs for a few minutes after they shut down.

The analog lab oven uses mass to hold a stable temp, cycles a lot less and draws half the amps. I use it almost exclusively, but i had a batch curing at a lower temp at the time.
earl
 

Woodchipper

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Mar 15, 2017
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5,138
Location
Cleveland, TN
Glad it wasn't any worse but I agree with the other John T. I don't even run the printer without being there to watch it. Invariably, if I step out, it jams or messes up somehow. I think there are gremlins in it!
 

SteveG

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Joined
Dec 21, 2009
Messages
2,985
Location
Eugene, Oregon 97404
Glad you and the shop survived...close one. Do you plan to change your monitoring procedures? I was thinking that at least, you (and me) could locate the oven in an isolated spot resting on noncombustibles. Maybe the concrete floor with nothing else close?
 

sbwertz

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Joined
May 11, 2010
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Location
Phoenix, AZ
You might try using a dehydrator instead. I've had good luck with that...I actually have a small dehydrator that I use only for blanks. Also, here in Phoenix with the summer temps above 110 degrees, putting them on a rack in my old gas grill and setting them out in the sun for a few days works too. Makes a pretty good solar kiln.
 

robutacion

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Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
I've been stabilizing some buckeye burl lately. Had a handful (6 plus a short) that i had done a soak/cure in a nice green, and wanted to do a complete dry before doing the second dye in red (yep, getting ready for Christmas). Since i had a batch of plain in my lab oven, i took the few blanks to the garage and put them in the toaster oven overnight. Went out this morning, the oven door was open and the garage smelled of burnt wood. The Black & Decker convection oven was still purring, but the piles of ash told a story of near-disaster.

At first i thought i had left the door open last night, but looking at the char marks on the window says that the oven door was closed when the fire started. Burn patterns confirm that.

Thankfully, the garage is detached--which is why i use that toaster-oven out there. Would hate to lose the stuff--but would be worse to lose our lives. At any rate--no other damage, and i think even the toaster oven still works. Pretty sure the thermometer will as well--i'll check both in a few days...not ready tonight!!

Be careful out there!!

earlView attachment 220727View attachment 220728
I went through something similar but I was nearby and use one of the fire extinguishers to kill the flames in no time but Curtis has available something that we all should have on top of our CJ curing/cooking ovens and that is this

Thankfully is not much damage, quite luck I mat say...!

Cheers
George
 

greenacres2

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Joined
May 2, 2017
Messages
1,686
Location
Northwest IN
@SteveG ...yes, definitely could have been on the concrete floor. I think we may have a stainless (old food grade) table somewhere as well. Definitely away from my Dewalt RAS!!

@robutacion ...thanks George, i'd forgotten about the AFO from Curtis. It suddenly looks like a great idea.

@sbwertz ...seems like not much hope for a solar kiln here this summer!! If it does ever get hot, the humidity will be in the 60% to 90%+ range this close to Lake Michigan!!

To the rest--thanks for the comments. Definitely a lesson learned, and hopefully one passed on to someone else as well.
earl
 

randyrls

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Joined
Feb 2, 2006
Messages
4,821
Location
Harrisburg, PA 17112
Do you have a smoke detector? I have smoke detectors that are connected wirelessly. If one goes off they all go off. I'm not sure of the range, at least 100 yds?? I recently installed a monitored security system that has smoke detectors.
 

nobdyspecial

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Joined
Feb 10, 2019
Messages
36
Location
Edmonton
For those of you who use a dehydrator rather than a toaster oven, why did you make the switch, and what are the pros and cons?
 
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