Fire safety of wood-burining appliances, Part 1. Volume II. State of the art review and fire tests

Technical Report · Sat Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:6394172

Peacock, R D; Ruiz, E; Torres-Pereira, R

A program is underway to investigate the fire safety of wood-burning appliances used for space heating in single-family dwellings and similar small-scale applications. This report details the results of fire tests performed on a number of wood-burning appliances. The tests were conducted to establish typical operating conditions including temperatures on the appliances, chimneys, and adjacent wall and floor surfaces. Several generic types of appliances were included to exemplify those available in the market. A total of 28 tests were conducted. In these tests, a total of more than one-half million individual readings of temperature, heat flux, or velocity were obtained. Two series of tests were conducted: full-scale room experiments where measurements of appliance temperature and surrounding surface temperature were obtained using a standard wood brand as fuel, and log tests, where seasoned oak logs were used as a fuel source to compare with a standard wood brand fuel source. Appliance firebox surface temperatures measured during steady-state operation were very similar for all five appliances tested. No correlation was found between appliance surface temperature and clearance between the appliance and wall surfaces. The temperature of the lightweight single wall flue pipe used for testing was more greatly affected by the clearance between the pipe and wall surface, an effect not noted for the appliance surface temperature measurements. Due to the small clearances between appliances and flooring, temperatures developed on unprotected floor surfaces were typically higher than wall temperatures during the tests. Wall surface temperatures and interior wall studding temperatures were considerably higher during tests with wall insulation or with a front wall than without.

• Research Organization: National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC (USA). Center for Fire Research; National Engineering Lab. (NBS), Washington, DC (USA); Department of Commerce, Washington, DC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AI01-76PR06010
• OSTI ID: 6394172
• Report Number(s): NBSIR-80-2140
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
APPLIANCES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
DATA
DESIGN
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FIRES
INFORMATION
MONITORING
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDATION
SAFETY
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
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THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
WOOD
WOOD BURNING APPLIANCES