Can an oven flashback? after oven door closed a burning fire?

[cobblerdave]

Hi all
Can an oven flashup/flashback after a door is used to seal up an oven with a fire still burning in it?
I have been checking the forum on fire lighting and this came to mind.
One way of getting a fire to burn better when your kindling fails to catch well is to cover completly with single sheets of newspaper. The heat from the partburnt sticks remains but no oxygen can get in. Unburnt gases build up and doesn't burn properly till the heat finally puts a hole in the paper and the air rushes in. Up she goes like a bomb if you try this stand back as the paper goes up pretty fast when it finally burns.
Can this same thing happen when a fire in a WFO is cut off from the air supply by putting a door on....
Will there be a chance that the unburnt gases can ignite when the door is remove and the air rushes in?
I'll admit o being lazy and sealing the last glowing coals in with a door instead of scaping the last out.....is this an accident waiting to happen?

Regards Dave

[Laurentius]

Re: Can an oven flashback? after oven door closed a burning fire?

It will be fine if given ample time to burn out or smother itself from lack of oxygen, but if you are the curious type and no sense of time, watch out. That burning smell may be your class on fire.

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Can an oven flashback? after oven door closed a burning fire?

Yes. A prior post reported a wife's dismay at her husband's lack of eyebrows following just what you have described.

[Lburou]

Re: Can an oven flashback? after oven door closed a burning fire?

Yes, it can. A complicated explanation is here. This explanation is for firefighters, but has application in the wood fired oven environment because of the operating temperatures we create for cooking.

[Wiley]

Re: Can an oven flashback? after oven door closed a burning fire?

I first saw the newspaper trick in Ireland years ago. It was used to create draft on a traditional fireplace. The only difference from what you describe is that they spread the sheet over the whole opening and grabbed the bottom at what was the fold and pulled it up and out slightly. This allowed a limited opening and the draft really sucked the paper down tight around the edges. The blast of the in rushing air really ignited the fire, the paper heated, and in a few moments it turned brown and then really dark brown verging on black. The person then pulled the paper up and out and released it, it was instantly sucked into the fire and burst into flame, very dramatic and the fire was going well.

Bests,
Wiley

[brickie in oz]

Re: Can an oven flashback? after oven door closed a burning fire?

Ive got the old door off the old oven and its shorter than the new doorway, I put it in front of the opening when firing, it makes the fire roar... grrrrr

[david s]

Re: Can an oven flashback? after oven door closed a burning fire?

Some folk use a draft door with air inlets at the bottom, for this very purpose. There is quite a bit on it in the forum if you do a search.

[fxpose]

Re: Can an oven flashback? after oven door closed a burning fire?

How about during a moderate fire? Is there any danger in closing up the oven to completely snuff out the fire?

[brickie in oz]

Re: Can an oven flashback? after oven door closed a burning fire?

Ive closed mine off but with the flue damper in I suspect it leaks a tad so not completely closed and it just puts the fire out.

[stoveup]

Re: Can an oven flashback? after oven door closed a burning fire?

so that the blast doesn't take your eyebrows off

....or your head, eyebrows incuded.