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offshoredrilling · 04-16-2010, 05:34 PM

2 am friday morning get out of work.
2:20 am get cash from atm for bills and fun, gas up truck.
2:30am thick black smoke covering area around my home. Fire trucks and cop cars looking for fire. I get in my driveway it is coming from chimney of my home. So thick I can not see if from fireplace side or boiler side. I do not put truck in garage. Hell I can not even see it. Leaving all on but the motor. Grab keys, cell, maglight from truck. Rush into house to upstairs to wake others in the house. Stop before I wake anyone. No smoke in house at all. Check every room and attic, nope. Go back outside Fire trucks and LE still looking for a fire. The smoke from my chimney still coming and drops to the ground. Flash light to basement window no smoke. Go in basement look in draft damper. Smoke racing from boiler up the stack.
2:45am turn power off to boiler. Turn on hot water in basement just a bit. After water done nothing but steam.
3:45 water starts coming out of open tap in basement.
4:00 smoke outside clears up fireman and LE give up looking for a fire.
the fire in boiler going slowly out. Call Agway/Suburan oil.
5:00 sure all is well go to bed, no heat or hot water.
7:30 get up have coffee
8:30 leave home
9:00 get teeth cleaned
10:45 met oil man at home

a squirrel fell down the chimney. Rather than out the damper. Went down the flue and down in to the boiler. Pushing all the soot down. Sparker in blower not working right from the soot. Blower/oil flow/sparker/hot water flow for heat/reset control not working right also. Oil soot fire starts. Thank god I do not have oil forced air. None of the smell got in the house. All went up the stack. Boiler ok after cleaning and new control unit. On contract no charge.

brutusbluto · 04-16-2010, 06:24 PM

Wow, now thats something else. Nothing like smoke coming from your house to raise the heartbeats significantly. Glad everything worked out without major damage that cost you tons of cash and the loss of loved ones.

jackfengshui · 04-16-2010, 06:33 PM

Quite a story - with happy ending.

offshoredrilling · 04-16-2010, 07:04 PM

Neighbor asked me what I was going to do about the smell in the neighhood. Told me he called for fire somewhere in the neighhood. I said what fire. He points to all the soot on my blue slate roof. As the rain is washing the roof. Call back they never found a fire. The smell will be gone in a few days. And smells better than the skunk living under your shed.

I think now he may be a bit upset with me.lol