How Safe is a Mobile Home Fireplace?

A lot depends on the age, and construction, of the mobile home, but this would scare the daylights out of me. Older mobile homes used to run about three minutes from first flame to collapse. Newer models have been significantly improved with regard to flammability, but...

I'd ask two people who will really know: your local fire chief; and your homeowners insurance guy.

The State Board of Fire Underwriters has a guy in your neighborhood AKA the electrical inspector. The Fire Chief or the Building Code Enforcement Dept. should be able to give you the heads up there.

You're right about flame spread in the older trailers. Scary!

In my parts they wont even insure mobile homes with fireplaces any more. The few companies that do make sure your annual insurance premium costs more than any savings you would ever get from burning wood.

I have a boiler system in my shop and I pump hot water over to my house and just use a heat exchanger I put under the furnace.

My heat bill is under $30 a month and my insurance is dirt cheap!

External fireplaces/boilers are about the only way you will get by with burning solid fuels any more without outrageous insurance rates.

The Mobile Home is a 1998 Oakwood.

The fireplace inserts installed in this class of dwelling were acceptable for man-made logs and with care hardwood fires also.

Take care and consider an inspection by "Service-Master" they are very useful in this matter.

We had them here for years. Some ran on coal . a few on wood. you had to keep the fire going strong or you would run out of steam and the whole train would stop.

My Mobile has a wood burning fireplace. Have the fireplace inspected. Look under Chimney Sweeps. Most qualified sweeps can inspect your fireplace and tell you if there are any safety issues. While your at it have them sweep the chimney.

Which reminds me I need to make this call myself. That or I need the buy the brushes and sweep it myself. Think I'll do it the lazy way and hire someone.

Back when I exercised my carpentry skills I installed an airtight wood burning fireplace in a mobile home for some friends. The following year their mobile home burnt to the ground. You can imagine how I felt when the fire chief said it was caused by the fireplace. The woman of the house then said she fell asleep in an arm chair in front of the fireplace, but left the fireplace doors open and a spark popped out and ignited the fabric of the chair. She awoke when her hand got burnt. Fortunately no one else got hurt and fortunately for me it had nothing to do with the installation.

When I was living in a northern Canadian oil town where 70% of the dwellings were mobile homes and there was an endless supply of timber. Open fireplaces made it difficult to get insurance and were considered unsafe. So we would add a covered porch where we would install air tight wood burning furnaces with insulated chimneys. We would heat the entire mobile home using fans to move the air around. This was very safe and was the only way we could get insurance on the mobile home when using wood to heat. Cleaning the chimney often was needed as when you turn the combustion air down, allot of creosote is created that plugs the chimney that can lead to stack fires.

If you have a stack fire it will sound like a train is on the roof. To put is out you simple close the makeup air completely. You can buy something that looks like a road flare to through into the combustion chamber that would consume the oxygen and put the stack fire out, but I never used them.

As long as you follow common sense, check for chimney obstructions,any fuel should be ok. Also your local fireplace store can advise you on local codes

There are also a few of them which are closed and they can be very safe.

Haard

I have lived in mobile homes with wood burning fireplaces since i was 16 and i am now almost 40. They are perfectly safe as long as ypu make sure thwy are clean and the chimney is clear of obstructions. You do not , however, want to build a huge fire in one. Keep a low, steady fir3 and make sure tje blower is on at all times when you have a fire going. This keeps circulates air around the fireplace inside the wall and keeps the wall cool. I am not sure about insurance in ypur area, but in sc i have never had an issue getting insurance on mine. Also make sure you keep the screen closed to prevent any sparks from popping out or wood from falling out. And i would recommend a hearth rug in front of the fireplace just to be on the safe side. They are not fire proof but are fire retardent. So if anything does get out you at least habe some additional protection

I have a 98 model double wide in Maine that came with wood burning fire place, my insurance is only $50 every 4 months.