My coop burned down

[The Great Eel Man]

I finished cleaning the up rubble today, here are some images

View attachment 1205906 View attachment 1205907 View attachment 1205908 View attachment 1205909 View attachment 1205910 View attachment 1205911 View attachment 1205912 View attachment 1205913 View attachment 1205914 View attachment 1205915 now that I think about it, it's more likely that the water heater started it.

The structure just behind the wreck is what they are in right now

 

[Sunshine Flock]

We came back home at around 5 but by then the coop had already burned almost entirely to the ground, so I would guess it would have started around 3, and we had a small ventilated door on the side of the coop leading into the run so that the chickens could always get out, that's what had saved them in the end.

Thanks for posting the photos. Your flock is so lucky to have survived that fire.

Did you make the water heater yourself or did you buy it from a company? If you bought it new, I would contact the company and send them photos. I guess a fire inspector wouldn't be able to come out to your property, but with what you saved you may be able to determine the cause.

 

[theoldchick]

Truly a horrific situation.

 

[aart]

Devastating..so sorry.

 

[slukeplass22]

now that I think about it, it's more likely that the water heater started it.

What kind of water heater did you use?

 

[belindaschicks]

That looks like my water heater. It's a farm innovators water heater. I to use an extension cord to connect it with a farm connection protecter. I have my heater in a bucket. What was our set up? Hope I am not at risk.

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

So sorry about your coop and so glad your flock survived.
Heartbreaking.

 

[jthornton]

How this kind of thing happens is a device with wires that can't carry the common 20 amp circuit breaker will burn instead of tripping the breaker. Before we have to see the giant GFCI photo again this is a good information on how they work.

https://www.nema.org/Products/Documents/NEMA-GFCI-2012-Field-Representative-Presentation.pdf

A GFCI WILL NOT protect against an overload that does not short to ground! If you provided a fuse just about 20% bigger than the load in a melt down the fuse will blow. Say your heater uses 1 amp you would put a 1.5 amp fuse if you can find one on the hot side. This will blow if the heater had a melt down and did not short to ground.

JT

 

[microchick]

I'm so very sorry for your loss and so glad your birds are safe. You were very lucky. High winds could have spread the flames to other structures.

Hindsight is always wonderful but the truth of the matter is that there for the grace of God go all of us. Our coop is a converted old shed. The key word is old but it is insured as an outbuilding. Something to consider with your next coop especially if you go with a shed or permanent building.

Also, I had rambunctious bantam roosters break out a regular light in our coop. Why they decided to fly as high as the ceiling, I'll never know but it taught me a lesson. Wire cages around all light bulbs.

Good luck with your future build. Lousy time of the year to be having to build, but you have some good solid ideas to build on plus you now know how to fireproof your new coop.

 

[The Great Eel Man]

What kind of water heater did you use?

I'm so very sorry for your loss and so glad your birds are safe. You were very lucky. High winds could have spread the flames to other structures.

Hindsight is always wonderful but the truth of the matter is that there for the grace of God go all of us. Our coop is a converted old shed. The key word is old but it is insured as an outbuilding. Something to consider with your next coop especially if you go with a shed or permanent building.

Also, I had rambunctious bantam roosters break out a regular light in our coop. Why they decided to fly as high as the ceiling, I'll never know but it taught me a lesson. Wire cages around all light bulbs.

Good luck with your future build. Lousy time of the year to be having to build, but you have some good solid ideas to build on plus you now know how to fireproof your new coop.

Yeah, at the time of the fire the air was thankfully still but if it had burned down today, I probably wouldn't have a house either because it is so windy. And as for building a new coop, I think i'll just build a semi temporary structure in my garage and move the chickens in there when the weather gets super cold again (as we have a warm streak here) and then I think we'll move the garage coop out in the spring and finish it up, but it's all up in the air at this point.