Chimney cap clogged!!

sixman said:

I am thinking that I could get away with taking it out of the cap. It did not come with the cap but installed at the recommendation of my salesman. I have a brick home with a metal roof so the only combustable near it would be the grass in the yard. Do you guys that don't have one see actual glowing embers leaving your stack headed for the ground?

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I would loose the cap but I live in Ohio. Its nothing but snow ice and mud here till long after the burning season is over.

I've never seen embers fly out of my stacks here at home. The only chimneys I've personally seem embers fly out of is an old homemade job that's at a cabin I go to. Doesn't have any baffle plate or anything. When burning hard it can shoot embers/sparks out of the chimney with a cap on it, and even if it had screens I don't think it would slow them down. They all die within a few feet of the chimney. I don't think a 5/8" mesh would stop these.

If you need it for code don't remove it. If you have a lot of flammables around the house or whatever, keep it on and plan on cleaning the cap once in a while.

The main reason I don't run a cap is because I hate the moisture that condenses on the cap and drips on my roof.

I forgot about my hot tub. Think a spark arrester would help me?

We have the same problem when burning sweetgum. We stopped burning sweetgum and started burning oak. So far no problem. I used to have to climb up on the roof and tap the screen with my hand. The little black crispies would fall right out.