Is there a higher risk of chimney fire if

[Chuck the Canuck]

a person is building top down fires? I've just recently been experimenting with the top down fires, and having good success I might add, but I'm getting a bit nervous of building this fires this way.

For instance, I put nice large splits on the bottom of the stove (usually 3), maybe 4 medium splits for the next layer, followed by 4 or 5 smaller splits on the top layer. After that I layer 10 or 12 pieces of finely split dry red cedar kindling and then some 4 or 5 newspaper bowties on top, light 'er up... and here's the problem, I open the bypass for a few minutes to get the flue heated up nice and warm, but with all the snappin and cracklin going on, mixed with the newspaper burning up top, I'm gettin kind of nervous that some sparks or whatnot is gonna float right up into the flue and then boy oh boy, that flue she's gonna be getting one heck of a lot warmer than I ever planned for..... Needless to say that I don't generally manage to leave the bypass damper open very long (due to mental fatigue).

Extra background, I just cleaned the flue back in September, and there was a minimal amount of soot brushed out during that operation.

Cheers

 

[Sconnie Burner]

With a clean flue, dry wood, and good burning practices to prevent creosote build up, it should be a non-issue. The top down fire actually warms everything up faster to prevent creosote. If you had a relatively clean chimney from last year I would say no worries. Maybe try a little less kindling on top. If your wood is dry you shouldn't need much.

 

[Grisu]

Top-down fires are good in consuming the smoke generated during the startup. With less smoke you will get less creosote and therefore you actually reduce the risk of chimney fires. However, it certainly does not hurt to clean the flue before starting with top downs.

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

Well I think I'm all set as far as a nice clean flue and dry wood, so I guess I don't need to worry about it. I guess it's only really an issue for short period of time until I'm burning 24/7 steady, then the top down fire isn't so necessary, as the wood takes off pretty much as soon as it's set on the coals... Thanks.

 

[Wood Duck]

What makes you think that your flue would catch fire? I try to keep my flue clean at a degree of dirtiness such that it won't ignite, and it sounds like yours is too. If the only reason your flue isn't catching fire is because a spark hasn't reached it, then you'd have a problem, You don't have that problem. All you have is a little soot, not flammable creosote.

 

[jeff_t]

Any creosote in your flue isn't going to be touched off by a few sparks. It doesn't ignite that easily.

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

Thanks Wood Duck & Jeff. I know yer'all correct... I guess it just got into my head and made me a little paranoid when I saw the kindling start snappin and cracklin and sending off mini A-bomb bursts of sparks right up close to where I have the bypass damper wide open. I just need to stop over-thinikin it sometimes and sit back and relax....

 

[Nick Mystic]

Actually, I think you're correct in the assumption that the fire starting process you described is more likely to lite off a chimney fire than a bottom up start up, if you have creosote in your flue. Since we don't inspect our flues before every fire there are likely to be some occasions when there could be creosote present that we aren't aware of. However, as others have said, the top down fire starting system is likely to burn cleaner and minimize creosote build up better than the bottom up system. In your description, again as others mentioned, I would cut down on the amount of kindling and definitely use less newspaper. Five pieces of knotted up paper sounds like it is excessive to me. I don't use any newspaper, just a couple small pieces of waxed cardboard (1"x4"). The flaming ash shooting right up the flue is going to be the culprit if you have some loose creosote sitting in a bend of the flue down near the stove, in my experience.

 

[firefighterjake]

With a clean flue, dry wood, and good burning practices to prevent creosote build up, it should be a non-issue. The top down fire actually warms everything up faster to prevent creosote. If you had a relatively clean chimney from last year I would say no worries. Maybe try a little less kindling on top. If your wood is dry you shouldn't need much.

See answer above . . . non-issue.