Video I made - attempting to light creosote on fire

[murinsky]

In the "Creosote fire!" thread (https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/creosote-fire.118908/) I mentioned I was going to find some creosote and try to set it on fire. That thread kind of took off in another direction so I thought I'd start a new thread with the video. I don't really have any real creosote to speak of in my flue, but my chimney cap has never been cleaned in my 2.5 seasons of burning every day. So below is the link to the video I posted of me trying to get it to really light off.

In the video I take a grill lighter and a propane torch directly to some gnarly, sticky, shiny creosote.

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A few caveats and disclaimers:

-This in NO WAY simulates the conditions of a chimney fire. No one should draw any conclusions from this regarding their own safety or situation! This is mostly for curiosity.
-If you don't like my rambling narration or breathing feel free to mute.
-I am holding my camera (iphone) and a propane torch at the same time, sorry it is not oscar worthy.
-Don't try this at home. Enjoy!

 

[BrotherBart]

What you are missing is all of it being hot. And draft.

I set mine off with a a pile of cardboard in the fireplace to clean it out for the liner install. A practice I do not recommend if you like having a house to live in.

 

[murinsky]

Yeah, as soon as I started it because obvious this and a real flue are different animals. I can see why. Anyway, hopefully somebody finds it interesting. If it's too off topic the mods should feel free to delete it.

 

[pen]

The thing to consider is not whether creosote will burn, but whether it will burn with an intensity that may cause a problem.

The next problem is the number of variables involved is immense.

The best thing from the video you mentioned is the "expansion." That is something to look for in one's own deposits that is a tell tale sign of things that have taken off in the past.

 

[pen]

Yeah, as soon as I started it because obvious this and a real flue are different animals. I can see why. Anyway, hopefully somebody finds it interesting. If it's too off topic the mods should feel free to delete it.

Not at all! It's tough to get uranium to do anything also, unless it is in the right situation!

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah that thin layer filled the whole thing with "popcorn" and ash after the hell breaking loose settled down. Not something you want happening in your chimney. On purpose or accidentally.

I had the advantage of knowing what happens in that flue due to previous chimney fires. And knowing that this time, since the fireplace was wide open, that tons of air would be pulled into it to exhaust the heat rather than trashing the tiles and the house connected to the chimney. I hoped.

Never, ever do this.

 

[murinsky]

Yeah, this seemed pretty tame...until thinking about this happening on a spectacular scale inside a giant, already hot, draft-inducing tunnel with...what...100? 200? square feet of surface area...with the sides facing and feeding off each other just like logs in the stove...and it becomes pretty scary! Better go check that flue temp! Anyway thanks for watching.

 

[pen]

Yeah, this seemed pretty tame...until thinking about this happening on a spectacular scale inside a giant, already hot, draft-inducing tunnel with...what...100? 200? square feet of surface area...with the sides facing and feeding off each other just like logs in the stove...and it becomes pretty scary! Better go check that flue temp! Anyway thanks for watching.

Exactly. If your torch got some action off that stuff, the perfect storm of a chimney, doing what it does,,,,,, having that stuff go to town isn't that hard to conceive.

The next concern is even if the chimney itself could handle a fire, what about the flaming bits that leave the chimney? Could they catch the roof on fire? Could they catch a pile of leaves next to the foundation of your own home, or in close quarters the neighbors house on fire?

The stuff has energy. If left in the chimney, what it can or will do in a worst case scenario is the concern.

Thanks for sharing.

pen