Wood Creosote Facts

Understanding wood burning creosote facts means fireplace safety.

Nothing is more comforting than spending an evening in front of a warm fire. What you may not know is that fire could suddenly become a serious fire hazard. Creosote is a highly flammable coating that sticks to chimney walls and wood stove pipes. This combustible substance is a common cause of fireplace fires each year. Knowing wood creosote facts can help you take the necessary steps to keeping your family safe each time you light a wood fire.

Creosote Formation

Whenever wood burns, it releases pollutants in the form of gas and particles. The build up from burning fires in your fireplace is called creosote. As the gases rise from the burning wood and begin to cool, it takes on a liquid form once the temperature falls below 250 degrees F. Once it takes on a solid, hard layer known as creosote.

Creosote is a sticky, smelly substance that coats the inside walls of your chimney or stove pipe. It is one of the top fire hazards associated with burning wood in a chimney or wood stove.

Creosote Fire Hazard

Creosote build up restricts airflow through chimneys and pipes. Once the coating becomes hardened and glazed, it's dangerously flammable. Creosote fires are frightening. Victims often recall hearing a loud roar and seeing flames shooting down from the chimney.

Chimney Components

In some cases the size and placement of your chimney, its flue, chimney liner and stove pipes can affect creosote accumulation, especially if it is an older model. Newer chimneys have chimney liners and insulation that reduce the chances of creosote build up dramatically.

Prevention

There are only two ways to make sure creosote doesn't build up in your chimney. One way is to keep the temperature all the way through the top of your chimney above 250 degrees so that the gases from the wood never get a chance to cool and become solid. If the fire is hot enough to burn away the smoke, it burns away the gas as well which means no creosote build-up.

The second way to prevent build up is by choosing the right wood. All wood has some moisture, but it's the amount of moisture in the wood that matters. The water in wood turns to steam as it burns. The steam causes the temperature in the chimney to drop, gas condenses and as a result creosote forms. Burning seasoned wood minimizes this effect.

Maintenance

You can remove some creosote by purchasing chimney brushes with long flexible handles and clean it from the bottom up. It's a very messy process, and any creosote you remove is good, but it's no substitute for an annual cleaning, inspection and maintenance performed by a professional. They even know how to get rid of the hardened, glazed accumulations you are unlikely to be able to remove on your own.

References

• Hearth.com