Chimney Fire/Chimney Burnout

The following link will lead you to an utterly FABULOUS technical research report detailing absolutely everything you would ever hope to find out.....about chimney fires.
 
PDF......runs to 140 pages.....very thoroughly done.
 
Important subject....if you have a fireplace or any kind of wood-burning stove
 
http://www.fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/fire83/PDF/f83003.pdf
 
Judd

  It's cheap insurance to get chimney professionally cleaned each year, which we do.  Our fire place guy makes necessary adjustment to the doors installed if needed, and repacks the thin strips of insulation around it when needed each visit.

Troy......that's one of the few areas that the paper leaves blank.

From what I've seen and been told, depositions of creosote form in two ways.
1) to a clean or recently cleaned surface....as a rough-surfaced sheen
2) then subsequent buildup forms like "hoar frost"...a hairy air-filled tangle (which is easily ignited).

When the chimney is "cleaned"....the part of the deposit removed is only the phase-two part, leaving the phase-one deposit.

So the delimma that's been posed to me, is that yes, while a chimney cleaning will remove the easily ignitable portion of the deposit and make your chimney VERY unlikely to burn out......that over time the deposit continues to build in thickness and if you ever do have a burnout, it will be a whopper. 

In short....some have recommended deliberate burnouts.

The paper is utterly silent about this notion.
Have you heard anyhing?

Judd

 No, but I have seen thoes " "hoar frost"...a hairy air-filled tangle things," I think.  I've looked up the flew a few times before cleaning to check on the soot build up, (To see when to clean) and up past the damper, I've seen hairy looking soot.  Like black cob webs, of sort.  It's all gone after the scrubbing though.

In short....some have recommended deliberate burnouts.

Simple answer:  Unless you have a metal roof and totally combustion-free surroundings, this would be practically suicidal!

Yearly cleanings are very effective if you burn a lot of fires, less than once a year if only occasional use. My grandparents lived in the Trinity mountains for years and burned a lot of wood. They had a chimney fire once and it was terrifying - flaming balls of fire rolling down the roof accompanied by a loud roar (their roof was metal due to the snow). Yearly cleanings after that & no problems - it's a time-tested remedy.

Being that I work for the Red Cross and their major disaster response goes to single family house fires, we encourage people to please get your chimney cleaned professionally once a year   In my opinion, better safe than sorry!