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Found out coal soot buildup is way more flammable than I thought
I was reading an old NFPA 211 manual from 2019 last week and it said creosote from coal fires can ignite at just 300 degrees. I always figured wood soot was the dangerous stuff but coal deposits actually burn hotter and faster. Been sweeping for 8 years and never knew that stat... makes me want to double-check my own chimney at home tonight. Has anyone else seen a coal chimney fire up close?
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the_wendy1mo ago
That stat about 300 degrees is wild. My buddy actually had a coal chimney fire last winter. He said the whole thing sounded like a freight train coming down the pipe and the soot was glowing red like a blast furnace. Took the fire department forever to put it out because you can't just spray water on coal fires without making it worse.
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ellioth371mo ago
How long did they keep dumping sand on it before it was out... cause I've heard you basically have to smother coal fires, not cool them down. @vera_robinson36 always makes a fair point about the chimney build quality, but I wonder if the real problem is those older flues that were never meant for coal. My granddad's place had a clay liner that just crumbled after one bad fire.
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vera_robinson361mo ago
Nah, I gotta push back on that a little. 300 degrees sounds scary but a well built chimney with clean flue tiles can handle way more than that without any trouble. If the chimney was installed right and maintained, a coal fire like that is still a big deal but it's not automatically a disaster.
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Honestly, @vera_robinson36 makes a solid point about a clean chimney handling heat better, but that coal soot buildup is a whole different beast. Tbh, once it lights off, the heat spikes so fast it can crack the flue tiles before your brain even registers the noise. Ngl, I've heard stories of those fires melting the mortar between the bricks, which is something wood fires rarely do.
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