Discovered creosote buildup can actually explode if it hits the right temperature

I was reading through the NFPA 211 standards last night and saw a stat that a 1/4 inch of creosote can cause a chimney fire hot enough to warp steel liners, has anyone else run into that kind of damage on a job?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer_bell12d ago

Ngl, if my chimney gets that hot I'm just moving out and letting the fire department handle the whole block.

wade43812d ago

Wait, wait, hold on - are you telling me a quarter inch of that stuff turning steel into melted butter? That's actually insane. I knew creosote was bad news but I thought it was more of a slow poison for your chimney, not something that can literally warp the metal liner like it's tinfoil. So the real danger isn't just the fire itself but the heat being so extreme it physically destroys the whole chimney structure? That honestly scares me more than just a regular chimney fire, because once the liner warps you're talking about potential house fire territory in a whole different way. I bet most homeowners have no idea their chimney is basically a bomb waiting for the right spark.