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Creosote buildup stat from the NFPA manual caught me off guard

I was flipping through the NFPA 211 handbook last week and saw that only 1/8 inch of creosote is enough to start a chimney fire, which is way thinner than I ever thought.
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nathanking
Whoa, that's wild. I actually heard a similar stat from a local firefighter who came to talk at my town's safety fair last fall. He said a lot of folks don't realize how little buildup it takes, something like a quarter inch of that fluffy stuff is basically a pile of kindling waiting to catch. I always thought you'd need a thick crust of that stuff before it was a problem, but apparently that's totally wrong. He showed us a picture of a chimney after a small fire, and the creosote was mostly gone but the flue was cracked and ruined.
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paigewood
paigewood4d ago
@nathanking wait so even after a small fire the chimney is basically ruined? That's wild. Is the flue liner just done for after any creosote fire no matter how small or does it depend on how hot it burned?
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