What should you do if soot catches fire in the chimney?
Could a simple accumulation of soot in a chimney cause a fire? It turns out that this is a common phenomenon. After all, soot, which is 98% carbon, is almost indistinguishable from coal. Let's see what happens.
Imagine this scenario: you haven't cleaned your stove or boiler chimney in a long time and you notice the airflow has weakened. This is the first sign that carbon deposits have reduced the space for smoke. To increase the draft, you open the ash pan and the damper, and that's where the problem begins. As the oxygen content in the flue increases, the temperature rises rapidly, and the carbon particles drawn in by the increased draft ignite the soot, which can go unnoticed. Often, the first signs of an impending problem are a humming noise in the chimney and sparks coming out of it.
Regarding the physics of this process, it's worth noting that the combustion temperature of soot reaches +1200 °C, which leads to the destruction of the chimney and the potential ignition of surrounding materials. In one case reported on social media, soot in an asbestos-cement pipe ignited while the homeowner was away, causing an explosion that destroyed the pipe.
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