Is it conceivable that an ordinary accumulation of soot in the chimney could cause a fire? It turns out that this is a common occurrence. After all, carbon black, which is 98% carbon, is almost no different from coal. Let’s see how it all works.
Let’s imagine a situation: you haven’t cleaned the chimney of your stove or boiler for a long time and you notice that the draft has weakened. This is the first sign that carbon deposits have reduced the space for smoke. To increase the draft, open the ash pit and the valve, and that’s where the problem begins. As the oxygen content in the pipe increases, the temperature rises sharply, and the carbon particles absorbed by the increased draft cause the soot to ignite, which can go unnoticed. Often, the first signs of impending trouble are a buzzing sound in the chimney and sparks flying out of the chimney.
Regarding the physics of the process, it is worth noting that the combustion temperature of soot reaches +1200 °C, which leads to the destruction of the chimney flue and possible ignition of the surrounding materials. In one of the cases described on social networks, soot in an asbestos-cement pipe was fired in the absence of the owner and an explosion occurred, destroying the pipe.
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