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_Fuck_Im_Dead_ t1_j8btz5a wrote

It does. You might notice that the inside of a fireplace has practically zero soot, just ash... and the inside of the chimney where it is not actively on fire (hopefully) gets caked with soot. Eventually the soot (creosote really) will get caked up enough to slow the draw through the chimney, causing heat buildup, and potentially a chimney fire. A chimney fire will indeed burn off the soot, but also likely damaging the chimney and possibly burning the house down.

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TheIronKurtin OP t1_j8d9liz wrote

This makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the great explanation!

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_Fuck_Im_Dead_ t1_j8e2g18 wrote

No problem! I definitely don't know all this because I caused a chimney fire in my own chimney. Definitely not. 🤐

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desolation0 t1_j8ec1qm wrote

As to why it doesn't burn up before leaving the fire itself? Usually that means there wasn't enough oxygen to burn with all the carbon. Oxygen is the other ingredient of making a flame. When it has left the direct flame, it then needs to be hot enough to ignite even if there is now an abundance of nearby oxygen. When you see sparkly embers up in the flame, that's a bit of hot carbon finally being close enough to some oxygen to burn.

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bluexavi t1_j8epqlg wrote

There are some good videos out there of building smokeless fire pits for your backyard that go into details about how to draw more oxygen to the fire.

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