# Sparks from the chimney....



## Dustin (Oct 12, 2008)

My osburn insert and my SS liner have been in for about two weeks now. Iv'e had about one fire a day so far, maybe less. 

Anyway, I get home from graveyard this morning and fire her up. Put a bunch of Cedar Kindling inside, with a couple of larger splits of kindling. 

It's cold, so the draft is good. Really good. The fire is raging and I can see most of the flames exiting the top vent..looking through the glass of course. "Older stove, kinda of a baffle...no secondary air..I think" 


It's cookin, and my liner is making noise...ya know the tick tick tick tick, clunk..metal expanding noise. I decide to take a peak outside at the chimey and see if i'm getting any smoke. 


I look outside and I see the occasional spark come out of the "spark arrestor" chimney cap. I stand outside and for every "pop" I hear from the cedar in the stove, I see a corresponding set of sparks fly out of the chimney cap. 


Normal? should I worry? 

Freaks me out a little. Gosh darn super dry 4 year old cedar. This stuff pops and cracks like crazy!

Thanks 
D/F


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## Dustin (Oct 12, 2008)

Okay stove still burnin....house not on fire. Guess sparks are normal?


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## Backwoods Savage (Oct 12, 2008)

DF, any time I see sparks it makes me worry. Perhaps you should consider mixing that cedar with something else. Put the cedar on the bottom!


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## fossil (Oct 12, 2008)

Spark arrestor screens, required in some jurisdictions, are very specifically described in NFPA 211.  Among the requirements are:  They must not interfere with the draft of the appliance, they must have a net free area not less than three times the area of the flue served, and they must not allow passage of a sphere larger than 1/2" diameter, _nor restrict the passage of a sphere smaller than 3/8" diameter_.  So, a spark arrestor screen will obviously allow small sparks & embers to escape to daylight.  I don't like sparks & embers coming out of my chimneys either, so I'm careful with "sparky" wood...like cedar and juniper.  Rick


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## Corey (Oct 12, 2008)

It will happen...every once in a while a log of hedge will erupt in sparks enough to put any 4th of July fountain to shame - with a corresponding light show coming out the flue.  I agree with fossil, though...the 'spark arrestors' are mainly for actual embers that may set a roof on fire.  A true 'spark' can and will fly right through one of those.  Though I suppose there is some scientific reasoning that an ember less than 3/8" diameter is likely to burn out before it sets fire to any roof shingle.


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## Cluttermagnet (Oct 12, 2008)

FWIW the mass of those small sparks is very slight. Probably most all of them either burn out or extinguish long before they can reach the ground or a combustible surface.t i


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