Sparks from my chimney!

[AlexNY]

Last night I witnessed repeated sparks emerging from my flue.

Is this dangerous? Is there anything I can do about it?

Conditions:

Hearthstone heritage, 2 years old, professional install
Evening fire started from coal bed
Fuel was a large split of Spruce and several very thing splits of Spruce, all air dried one season
Operating normally with air fully open, stove top temp 450F
Flue is fully vertical, 4 feet internal single wall, followed by 6 feet external double wall.
Checked flue this morning, no build up of any kind anywhere

The wood was crackling and spitting something fierce, but that happens sometimes with very sappy Spruce. I love burning Spruce because it is so easy to start, I would hate to have to avoid it.

Thanks for any advice

 

[begreen]

Sounds normal, that's a short flue so it doesn't surprise me that some sparks made it out the pipe. I would skip the thin splits. Spruce and pine are good shoulder season woods, but sparky. I'd save it for the fall and spring and starting fires. In the cold snap hitting you right now I'd be burning my best hardwood.

 

[AlexNY]

Thanks for your help.

There was a strong Northeaster on Long Island in March 2010, and thousands of pine trees went down in the wind. It was all free wood, so I took it. This year I am stuck with very limited hardwood, which I have been saving for overnight burns on the coldest nights.

So ... basically a spark hitting commercial shingle roof material is not much of a danger?

 

[Fsappo]

Alls well I'm betting. Sparks up the flue are only bad if theres a lot of stuff in the chimney that can burn...or very low hanging branches full of dry leaves (rare in the winter)