Burning Bituminous : Round II

Your chimney is supposed to have that crook in it. They built those like that to knock embers back down so you don't set your roof on fire with them getting sucked up the chimney. It's not so much of a problem with coal though, but could happen with a lot of kindling. Looks like you are having some fun with that thing. Sure is a nice way to heat the house once you get the hang of it.

EarlH wrote:Your chimney is supposed to have that crook in it. They built those like that to knock embers back down so you don't set your roof on fire with them getting sucked up the chimney. It's not so much of a problem with coal though, but could happen with a lot of kindling. Looks like you are having some fun with that thing. Sure is a nice way to heat the house once you get the hang of it.

I have wondered about hot embers blasting up the chimney during a really hot fire.. Not so much worrying about my roof, which is metal, but I have several big trees not too far away.

EarlH wrote:Your chimney is supposed to have that crook in it. They built those like that to knock embers back down so you don't set your roof on fire with them getting sucked up the chimney. It's not so much of a problem with coal though, but could happen with a lot of kindling. Looks like you are having some fun with that thing. Sure is a nice way to heat the house once you get the hang of it.

Thank you so much. I have wondered for years why chimneys were built that way.

Interesting, I had never heard that. I thought the reason was so the chimney would penetrate the peak so there would be less of a chance for leaks around the chimney flashing...?
I've never seen an offset or corbelled chimney that didn't exit the roof at the peak. Has anyone seen one?

rockwood wrote:Interesting, I had never heard that. I thought the reason was so the chimney would penetrate the peak so there would be less of a chance for leaks around the chimney flashing...?
I've never seen an offset or corbelled chimney that didn't exit the roof at the peak. Has anyone seen one?

Yes, I have, but it was still corbelled toward the peak. That makes sense though, you will produce turbulence and higher and lower velocity areas where the corbelling is especially on an unlined stack and this will have the effect of dropping much of the particulate (glowing or otherwise) out of the exhaust stream.