Stumbled on a stat about creosote buildup rates that blew my mind

I was reading some old trade magazine my uncle left in the van, and it said a 1/8 inch layer of creosote can cut your flue draft by like 40 percent. That just seems wild to me, especially when you think about how fast that stuff builds up in a busy season. We had a job last winter where the homeowner said they cleaned it themselves six months ago, but we pulled out a solid half inch of fluffy stuff. Has anyone else ever run into numbers like that or is that magazine just trying to scare us?

3 comments

3 Comments

david_reed226d ago

Keeps happening everywhere you look, the numbers always worse than you'd guess until you actually see it for yourself.

miles_robinson206d ago

I mean it's not just the raw numbers that get me, it's how fast they shift once you start paying attention. Like you'll hear one thing and then suddenly you're noticing it everywhere, almost like the problem multiplies just because you're looking at it. People talk about the big obvious stuff but nobody really mentions how the ripple effects mess with stuff you wouldn't think connects at all. Idk maybe it's just me but the secondary stuff like how it changes local economies or even just daily routines is way worse than the initial hit you see reported.

wendy_lee485d ago

I used to be in the camp that thought people overblew the danger of creosote, but that stat about 1/8 inch cutting draft by 40 percent changed my mind completely. Like you said, the numbers are always worse than you'd guess until you see it yourself. We had a chimney fire a few years back on a house where the owner swore they cleaned it three months earlier. When we pulled the liner, there was this hard shiny glaze that wasn't just fluffy stuff anymore. The buildup happens way faster than most people realize, especially if they burn green wood or don't run the stove hot enough. That one statistic just clicked everything into place for me.