Question about a soot explosion I had last Tuesday

I was cleaning out a old fireplace in a 1920s house near downtown Nashville last week. The homeowner said they hadn't used it in maybe 5 years so I figured it would be pretty tame. But when I started scraping the flue there was this huge buildup of fine black soot that just fell down in a cloud. I guess I stirred it up too fast because the whole thing lit off with a little poof and scared me half to death. No real damage thank goodness but it blew soot all over their living room carpet. I spent the next 3 hours vacuuming and wiping everything down trying to clean up the mess. Has anyone else ever had a soot explosion happen like that or did I just do something stupid?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaronroberts22d ago

and that's exactly the kind of thing that makes me wonder why we don't talk more about how DANGEROUS old house stuff can be. I've seen so many people think "oh it's just dust" or "it's just an old fireplace" and then BOOM, literally. That fine black soot is basically the same stuff that causes grain elevator explosions, just in a smaller space. You're lucky you didn't get a face full of fire or worse, a collapsed chimney. This whole thing reminds me of how we treat everyday risks like old wiring or rusty gas lines - we just assume nothing will happen until it does. Three hours of cleanup is a harsh lesson but at least nobody got hurt. That's the kind of wake up call that makes you check EVERYTHING twice from now on.

waderamirez22d ago

Did you check if that chimney had a cleanout door before you started scraping?

troyc1722d ago

Whole thing lit off with a little poof." Man, that "little poof" must have been something else. I'd have needed a whole new pair of pants if that happened to me. You're lucky it didn't go worse, I've heard of those things blowing a firebox apart if the gas buildup is bad enough. That fine soot is basically fuel dust, it can go up like a flour mill explosion if you hit it right. Three hours of cleanup sounds like a nightmare, I'd rather re-drill a clogged main line than deal with that mess.