Soot removal from chimneys and smokepipes by thermochemical means

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Technical Note (National Research Council of Canada. Division of Building Research); no. TN-215, 1956-12-01

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Soot removal from chimneys and smokepipes by thermochemical means

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA

No.

215

NOTE

ｾｒｎａｌ

USE

DIVISION OF BUILDING RESEARCH

']['EClHI N][ CAlL

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

PREPARED BY _{CHECKED BY HBD} APPROVED BY _RFL

PREPARED FOR General Distribution December

1956

SUBJECT

Soot Removal From Chimneys and Smokepipes by Thermochemical Meanso

In the course of studying the problem of fires in the north of Canada, this Division has been asked to comment on the use of certain proprietary compounds marketed to facilitate removal of soot from chimneys and smokepipeso

An adequate assessment of such products can only be made on the basis of inform.ation obtained from exte'nsive tests.. In the absence of such test data a report of work carried out in France

on a product of this type is ｲ･｣ｯｲｾ･､ here to provide some indication of the potentialities of these materials.. This report; entitled

"Thermochemical Chimney Sweeping Tests-, was published in the July

1956

issue of the Bulletin of the National Centre for Prevention and Protection (Bulletin du C.. N.. PoPo) .. The following is a trans-lation of their report ..

--A French company intending to sell a new ｇ･ｲｭ｡ｮｾｭ｡､･ product supposed to facilitate the sweeping of chimneys and smokepipes and wanting to make sure that it was truly efficient, asked the Fire Laboratory of Bellevue to investigate the principles the inventor had relied on and to carry out a series of tests.. The National Centre for Prevention and Protection was also invited to consider the matter"

Although it is not possible for us to give here the

composition of the tested products we can briefly describe the way to use them and analyze their effects.

Certain salts introduced into a burning stove can impregnate the soot covering the ｣ｾｳｩｮｧ of the smokepipe and lower its ignition temperature so as to facilitate its combustion without making it dangerous.. One can easily see the advantages which could be derived

.",,'

,.

from such a ｰｲｯ｣･ｳｳｾ less than 100 gmt

(305

oZo) of material in a

stove slowly burn the soot which turns into ashes,'these ashes fall easily from the pipe and are gathered without difficulty in the elbows or in the lower parts of the installationo

Safety Considerations o ｾ No more chimney fires since combustion

would be slow and voluntarily provoked before a dangerous accumulation of sooto

Ease of ｈ｡ｮ､ｬｩｮｾｯ ｾ The sweeping of a smokepipe would become an

ordinary operat on like one of emptying an ash trayo Chimney sweeping

would also become easier and more efficient since no particles would

stick0

Objectivelyg ｨｯｷ･ｶ･ｲｾ it is fair to say that these results

have not yet been achieved o

Tests were conducted partly in Paris in the chimney of a building condemned for its age and kindly lent by the Prefecture de

la Seine and partly in stoves outside of Pariso

In the chimney the effect was nil because the soot» although rather thick$ did not burno

, In the stoves, on the contrarY$ the results were most

encouraging, in two cases out of three, the soot burnt as predicted and the temperature of the stove pipes where this soot waB burning

never reached 2500_Co

₍₄₈₀

0_{Fo)>> thus showing the harmless character}

of the reactiono After the tests the ashes tell off 6asilyo

If this result confirmed the principle it is not ｣ｯＮｭｰｬｾｴ･

enough to afford a definite opinion on the value of the ｰｲｯ｣･ｳｳｾ On

the one hand a greater number of tests would be necessary for one to

assert that the combustion would never be more rapido On the other

hand the quantity of soot which is destroyed at anyone point is

proportional to the temperature to which this point is brought by the combustion in the stove which means that in the parts which have

remained colq this-destruction ｾｳ far from completeo FinallY9 the

experiment showed that the operator had to have a certain skill in

order to obtain a positive resulto Consequently» the same product

,

3

-The principle is worth retaining however, and one can wish and hope for an improvement of the process which would make

it practical and therefore saleableo

The Division of Building Research wishes to thank ｇｾａｯ

Gavrel of the Translations Section of the National Research Council for translating this articleo