What is creosote and why is it dangerous?
Creosote comes from what most people think of as ‘smoke’ is better termed ‘flue gas’. This ‘smoke’, or flue gas is released by the initial fire: the ‘primary combustion’. Flue gas consists of steam, and vaporized unburned carbon based by-products (vaporized creosote).
As the flue gas exits the fireplace or wood stove, it drafts upward into the relatively cool flue where condensation occurs, like hot breath on a cold mirror, the cool surface temperature of the flue causes the carbon particles in the warm vapor to solidify. The actual cause of creosote condensation is the surface temperature of the flue in which the flue gas comes in contact. This resulting carbon based condensation which materializes inside the flue is creosote.
