Holy sparks!

[dvnwvt]

Howdy all. I suspect this will cause a few chuckles but here goes ... First time boil on new stack on my 2x3 Mason hobby evap. Stack is about 6 ft of 6" dia. single wall going to 12 ft. 8" dia. double wall up through the metal roof. Boiling at night I had one heck of a fireworks show (see pics attached). Was running with the ash door open for draft and hot fire. Closing the ash door slows things down quite a bit. A few pretty good sized pieces of charcoal on the ground the next morning.

I'm guessing this is normal? I could easily see embers drifting in through an open window or door or landing on a window sill. Concrete floor but plenty of wood around. Spark arrestors seem to be discouraged from what I've read. Thoughts and advice MUCH appreciated! Thanks.

Dave in NW VT

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[treehugger89]

Like the pics, I used to have the same thing and kind of still do. What you have is a really hot fire and a lot a air being forced through. I wouldn't be concerned about a little fire out of the smoke stack. Need some s'mores as well.

[Stoneduester]

A friend of mine had sparks, I even got on his metal roof and swept charcoal chunks off of it. Later in the season the ground became exposed, and an ember landed in some leaves near the sugar house, and up she went. The leaves in question were underneath his vacuum pump, and were covered in oil, so I am sure that contributed. He had an AUF blower on his rig, and I think that blew embers up and through. The fire department couldn't do anything but rake coals by the time they got there.

[Urban Sugarmaker]

Mine still spews some embers but I have AOF and AUF. My AOF helps a lot but the arch wasn't really designed for it. I have found that the type of wood you burn makes a difference too. Red spruce is terrible. I have been burning some red oak that's kinda bad too and now I am mostly sticking to white pine and soft maple. My friend cut down a bunch of Norway maples and gave me the wood.