Can a stainless steel chimney catch fire and cause a fire?

Answer

Dear Hilde,

Interesting question! Indeed, the melting point of stainless steel is very high, compared to the temperature of flue gases released from a wood-burning stove. This also applies to bricks, but a chimney fire can still occur with a brick chimney. Then you may wonder what burns in a chimney fire? Well, soot! After all, long-term use of fuels that still give off some soot can precipitate on the chimney wall, which is relatively cool compared to the stove itself, and forms a layer of soot and a kind of pitch there. If this builds up due to lack of maintenance of the chimney (have the chimney swept), then at some point this layer of soot can start to burn due to a spark and that can burn vigorously! After all, the chimney itself provides strong ventilation together with the flue gases from the burning soot. This can lead to such a high temperature that the stability of the stone fireplace is lost. Insofar as this process also takes place in a stainless steel chimney, a fire can also start there and the temperature can possibly rise so high that the stainless steel loses its mechanical strength and that happens at a temperature that is much lower than the melting point.

So in principle it can also happen in a stainless steel fireplace, after all it is not the stainless steel that burns, but soot and a kind of pitch that accumulate with the years of use due to poor maintenance. This leads us to the conclusion that it is best to give fireplaces an annual maintenance, whether they consist of brick or stainless steel! The melting point of stainless steel is around 1400°C.