Thermal behavior of a dust deposit undergoing exothermic reaction can be described by a differential equation, the steady-state solution of which has been proved to exist only when a critical condition is fulfilled. The approximate relationships between criticality and the Biot Number first proposed by Thomas were too complicated for practical use, so the authors derive a much simpler formula by using the Frank-Kamenetskii approximate steadystate solution. Accuracy of the formula is further improved by comparing it with the more exact numerical solution of the basic equation of unsteadystate, obtained without approximation.