Electrostatic precipitator having a spark current limiting resistors and method for limiting sparking

An electrostatic precipitator including: a collecting electrode in a gas passage; a discharge electrode in the gas passage and separated by a gap from the collecting electrode; a power supply applying a voltage to the discharge electrode, wherein the voltage establishes an electric field between the discharge electrode and the collecting electrode to ionize gas flow in the gap, and a resistor in series with the discharge electrode and having an effective resistance in series with the discharge electrode of at least 50 Ohms.