If you burn wood, coal, or pellets to heat your home, it is essential that you have your chimney cleaned every year. The process does not take that long, and the cost is reasonable unless you have a complicated chimney to clean.
Why Clean The Chimney?
You may wonder why you need a chimney sweep to clean your chimney at all. Cleaning is necessary because as you burn wood, coal, and other products for heat, a by-product of the fuel is the gases that come off the fuel as it burns. Most of these organic combustible produce creosote and other materials that build up inside the chimney.
Over time these materials build up in the chimney and can clog the opening, reducing draft, and they are incredibly flammable, so if an ember hits the material, it can start a chimney fire.
While the chimney is intended to have heated gases in it, a fire in the chimney can get extremely hot and damage the fire bricks or liner. This can allow the heat to escape vertically into the walls of the home, causing a fire that you may not even know is there.
Cleaning and Inspecting the Chimney
When you hire a chimney sweep to clean the chimney for you, it is essential that they inspect the chimney for damage once it is clean. The chimney sweep will use some brushes and other tools to break up any blockages in the chimney and sweep the soot and creosote out of the pipe. It is also vital that the flue is cleaned when cleaning the chimney to avoid material falling into the flue and hindering its operation.
Once the chimney is clean, the chimney cleaning service can run a camera down the chimney and look for damage to the inside. If there are fire bricks that are broken or cracks in the liner, you will need to have a mason that works with fireplaces and chimneys to come and repair the chimney for you.
Metal Chimney or Stove Pipe
Installing a metal stovepipe does not get you out of cleaning the chimney. The metal pipe will build up material inside, and if a fire starts in it, the pipe can get extremely hot, and a fire can result. Don't assume that using a metal stove pipe will eliminate the need to clean the chimney; in fact, the diameter of the pipe is often smaller than a standard chimney, so cleaning it can be more critical in some cases.
Reach out to a company like A & A Chimney Sweep to learn more.
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