Special chimney clearing log used in France

PennyForThem_2

My colleague has a chalet in mountainous area in France. She also has a large wood burning stove.

Every year their insurance company stipulates that they burn a special chemically impregnated 'log' to lean the chimney - they don't seem to have sweeps in France.

Anybody heard of this?

A._Badger

There are similar products available here - you can find them in hardware storea. I'm told they are of very limited use.

As for sweeps, I can't believe there are none in France!

Leaving aside the terrible risk of a chimney fire if you didn't have yours swept, you would almost certainly run into problems with your insurance company, if your house burned down.

John_3:16

I think there are as many sweeps in france if not more. I have heard that they are keener on having to have them swept.

Mankysteve

The only time I've seen a chimney fire was in France, You could do it yourself get a brush a few old sheet. But do the log as well just to shut them up, if they require you to do one you need to do one even if they are pile of rubbish.

jcorbygas

Yes - we have a house in France and a couple of years ago we were woken by the sound of things landing on the laminate floor downstairs, and found the chimney was on fire inside as some burning tar had fallen onto some insulation material which had caught fire.
Luckily we managed to put out the fire without calling out the pompiers but it was a very frightening experience.
There are plenty of sweeps in France and the chimney should be swept each year to conform with insurance requirements.