Why you should get your chimney cleaned

muckybutt

Well as many of you know on here I am a chimney sweep amongst other things like many of us sweeps are.

Anyhow I had a job arranged today which I managed to get through to do even though they were in a very remote village and covered in snow.

Two stoves one with a liner the other was a class 1 clay lined. Got the first one done even though it was a bu*ger to do this one was the lined one, the second one was a pig to dismantle which is quite common with some of the foreign makes !

Customer had said this stove seemed to smoke a lot so when I was chatting to him before he mentioned they slumber burnt it :eek: which I confirmed when the baffle was removed inside the stove - it was completely covered in black burnt gunk what I always say looks like cinder toffee. Out with the inspection mirror and there was more to come as was evident up the chimney. Then came the :eek: eek !!! many stoves have two flue connections top or back with the one not being used blanked off. This stove the back blanking plate had completely come away and was merrily wedged half on half off between the stove and the back plate of the stove. Immediately informed the customer of the problem and explained what I had found, he knew it wasnt caused by me as he was watching what I was doing. Anyhow after chatting for a few mins he said would that be a possible cause of head aches - too right it would ! turns out they had also been falling asleep in the room a lot when the stove was lit too :eek:

I rang the fitter who is going to come out as a matter of urgency as the stove will have to come out completely to refit the blank plate. Advised them to go to A&E straight away as a precaution - turned out his Mrs is a Doctor.

So the gist of this is :

1) Get your stoves / fires / flue swept and maintained regularly.
2) Get a Carbon Monoxide alarm fitted in every room where you have a solid fuelled or gas appliance.

For a few quid they are a life saver as is a sweep that finds appliances that are dangerous, and as one posterfound out in a different thread doing it yourself can be a messy job and you could also miss things like damaged seals etc, if you dont know what you are doing - leave it to someone that does know what they are doing.

fannyadams

ALSO
get a carbon monoxide detector and use it!
we take ours everywhere with us when we go on holiday as you never know... luckily it's never gone off AND yes I do test it each time it is moved and once a month too.

SEE

Here is another reason!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82RuHdRLzfM

muckybutt

As per post #3 :T that creosote build up that you see in the video can happen within a week or so if you slumber burn or burn damp / unseasoned wood.

I have seen it happen all too often.

hethmar

Oh mucky, so have we, yet we regularly see posts on here which reckon lining is just a con.

We tell people over and over to have their chimney swept twice a year, then we get people ringing to say their wood burner is smoking, say after anything up to 6 years after installation. Without fail these people will eventually admit they have never had it swept in all that time. We tell them in writing to sweep and to save the attendance certs for the warranties, but so many dont..........

alleycat`

hethmar wrote: »

Oh mucky, so have we, yet we regularly see posts on here which reckon lining is just a con.

Regardless of me feelings on having a chimney lined, i'm not sure what that has got to do with Muckys post?

This appeared to be a question of someone doing things that you are recommended not to do in conjunction with a stove fault.

I doubt a liner would have made the back blanking plate magically re-attach

I'm generally of the opinion that an appropriate liner is a good idea in many instances but it isn't always required.

A._Badger

What surprises me is not so much idiots who don't get their chimneys swept regularly, as the other idiots who don't read their stove handbooks, or find out how a stove is supposed to work.

At a local village get together recently, two of the regulars were swapping stove stories. Both were saying how wonderful their stoves were and one of them casually remarked that he only had to replace the firebars in his every couple of years. And the baffle plate about the same!

Now there is someone who has never even opened his handbook. Or if he has, never learned to read!

hethmar

alleycat` wrote: »

Regardless of me feelings on having a chimney lined, i'm not sure what that has got to do with Muckys post?

This appeared to be a question of someone doing things that you are recommended not to do in conjunction with a stove fault.

I doubt a liner would have made the back blanking plate magically re-attach

I'm generally of the opinion that an appropriate liner is a good idea in many instances but it isn't always required.

I was in a rush when I posted I read quickly about the build up of rubbish in the flueway mucky posted. Hence my post - nowt to do with the duff installation of an unlined chimney.

I certainly didnt even think about you alleycat, I dont even know what you have posted, I dont take on board posters names Point being that without lining (and/or sweeping) a chimney the deposits build up very quickly in the flueway and can cause terrible problems including fires and health probs.

alleycat`

hethmar wrote: »

I was in a rush when I posted I read quickly about the build up of rubbish in the flueway mucky posted. Hence my post - nowt to do with the duff installation of an unlined chimney.

I certainly didnt even think about you alleycat, I dont even know what you have posted, I dont take on board posters names Point being that without lining (and/or sweeping) a chimney the deposits build up very quickly in the flueway and can cause terrible problems including fires and health probs.

Wasn't casting aspersions at you. I was just confused
Agree with almost everything you said btw.

My chimney isn't lined but it is only a few years old and it is a "system" chimney that was specified with a stove "size" in mind.

I'm due for a sweep in th nearish future and hopefully i can twist muckys arm into coming to do it.

muckybutt

alleycat` wrote: »

I'm due for a sweep in th nearish future and hopefully i can twist muckys arm into coming to do it.

Depending where you are of course anywhere near the east coast from Hull to top of Scarborough and inland to York ...gimmie a shout

muckybutt

A new customer just rang as she needed her chimney sweeping urgently - the fire service were just leaving her house after her chimney caught fire. I replied "oh that'll be the one that passed my house an hour or so ago" lol

Wold View, Fridaythorpe. 22/01/2013 16:59:21. Chimney fire. A jug of water Thermal Image Camera and chimney hearth kit in use.00840 - courtesy of Humberside Fire an Rescue