How to clean your fireplace or stove chimney
How to maintain a fireplace or wood stove chimney.
Many homeowners with fireplaces and wood stoves ask, “how often should I clean my chimney”? “How can clean my fireplace?”
Regular cleaning of the chimney is critical in order to get rid of the creosote-deposits that build up in the chimney, when you burn wood in your fireplace or stove.
Creosote deposits that built up in your chimney, are a leading cause of fires.
Your chimney should be cleaned several times a year, or more, depending on how much you use your fireplace or stove.
There are several ways to clean your chimney. You can do it yourself. You can call a professional to do it for you.
Another way is to burn Creosote Sweeping Logs in your fireplace on a regular basis. They reduce new creosote build-up making your fireplace safer to use.
Wood burning fireplaces are harder to clean and maintain than gas fireplaces. Burning wood builds up creosote deposits in your chimney. You have the ashes from burning wood, which need to be cleaned-out on a regular basis.
If you clean the chimney yourself, make sure that you seal off the fireplace doors so the soot and creosote does not make a mess in your home. Spread newspapers in front of the fireplace area to ensure that any mess is easy to clean up.
You can use a shop vacuum, a shovel, and a bucket. These tools will be used in taking out the creosote from the fireplace clean out.
You will need to get up on your roof. You will need a chimney sweep brush that is the proper size and shape for your chimney and extensions for the brush. There are some videos, on YouTube, that are professional tutorials on how to clean a chimney.
Usually, you need to clean your chimney on a regular basis.
Some signs that you should watch for.
Your chimney needs cleaned when you notice a smoky smell in the room when the fireplace or stove is in use. A smoky smell in the room indicates creosote buildup in the chimney liner.
When you notice a “campfire” or “sooty” smell inside your home, when the fireplace or wood stove is not in use. That is a sign the chimney needs cleaning. Especially noticeable in the summertime when it rains and you have high humidity.
The usual cause of fireplace odors is creosote deposits in the liner of the chimney.
A thorough chimney cleaning that removes the creosote deposits, will correct the problem.
The easy way, but the most expensive, is to hire a professional to clean your chimney.
If you already have or you buy the tools that match your chimneys requirements for cleaning, you can do it yourself. A lot more time and effort is required, but it can be quite a bit less expensive than hiring a professional.
The easiest way is to use Creosote Sweeping Logs to treat and reduce existing creosote in your chimney, on a regular basis.. When you are using your fireplace or stove, burning a Creosote Sweeping Log is easy and reduces new creosote build-up in your chimney.
If you have any questions, on YouTube, there are videos by professionals that demonstrate how to clean your chimney.
Here is an article about chimneys on Wikipedia you might like:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney
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