Inspecting Your Chimney and Its Liners

If you have a chimney, when was the last time you replaced your liner? If that question stumps you, then it might be time to investigate the situation a little and probably even consider having your chimney inspected. You may be due for a new liner.

Although chimneys are designed to withstand nearly anything, it would seem, the truth is they aren’t quit as indestructible as we might think they are. The liners in particular could easily lose their former stability and be a factor in a fire or carbon monoxide poisoning by permitting the escape of gases and/or burning embers.

If you do, indeed, find that you need to have new liners installed, there are a number of different options open to you. The fireplaces of today are not the fireplaces of old – which is a good thing for homeowners. The fireplaces of today are not necessarily simply made of brick. Many are made of a variety of more supple materials. This allows you to replace the liners without essentially rebuilding the entire chimney.

But first, of course you will need to find out if you actually need a new liner. To do that it is best to have your chimney inspected by someone who knows what they’re looking for. And where would you go for such a service? Well, to a chimney sweep. Though many may have the idea that chimney sweeps don’t actually exist anymore, the truth is they are as popular as ever. As more and more homeowners are putting fireplaces into their homes, the business of chimney sweeping as become an important element in making sure we keep our homes safe. A chimney sweep will install, clean and maintain your chimney so as to keep it in working order and safe to use.

One of the chimney sweep’s main jobs is to look for potential fire hazards, as well as blockages in your chimney. This is especially important for those who have a gas fireplace. If a homeowner with a gas fireplace has blockage in their chimney, the fumes can easily build up inside the home. A chimney sweep may do an initial inspection of your chimney, and then depending on what they find, they may suggest a more in-depth inspection.

Although there are chimney sweeps who do this type of inspection for a living, you should keep in mind in most localities there is no government oversight or industry regulators. In addition to asking friends and neighbors for suggestions of someone they trust, you might also call your local fire department or even the appropriate local government office to see what they recommend.

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Chimney sweep

Living in a home, your house will require maintenance. No matter what type of furnace you have, chances are that you have a chimney of some type. The chimney should be cleaned every few years to prevent the build up of dust, particulars, and to prevent any failure in how the chimney works to protect your home. A chimney sweep is one that is experienced in cleaning and in maintaining a chimney. The chimney sweep in your local area is one that is going to service, clean and make any recommendations to you about the condition of your chimney.

How do you find a chimney sweep?

If you have a need for a chimney sweep, you can look in the yellow pages online or offline for good leads. Chimney sweeps, those are certified and trained, are also found in chimney sweep directories. Affiliations and memberships to unions and to trades that are specifically chimney sweep related are regional and national.

Your chimney is important to the over all function of your home. Poisonous gases that can be emitted from the fuels that are burned in your furnace are meant to escape the home through the chimney. When your chimney is clogged with soot, damages or dirt, the gases, smoke and fumes will enter into your home.

When you have too much soot in your chimney, you could find smoke through out your home. When smoke enters your home, your contents, walls, and everything in your home could become soot covered. This would require a lot of work to clean up. Many times an insurance company is going to pay to have your home cleaned, but it is an inconvenience you could avoid if you were to have your chimney cleaned every few years.

A chimney sweep often times is going to give you the best results in the summer months. Don’t wait until it gets cold outside to call in a chimney sweep, you will find they are very busy during that time of the year. A chimney sweeps is going to have more free time during the summer months when people are thinking about their furnace or using their heat.

A chimney sweeps is often times going to be a mason as well. Ask if your chimney sweep can repair the brick on your chimney or put up a new chimney if needed. If you find that your chimney has been struck by lightening, a chimney sweep can inspect the interior of the chimney, completing a chimney scan to tell if you have additional damages.

A chimney sweep will be able to provide you with an estimate of how much it will cost to inspect your chimney. A chimney sweep will also be able to provide you with an estimate of how much it would cost to clean out your chimney. If there is anything you do not understand about a chimney sweep, what they do, or if you really need their services, do not be afraid to ask the chimney sweep that you contact in your local area. You will find this is a very select group of people, that take their time and inspect all chimneys, as a chimney sweep knows just how vital their job and their services are for those who need a chimney.

http://www.chimneysweepsite.com

Why Sweep a Chimney?

Chimneys are swept to remove residues in the chimney which can block the flue and prevent proper drafting, and to remove flammable deposits which can cause a chimney fire. All types of appliances which burn fuel and vent to the outdoors should be inspected annually and swept when needed such as:

Chimneys that need annual inspection

Fireplaces that burn wood or gas

Chimneys serving wood stoves

Water heater flues & furnace flues

Vented gas hearth products: gas fireplaces, gas freestanding stoves, gas logs & gas inserts

WOOD BURNING FIREPLACES & WOOD STOVES

Wood smoke occurs because not all the chemicals in wood can be burned by your fireplace or wood stove. Smoke contains tiny, unburned but flammable solid particles which adhere to the walls of your chimney which are called creosote. As these deposits accumulate, a stray spark from your fire can ignite them causing a chimney fire.

Chimneys and connector pipes (such as the black pipe connecting a wood stove to the chimney) are designed as a passageway for smoke which passes through at relatively low temperatures they are not built to withstand chimney fires, which can burn in excess of 2000 degrees. A chimney fire can destroy the mortar in a masonry chimney which can cause a chimney to collapse or allow the fire to spread to the framing members of your home. Sometimes a first chimney fire will "only" crack the flue tile liners. This situation is dangerous because a subsequent chimney fire now has an easy pathway to the walls of your house, allowing for massively destructive and dangerous house fires. When you have been advised that your flue tiles are cracked, it is time to take action and have the chimney repaired!

PREFABRICATED FIREPLACES

Pre-fab fireplaces are a particular concern to chimney sweeps. Although highly regulated and safety tested in the lab, too often we find hidden dangers due to improper installation. Installation defects such as improper clearances, improperly connected pipe and substitute components combined with overfiring and general deterioration can lead to home fires. A prefabricated fireplace system that has suffered a chimney fire should never be reused and should always be replaced according to the Chimney Safety Institute of America.

FURNACE FLUES & WATER HEATER FLUES

Furnaces that use oil or gas also produce dangerous byproducts. First, the fumes that are being vented are generally more dangerous than wood smoke because they contain higher levels of carbon monoxide than wood smoke. Leaky connector pipes, improper flue sizing and other chimney problems such as cracked flue tiles, oversized flues or undersized flues and structural defects or deterioration can all lead to fumes entering your home. Carbon monoxide cannot be seen and cannot be detected by the human nose.

Visible soot in the house is one indication of a problem with your furnace and it's venting system. Visible soot means you need to call your furnace repair company, but also your chimney sweep! Your chimney exists to carry fumes and soot away from the living space, so even a faulty furnace should send soot up the chimney. Sooty walls may indicate a problem with the furnace, but this ALWAYS indicates a problem with the venting!

Oil soot is particularly nasty to deal with. It is harder to remove and we use specialized equipment to deal with it. Soot from gas furnaces and water heaters is less likely, but an annual inspection can help identify problems and correct them before a small problem becomes hazardous.

Annual cleaning and inspections are very important to the safe and efficient operation of your home's central heating system. The chimney sweeping process averages one to two hours.

*Article reprinted with permission of Victorian Fireplace Shop

Karen Duke is a fireplace, chimney and hearth industry expert of over 25 years in both the retail and service sectors. She is a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep and has numerous hearth industry certifications. She is the founder and webmaster of http://www.TheFireplaceChannel.com and she is the co-founder and webmaster of http://www.TheVictorianFireplace.com, which is one of the largest online fireplace retailers in the world. She makes her home in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Karen's contact information can be found on either of the above sites.

Chimney Drafting Problems and Solutions

No two fireplaces are alike when it comes to smoking chimneys. There are many factors as to why a chimney doesn't draft properly and your home gets filled with smoke. Chimney height. Every chimney should abide by the 10ft - 2ft rule. Under normal conditions your chimney should work fine if this rule is met but there are always exceptions. Measure out 10ft horizontally from your chimney to the nearest object (roof line, peak, room addition etc), once you have the 10ft mark go vertically 2ft up and that should be the height of your chimney. See diagram.Your chimney should be at the proper height with the stack high enough to catch the wind. Your chimney doesn't have to rise above the peak unless the peak is within the 10ft clearance. As the wind blows across your homes roof line it should create an updraft bringing the smoke with it. Sometimes a negative pressure situation might occur where the wind causes a downdraft and you may have to look at raising the height of your chimney. Recently some new products have arrived on the market to help ease the cost of raising a chimney. Flue extenders are a chimney cap that is raised up to 3ft with long sheet metal sides.

They come in stainless steel or copper and have proven to solve many drafting problems.They a relatively inexpensive compared to having a brick mason come out and raise the flue tiles.Another great product are chimney pots. These have been used in Europe for centuries and were usually made of clay. A new line of chimney pots are made out of copper. The copper chimney pots are expensive but the unique design and the beauty are very pleasing to look at. Copper ages to a beautiful verdigris green after it is exposed to the outdoor elements and will give your home great Curb Appeal. If you have a metal zero clearance fireplace you will have to get the manufacturers name and the model number off a plate inside the firebox to determine which size and brand pipe you will need to purchase to raise the chimney another 1 - 3ft. Some cities require that the pipe be enclosed in a chase and you might have to rebuild the chase up to the new height. While raising the height of your chimney will solve most of the problems some chimneys may need more help.

Other great products on the market for solving drafting problems are the Vacu-Stack and the Windbeater chimney caps.These chimney caps are designed to create an updraft as the wind blows. The cap itself stays stationary and this causes the wind to circulate creating the updraft. This solution works well with masonry, metal chimneys and even the solid pack chimney pipe for wood burning stoves. They come in several sizes and adaptors are available for masonry chimneys. The picture at the right shows a Vacu-Stack with the adaptor installed on a masonry chimney. With a metal chimney no adaptor is needed. If you have a air cooled chimney pipe one where there are 2 or 3 pipes inside each other just measure the inner one for the cap. The Vacu-Stack for the air cooled, double or triple wall pipe comes with a collar to cover the outer pipes. The Vacu-Stack and the Windbeater caps also come in smaller sizes to fit furnace and hot water tanks to solve their drafting problems.

This article is continued at The Log Rack

http://www.thelograck.com

Have Your Chimney Inspected By A Certified Chimney Sweep Before Buying

Over the years that I have been a Chimney Sweep, I have seen a lot of problems with new homeowners that have had their chimney and fireplace checked by a Home Inspector, only to find out that the chimney should not or could not be used; most are very disappointed, and some are downright mad. Some buyers bought the house with the fireplace being the main "focal point". Do not get me wrong, I am not bashing the Home Inspectors but, most are not trained to see the problems that a Certified Chimney Sweep can see. CSIA (Chimney Safety Institute of America) Chimney Sweeps, have to pass a Certification test (given every three years) that covers three National Code books:

The CSIA Test covers NFPA-211 (National Fire Protection Association), the Standard for Chimneys, Fireplaces, Vents, and Solid Fuel-Burning Appliances. NFPA-31, covers the Standard for the Installation of Oil-Burning Equipment. NFPA-54, covers the National Fuel Gas Code. It is a closed book test that is given by a representative of the Chimney Safety Institute of America.

There is not a law that requires a Chimney Sweep to be Certified but, it goes a long way with Insurance Companies when you find a problem with a Chimney or have to repair a chimney. A Certified Chimney Sweep knows what to look for inside and outside of your home. That being said, all problems can not be seen without doing demolition or creating access areas to view the chimney.

Some Chimney Sweep companies have Chim-scans that enable a camera to run through the inside of the chimney allowing the customer full view. The monitor is set up on the hearth of the fireplace and the camera can be raised or lowered, so the customer and the sweep can see the problem areas. Most Chim-Scans have the capability to be recorded and/or have snap shots made of the areas in question. Do expect to be charged extra for the chimney scanning; but, it is a worthwhile investment to show problems found to the insurance company or the previous homeowner, so further action can be taken.

Have your chimney cleaned and evaluated annually and always have your chimney evaluated before you close on the home so you neither have to pay for something you have bought but cannot use nor must pay out of your pocket later when you decide to sell...and, as the seller, before the new homeowner has the chimney inspected himself and finds your problem. Remember: a chimney is a very large selling point for the simple reason of the heating advantages that it extends to the buyer.

Joe Honea is a Chimney Sweep who lives in South Carolina. He is married to an Italian girl and they have three sons; two are in the military, and one works in automotive collision repair. They have two protective German Shepherd pups that share their home and they have also recently opened an online chimney supply store. http://www.Fireplaceandchimneysupplies.com my blog is http://www.garagedoordr.blogspot.com