All open fires require regular maintenance to keep them working efficiently and safely. If you do not do this, then you run the risk of causing a chimner fire and the rish of carbon monoxide poisoning increases.
One of the key bits of maintenance is the sweeping of the chimney stack or flue. All of the carbon and other waste products created from the burning of solid fuel gets removed. Each type of fuel produces differing types of waste, and affects how regularly the chimney or flue will require sweeping.
Wood Burning Fires Should Be Swept 4 Times a Year
Coal and Smokeless Fuel Fires Should Be Swept 2 Times a Year
Gas Burning Fires Should Be Swept Once a Year
A professional flue sweep will use a variety of brushes and implements that are connected to rods which are fed up from the base of the flue to clean the soot from the walls of the chimney or the liner.
The best time to have the flue cleaned is at the start of fall, soon after the soot has had chance to dry during the summer and is tough and brittle. This assists the flue sweep, and is easily removed. Alternatively sweeping after the fire has been used continually for a couple days, which creates the same result. The loose soot and creosote will then drop to the base of the chimney stack, where the sweep can remove it all by using a powerful industrial vacuum.
Whilst the cleansing takes place, the chimney sweep will be able to make a professional assessment of the condition of the chimney as a whole. The brickwork may be failing in parts, which can lead to smoke from the fire escaping into the house. This is common with older properties as the mortar between the bricks has a limited life span, and starts to crumple away over time, and through continually warming up and cooling. The solution to this is to have the chimney relined. This can be a necessary but expensive project.
There are lots of products that are available on the market:
Concrete liner - An expansive template is placed within the full altitude of the flue stack and concrete is poured around it. When the concrete has gone hard the templet is removed and a smaller concrete flue is left. A good solution but has problems where the stack has bends within it.
Clay, pumice stone, ceramic liners - are mainly installed in new properties, but when they are used on older buildings it is typically the case to have to get rid of sections of the chimney wall and install the liner and then rebuild and move up the stack stage by stage. The most expensive product but long term the strongest solution.
Stainless steel liners - installed by dropping the liner down the existing chimney and capping off at the top and bottom. Insulation is placed around the liner to keep the liner in place and to assist with the pull of smoke from the fire. By far the cheapest option, but only a temporary solution of 10 to 20 years.
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