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Sweep
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"Unfortunately, I had my hat on,” he laughed.
Most sweeps offer assistance with installing a woodstove, as well as flue lining services or maintenance services.
“Everyone should have some Chimfex,” he suggested. The product produces a gas when lit which starves a chimney fire of oxygen. Having it is one thing, Mr. Vierling added, but knowing its whereabouts in an emergency is another thing. “Keep it on hand” near the woodstove, he stressed.
Chimfex is available at many hardware stores or farm service establishments.
“I looked down a chimney,” Mr. Vierling said of one recent cleaning job, where the resident had used Chimfex during a chimney fire. “It was nearly clogged with creosote,” he said with a shake of his head.
‘It’s better to build it hot, even if have to fill it more often,” he said, adding the hotter the fire the less creosote will accumulate.
Long after several months of cool spring weather, when fires are started hot in the morning to “take the chill off a house” and dampened down as the afternoon sun warms the air, creosote clogs are forgotten in many chimneys around the county.
“Now, the mornings are cold and people are doing the same thing,” Mr. Vierling said.
Leftover creosote build-up from spring catches fire easily and chimney fires become commonplace during the first brisk mornings of fall.
Besides the dangers of creosote, bird and rodent nests can present hazardous consequences. Sparks lodging in dry grasses or bits of cotton fiber will quickly catch fire, starting a chimney fire.
“People need to know that when an oil company comes to fill or repair a furnace, they don’t do the chimney,” Mr. Barnes said, adding furnace maintenance does not mean chimney inspection.
“Besides the common bird nest, squirrels, raccoons and other pests can get into a chimney and nest,” the firefighter and chimney sweep said, adding wrestling out a mad raccoon is not something the average homeowner is prepared to do.
“A clogged chimney flue,” he explained, “can produce carbon monoxide poisoning to people in the house.”
A sweep can detect any unwanted presences while checking chimney flueliners or chimneys for buildup. The checkup is particularly important, he said, when one chimney serves as the flue for more than one stove or fireplace.
Though many homeowners insurance policies require flue linings for woodstove chimneys, many chimneys around Rappahannock county are not lined. But, Mr. Vierling said, they are in “perfectly good shape.”
Chimneys with a lining, whether stainless steel or terra cotta, and venting a woodstove of any type, should be cleaned every year or given an annual inspection for buildup or cracks.
Professional chimney cleaning ranges in price from $40 to $55 for single chimneys, usually, additional attached flues are cleaned at a reduced price.
“Fireplaces do not need to be cleaned as often,” Mr. Vierling said, explaining fireplaces can draw all the oxygen they want from their open front, therefore allowing the fire to bum freely, causing less creosote buildup. “I’ve seen fireplaces that haven’t been cleaned in 20 years, and still look clean,” he said, adding he recommends three to seven year intervals between cleanings for chimneys venting a fireplace.
“If you bum one to four cords of wood a year, you should have your chimney cleaned annually,” Mr. Bar
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