Getting Your Chimney and Fireplace Ready For Winter

It seems that the last few years we have known of perhaps 3-5 houses each winter that have experienced dangerous chimney fires in our community. Given the difficult economic times among other things, more and more people are looking towards the traditional wood heaters for winter warmth. They may be a traditional fireplace or a wood stove, but they all have one thing in common, a chimney. Over time, the smoke and soot from a wood burning stove or fireplace can accumulate in the chimney flue causing a dangerous buildup of creosote which can itself become flammable.

Just today we have had a cool front come through and although it's only the tail end of August there has already been the smell in the air of the a wood fire in a fireplace. This is the best time of year to make sure that your chimney and fireplace is clean and safe so that it can provide you a winters worth of heat and warmth without having to worry if you are risking a fire in the chimney flue above the firebox.

Each year in the United States fires related to the fireplace, chimney and chimney connector affect on average 25,100 homes. That is truly a staggering number, but some of these may go unreported and the number could be much greater than this. For this reason and the safety of your family it is vitally important that before you need to rely on your chimney and fireplace for winter warmth, you must have it checked out and cleaned.

Cleaning out a chimney yourself is a task that most homeowners should not take lightly. For most, this will mean climbing on the roof, having the appropriate tools (chimney sweep brushes as well as chimney sweep rods). You will also want to make sure that there is adequate coverage of your chimney or stove pipe opening so that you don't knock soot and creosote into your home.

Cleaning out the chimney can be an unpleasant and dangerous task, but if you must do it yourself be sure to plan things out well. First, make sure that you cover the fireplace opening with a plastic sheet of some sort to make sure that dust and falling debris from the chimney doesn't enter the living area. Some people like to go ahead and put a container of some sort (5 gallon bucket) to catch some of the debris that falls. Next, you should make sure you have your tools (chimney sweep brushes that are the correct diameter for your flue, and extension rods so that you can reach from the top of the chimney opening down to the connection to the fireplace (the damper area). You may also want a flashlight so that you can look down the chimney flue and inspect the insides.) The kind of brush you need may depend on how thick the creosote buildup is. Thicker layers of creosote call for heavier duty tools. Also, make sure to take precautions with the ladder and it's preferable that someone else is around at the time you work on cleaning out the chimney in case there are any problems.

You may discover that in addition to creosote, ash and soot you have birds, leaves or other debris within the flue. This might be a good opportunity to inspect the chimney cap and consider if it may need replacing. What you want to do to actually clean the flue pipe is to lower the brush down through the pipe making sure that the brush makes contact with the walls of the flue, you will want to push it down as far as the damper just above the firebox and it may take a fair amount of effort and working the brush around to dislodge all the debris.

If your flue pipe takes any curves you may need to look at rods that have a bit of flexibility to them so that you can manage to work your brush down through any curves or crooks in the path of the chimney flue. After you have managed to dislodge most of the debris then you may want to visually inspect the interior of the flue with a flashlight to make certain there isn't any further creosote or cracks in the chimney flue lining, then you can replace the chimney cap and come down to clean out the fireplace where all the debris should have collected.

At this point you may want to let the dust settle a bit and then remove the plastic covering from the fireplace or stove pipe opening and start shoveling the creosote out one bucket at a time. This is also a good opportunity to make sure that you dislodged all of the low debris and make sure nothing has stuck to the damper and all of the creosote has fallen down into the firebox or stovepipe pathway.

If you are at all uncomfortable with any part of cleaning out your chimney, or simply want a second opinion on the safety of your flue pipe you should contact a professional chimney sweep. There are many companies that are glad to inspect and clean chimney's out for individuals. Many of these services also sell chimney caps and can perform maintenance on your fireplace and chimney.

Even if you are comfortable with all of the steps above I do encourage that you have a professional service clean and inspect your chimney from time to time. Odds are you do not see the inside of as many chimneys as the pros do and they will be more likely to spot defects that could pose a fire hazard to your home.

There are few things as satisfying as sitting in front of a toasty warm fire on a cold winters evening. The scent of some types of wood burning is enough to transport you to another time and place. It is however, much easier to enjoy having a fire in your fireplace for either heat or ambience if you are certain that it is safely cleaned and inspected.