Santa's Friend Chimney Service Blog

Protecting Your Home from Creosote Build-Up

At this time of year, when fireplace use is finally slowing and coming to a halt, creosote buildup raises two issues. First, whatever creosote is inside your flue, contact with moisture is going to make the fumes it produces much worse. Secondly, simply shutting those smells out of your house by closing the damper does not solve the greater issue.

Image courtesy of Dennis Lamb, Owner, The Mad Hatter Chimney Service in Indianapolis, IN.

Build-Up Stinks

Generally speaking, when you can smell something inside your house, it is time to really do something about it! For many of us, the solution is to throw the smelly item away or clean up the mess. However, a smelly chimney is just a bit more involved.

Many of us like to be able to use the chimney as the vent it is. That means a damper left open and a cap on top which naturally improves the chimney’s draft and keeps water out. Neither one is safely possible with creosote buildup greater than ¼” of SOOT or 1/8^” of later stage creosote.

…And It’s Bad For Your Chimney’s ‘Skin’

Every chimney cap will do a lot to keep wind gusts that cause downdrafts out of your chimney. It makes no sense at all, however, to cap a flue that contains unacceptable amounts of creosote. The longer that creosote stays in your flue, the more damage it does, which is the second type of harm you need to prevent.

Not only does creosote emit toxic fumes, unnecessarily exposing you to harmful carbon monoxide, but it is corrosive. Furthermore, the greater its accumulation, the more difficult it is to remove and the more dangerous it becomes. Protecting your home from creosote build-up means not allowing it to accumulate to any significant amount. When buildup is noticed, it is time to call a CSIA certified chimney sweep to take care of this problem.

Common Tools of Fire Safety

A smoke detector designed to detect both smoke and carbon monoxide is far and away the most important tool of fire safety. Anyone who has forgotten to open a damper and then walked into another room knows that these sensitive alarms detect smoke long before our noses do. Odorless invisible carbon monoxide is even more dangerous, and it can build up in poorly performing flues that fail to vent smoke properly.

A single-use fire extinguisher kept near but away from likely sources of fire is another common sense fire safety tool. A common mistake is putting the extinguisher too close to the fireplace or stove, forcing homeowners to reach through dancing flames for it. An extinguisher should be handy but beyond the likely range of a possible fire, and everyone in the home should know how to use it.

Fire Safety Tools Should Be Household Words

A bucket of sand and a shovel are never a bad idea for a fireplace hearth and can be attractive decorative items as well. If sand is a problem, that is no reason to toss out the bucket; an empty one helps in cleaning the fireplace by giving a place for the ashes, also improving fire safety.

A fireplace screen belongs among common tools of fireplace safety as well, and for more than one reason. A decorative screen prevents sparks from flying out of the fireplace to set fire to a newspaper or carpeting. It also prevents children from coming dangerously close to the fire, hypnotized by curling flames and glowing embers.

Heads, It’s The Phone Book…

To round out the top five fire safety tools, we are torn between a fire retardant surround for fireplaces and a phone book. The first is definitely a good idea, but the second can put you in touch with a chimney sweep. Having your chimney professionally swept is absolutely critical to fireplace safety, so we are going with the phone book, but keep them away from the fire!

A Pre-Fire Lighting Checklist: Get it Right Before You Ignite!

Following a simple checklist will ensure that the first use of your fireplace this season does not ignite more than you intend:

• Have your chimney professionally inspected.
• Open the glass doors of your fireplace 30 minutes ahead of time.
• Make sure your damper is open.
• Clear the area around the fireplace of newspapers and other combustible materials.
• Check the draft of your chimney with a match.

The first of these is obviously the most important, as it means assurance from a professional that your chimney is clean and in good working order. Until it is, a fire simply cannot be started, as it threatens not only further damage but your health and safety as well. Once your chimney has been certified to be good to go, you can begin your pre-fire check.

Opening the glass doors of your fireplace for thirty minutes before lighting the fire will give it a chance to reach room temperature. Cold air is heavier than hot air, so it sinks down the chimney from outside and gets trapped behind the doors. Opening them will allow the warmer air from the house into the fireplace and begin the movement of air up the chimney.

At one time or another, most homeowners and even apartment dwellers have watched their living room fill with smoke. In all likelihood, this is because they failed to check the damper before starting the fire and the smoke had no access to the chimney. Unless your damper has been permanently fixed in an open position, it should be checked every time you light a fire.

The area around the fireplace is not a good place to stack magazines and newspapers waiting to be clipped or recycled. Embers flying out of wood burning fireplaces seem to seek these out, and they provide fast igniting fuel. Unless a house fire is on your bucket list, paper, cardboard, and highly flammable materials should be stored elsewhere, preferably out of the house.

Finally, you should check the draft of your chimney before starting the fire. Light a match and hold it beneath the flue, watching to see in which direction the smoke travels. If it is coming down and back towards you, something may be obstructing the chimney, with small animals not timing their nest-building to avoid inspections. If the chimney is clear, the draft may just need a little help from a fire starting brick.

Top Tidbits You Need To Know About Your Chimney

Whether you are buying your first home with a chimney or perhaps having one installed so you can enjoy a fireplace, there are some basic facts you should know. That new fireplace will add significant ambiance to the home, but there are also some maintenance and safety issues of which you need to be aware.

1. You chimney should be inspected and cleaned at least once a year. This ensures that the chimney is structurally sound and clean, therefore safe to use.
2. When scheduling your chimney cleaning and inspection, only use NCSG certified chimney sweeps.
3. Regardless of how often your chimney and fireplace have been used the prior year, the fireplace and chimney still need a thorough cleaning prior to the new season. Some prefer to have them cleaned in the spring (stating the benefit of having the creosote buildup removed and avoiding any musty odors over a hot summer), while others recommend an early fall cleaning (this will ensure that any birds or debris that may have gotten into the chimney during the spring and summer will be removed before the fireplace and chimney are in use again).
4. Never operate the chimney unless the damper is fully open.
5. Creosote is a substance created by flue gas residue and unburned wood particles. It gathers in the flue with usage of the chimney. As little as 1/8″ is enough to start a fire.
6. Never burn trash or plastics in your chimney. It is meant to burn wood, not become a trash incinerator.
7. A chimney cap can prevent water, debris, and animals from getting into your chimney. If you do not have one installed, consider having this done as soon as possible.
8. Chimney Swifts are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty. If a swift makes its home in your chimney, it cannot be removed until the birds migrate south for the winter.
9. You should use some type of fireplace screen when your fireplace is in use. This can prevent embers from inadvertently escaping the fireplace as well as prevent children and animals from reaching into the fire.
10. Your chimney has a protective liner inside of it. These lines can be made from a variety of materials, such as stainless steel and clay. The liner should be checked periodically to ensure structural integrity.