chimney cleaning

[Jonas winslo]

I have a question about a standard open fireplace. ( actually I just wanted to use my new avatar (just kidding)) I have a traditional true rumford fireplace that I have burned for years. I will use it just for ambiance this year now that we have a seperate stove.

A friend of mine who works for the local fire dept told me that you never have to clean a flue in a standard open fireplace because there is no way to restrict the air to the fire and therefore it will never produce creosote. After 9 years of burning I cleaned the flue and only got less than a small cup of creosote from the first 18 feet of the chimney. It would seem as thought he is correct. I only burn dry wood that has been seasoned a year or more. What is the concensus on this? Do you really need to clean the masonry flue of an open fireplace?​

 

[blujacket]

My clay lined chimney was glazed big time before my sweep installed my insulated liner for my Buck. Cool smoke=creosote.

 

[blujacket]

Found this article here

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/creosote_from_wood_burning_causes_and_solutions

 

[Ashful]

I dunno... I grew up in a house with three open fireplaces, and we had all three flues cleaned every 1 - 2 years.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

When we think of the days of old, I wonder why there were jobs that were called, simply enough, Chimney Sweeps? Now, wouldn't you know, we still have some folks in that profession. Look back, and not too far and you will find many homes that were kept, or tried to keep warm using a fireplace. I wonder is all these chimneys needed cleaning?

 

[tfdchief]

YES, and inspect everything regularly.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I would have to agree with Savage. Anecdotal evidence would suggest that even traditional fireplaces need to be cleaned. If not, there would have never been a need for chimney sweeps. With that being said, if you are using good seasoned wood (something that was not common practice years ago), the need for cleaning a traditional chimney would be much less frequent today.

 

[fossil]

Well, gee, I dunno...you think this looks like it might be a problem...or not?

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Well, gee, I dunno...you think this looks like it might be a problem...or not?

View attachment 72547

WOW!! That's incredible. The question I have is how it ever got that bad without it causing a fire before that.

 

[fossil]

Why that chimney didn't burn...I've no idea (maybe it did). I imagine it had something to do with the temperatures involved, from the fireplace on up to daylight. How did it ever get that way? Fuel, burning habits, temperatures, nobody cared/understood...nobody ever made sure it was inspected/cleaned regularly. Yeah, it's extreme, but it's real. Inspect and clean regularly, even if you think you're doing everything "right". Rick

 

[pen]

WOW!! That's incredible. The question I have is how it ever got that bad without it causing a fire before that.

With enough cool air entering a fireplace, it is possible to get a bad accumulation and not have the heat to ignite it. That is until someone tries to use the fireplace like a burn barrel and dispose of large amount of Christmas wrapping paper (see this yearly on the local news it seems).

How much wood, how it's burned, and the quality of the wood of course will make a big difference here. But even well seasoned wood produces creosote and in the right conditions, the creosote produced may be hard to sweep out of the chimney, giving the illusion of the chimney being relatively clean.

Jonas, when you cleaned that chimney did you inspect it with an ultra bright light (like a sporting spot light) from the top down and bottom up? If so, glaze creosote will be seen as shiny black and is very hard to scrub off. A bottom up cleaning may not point this out.

But, at the end of the day, if you cleaned it, and inspected it well and it's truly clean, not much more to be said other than a routine visual inspection of the inside may show a potential problem (cracks) that could be an issue that you wouldn't know about otherwise.

pen

 

[DexterDay]

Until I joined here, I went almost 5 yrs without touching my Pre Fab fireplace. It had about a half a cup also..

Granted I only burned 1 cord a year, but after seeing and reading here, I imagined a Mess!!

It depends on the wood, house, installation, chimney, etc... But its wood and a lot of cooling air.....

I still think they need cleaned. I still cleaned my Pre Fab this year and we only had a few fires this past year.

 

[BrotherBart]

No matter the chimney. No matter what you burn into it. Inspect the dang thing at least once a year. Then decide on cleaning or not cleaning. It ain't rocket surgery.

 

[firefighterjake]

Your firefighting friend is wrong . . . as you have by now no doubt seen from the personal stories and pics. As folks have mentioned, a large factor in whether the chimney of a fireplace needs to be burned is the amount of wood burned, quality of the wood, etc. . . . in the end just take BrotherBart's advice and check it and then clean it if need be.

 

[jharkin]

Another vote to inspect every flue every year. I even clean my gas boiler flue every couple years. The open fireplaces we have dont usually need it yearly because they only get used a handful of times with good dry wood but I always check them in fall.