How can I prevent home heating hazards and save money?
How often should my chimney be cleaned?
Why does my chimney need a cover?
Make it a clean sweep. Chimney maintenance today lets you breathe easy this winter.

How can I prevent home heating hazards and save money.

Have your chimney checked every year (no matter how you heat your home) to make sure the chimney can do its job to properly vent hot, toxic gases and carbon monoxide from the heating system to the outdoors.

• To help reduce creosote build-up in your wood-burning chimney system, burn only well-seasoned hardwoods. If you don't know how to build a hot, safe fire, ask us for tips on proper wood-burning techniques.
• Have a high quality, long-lasting chimney cap installed to keep out debris and prevent birds, animals and insects from nesting in your chimney.
• Following a violent storm, flood or lightning strike, have your chimney inspected for damage - inside and out. This includes checking for cracks and fallen bricks. For safety's sake, DO NOT USE YOUR CHIMNEY until it is checked by one of our CSIA Certified Chimney Sweeps.
• Install a carbon monoxide detector to warn of harmful gases that may be entering your home because of a blocked or damaged chimney.
• Have your chimney waterproofed to prevent long-term corrosion and masonry damage.
• Have your chimney flashing (the seal between the chimney and the roof) inspected and maintained. Flashing prevents rain water and snow melt from entering your home and causing costly damage to your walls and ceilings.
• Save energy dollars and eliminate unpleasant off-season odors. Have a sealing damper installed in your wood-burning chimney system.
• Have your chimney sweep ensure that your chimney has an appropriate liner.
• If you own or are planning to install a high efficiency gas furnace, ask us to check that the furnace is vented in accordance with the National Fuel Gas Code.

"How often should my chimney be cleaned?"

There is no steadfast rule on the frequency of a chimney cleaning. It can vary from once a month to once every ten years depending on a variety of factors. On the other hand, an annual inspection of all chimneys by a Certified Chimney Sweep, is extremely important.

Let's consider both cleanings and inspections at length. First, frequency of cleaning will depend on:

• How often you use your fireplace. Obviously, persons who use their fireplace only occasionally for coziness are not going to have to clean their flues as often as persons who use their systems constantly throughout the season.
• The type of wood or coal you use. Freshly-cut softwoods usually build up creosote more quickly than well-seasoned hardwoods. And anthracite coal burns more cleanly than bituminous (but bituminous is more plentiful).
• Whether you have a stove or fireplace insert. They usually require attention much more often than an open fireplace. Also, the way you operate your stove or fireplace can and will have an effect on the amount of creosote you accumulate.
• The severity of the burning season and your geographic location. Understandably, the burning season will be different in the Pacific Northwest than in, say, the Deep South.
• The location of your chimney in your home. Even this - plus the type of chimney construction you have - can have a great influence on how quickly creosote builds up and how often cleaning may be necessary.

As you can see, the number of factors which influence your chimney's cleaning schedule are many. Now, about those chimney inspections: All chimneys - yes, (wood, coal, oil and gas) should be thoroughly inspected once a year by a certified chimney sweep. Never assume your chimney is safe even if you seldom or never use it. There are a whole host of problems that could cause an unsafe chimney or fireplace.

These problems could include:

• cracks or crevices caused by builder negligence
• normal settling of the chimney
• lightning strikes
• excessive use
• moisture damage
• nests and other obstructions...

The list goes on and on. In conclusion, consider the following: when an insurance company insures your property, it doesn't do so because you are going to have a problem, but because possibly you could have a problem. When chimney sweeps inspect a chimney and fireplace, they, and you, hope they won't find any problems. But if there are any there, you certainly want to know about it.

Complete and thorough chimney inspections should include rooftop, attic, firebox and foundation inspections

-Text by National Chimney Sweep Guild

Why Does Your Chimney Need a Cover?

Have you ever heard of the inside of someone's home being "trashed" by an errant bird or squirrel? Or dampers rusting out of fireplaces? Or the mortar in chimneys being slowly eaten away? The damage caused in any of these cases can be quite expensive to repair, as well as inconvenient. The simple installation of a chimney cap can prevent tragedies such as these.

What causes them? Rainwater that gets in your chimney mixes with the ash in the flue, to form corrosive lye. This eats away at the mortar and at the metal of the damper, shortening the useful life of both. Maybe you've noticed your damper is rusty or hard to open or you've found puddles in your fireplace. Both are signs that you need a cap. If the damper pins or casing rust out, it can cost anywhere from $300 to $600 to have the old casing ripped out and a new one installed. On heatilator type fireplaces the dampers are virtually impossible to replace. And, of course, if the mortar in a masonry chimney goes, the cost of repair or replacement is quite high.

As for those birds, squirrels, and raccoons - all of them consider chimneys the ideal place to safely raise a family...or enter a house easily. When they nest, they bring fleas, ticks and other messes with them. If they enter a house, they often panic - wrecking furnishings as they try to escape. Some smart raccoons, of course, find the chimney the perfect "gateway" to the kitchen, tracking sooty pawprints all over everything as they trek back and forth to the pantry. Cute? Maybe. Destructive? Definitely.

Chimney caps or covers are made in various styles with different materials - ranging from heavy pieces of slate placed on "columns" at the flue top, to painted metal or aluminum caps that attach to the chimney liner. What you should look for in a chimney cap is one that will keep out rain and animals, but that can be easily removed for chimney inspection and maintenance.

Don't wait until the raccoons nest in your chimney this Spring. Or until your rusty damper falls off in your hand. Ask your chimney sweep to show you the caps he or she has to offer. You can usually save money if you get one at the same time your chimney is swept or inspected. . -Text by National Chimney Sweep Guild

Make it a clean sweep. Chimney maintenance today lets you breathe easy this winter.
-by Karyn Miller Medzon, Boston Sunday Herald
October 13, 1996

With winter just a few short months away, New Englanders are digging deep into their closets, extracting sweaters, coats, hats and mittens. While no one wants to be caught unprepared when the mercury begins to plummet, many overlook some of the most important preparations of all: those necessary to keep your home safe throughout the winter, lower your heating costs and provide indoor comfort through the chilly season.

One of the first and most important measures to consider in winterizing your home is having your chimney inspected, and, if necessary, cleaned. Though many think chimneys need only be serviced in homes where fireplaces are used, all heating systems - whether they burn gas, oil, wood or coal, rely on the chimney to safely carry toxic gases out of the home, said Mary Ellen Dickie of Boston's Best Chimney Sweep.

The most serious risk associated with inadequate chimney maintenance is the release of carbon monoxide into the home - something that happens when a blockage forces the byproducts of burning back into the house instead of out the chimney. Another reason to have your chimney inspected, Dickie said, is to make sure that it's free of animals, such as raccoons, that view chimneys as "hollow trees in the city." "They can go up and down the flue because of their body size. It's warm in there and there's a shelf above the damper where they can nest and have babies."

With the approach of winter, Dickie also suggests having your heating system filters inspected, to make sure no blockages exist. For those with masonry chimneys, ComGas has several additional suggestions, which include

• checking the exterior of the chimney to make sure there is no evidence of white chalky deposits, moisture, cracking or loose mortar.
• Next, the company recommends emptying the cleanout pit at the base of the chimney. The contents should be inspected to determine if bits of mortar, brick or stone are present, since these would be evidence that deterioration is taking place.
• Finally, ComGas recommends a professional inspection, followed, when necessary, by a cleaning. Once you know your heating system is safe, you can turn your sights to preserving the precious warmth it produces.

"Start by taking a look around the house at caulking and weather stripping," said Boston Edison spokesman Mike Monahan. "It's not hard to do and it's not expensive." Another factor people often overlook in their quest for a warm home is the positioning of their furniture and draperies, since large chairs and curtains often end up blocking heating vents, Monahan said. "If you have permanent air conditioners, it's time to cover them up so that you don't have cold air coming in around them," he added. "And while you're at it, make sure your baseboard heaters are dirt free - which can also waste heat." For those unsure of whether they need additional caulking, weather stripping or insulation, both ComGas and Boston Edison provide free home energy audits. Call 800.445-9727 for Boston Edison and 800.666-3303 for the ComGas One-Stop Saver program.

Also important to assess when preparing your home for winter is whether you have sufficient insulation - particularly in the attic, where heat loss is most pronounced. How do you decide whether you have adequate insulation? "It depends on the kind of heating bills you're getting," said Michael Moxley of Hugh's Energy Insulation Corp. "If you're not satisfied with your costs, then it makes sense to have somebody come out and do an estimate." Additional wall insulation can save homeowners between 16 and 20 percent in their heating bills, while attic insulation saves up to 22 percent, Moxley said. Moxley also suggests installing storm windows, placing weather stripping around doors and caulking around windows.

Did you know...

Though many think chimneys need only be serviced in homes where fireplaces are used, all heating systems - whether they burn gas, oil, wood or coal, rely on the chimney to safely carry toxic gases out of the home. Have a Professional Inspection.

ComGas recommends a professional inspection, followed, when necessary, by a cleaning. ComGas and Boston Edison provide free home energy audits. Call 800.445-9727 for Boston Edison and 800.666-3303 for the ComGas One-Stop Saver program .