Picture this, you come home from a long day of working in the 90° heat. You start the shower, peel off your clothes, make the proverbial leap into the tub to be hit with ICE. COLD. WATER. No hot water. What happened?
You immediately call your plumber or oil burner technician for a service call. You thought you had your annual tune-up, or was that the year before? Geez, maybe it’s been a couple of years. You finally find someone who can come out right away. He looks everything over and nothing seems to be wrong with the unit, but it’s not drafting properly. He says simply, “have you had your chimney checked lately?” Chimney? The chimney can shut down the heat and hot water? Yes it can.
Most boilers and furnaces, regardless of the fuel, vent through the chimney. The purpose of the chimney is to carry the flue gasses and exhaust up and out so it doesn’t vent into the living spaces. As a safety feature, when the boiler or water heater can’t do that, it shuts down. This can also happen when the humidity is high or the boiler is not getting enough fresh air to operate, either way, you have poor draft. That’s where we come in…
First and foremost, a chimney inspection is needed to determine if the flue is blocked or “obstructed”, where and with what. We find all sorts of obstructions. Animal nests, dead animals (ew!), twigs and debris from close trees and even collapsed tiles or brick.
Depending on the type of obstruction is how we’ll approach the removal. The collapsed tiles are the hardest type of obstructions to remove. They can be massive and may even require demo for removal.
Animal nests can be tricky especially if it’s occupied, however any nest containing a live chimney swift refuge is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and cannot be removed without a federally-issued permit. Luckily, we do not run into chimney swifts very often.
Regardless of what the flue is obstructed with, Boston’s Best Chimney can identify and remove safely. Don’t want to risk a cold shower? Even better. Call us today for a visual inspection and sweeping of your heating flue.