Chimneys:
Possible Problems:
Even if your chimney looks solid on the outside, it could be hiding any number of problems on the inside. Cracked, broken or missing flue tiles, broken or missing bricks, and deteriorating mortar should be replaced. A harmless looking hairline crack in a section of tile flue liner may open up when exposed to high temperatures. Escaping heat or flame could set your house on fire! Flakes and chunks from deteriorating masonry or rusting metal inside or on top of the chimney may accumulate in a bend or elbow in the flue passageway and block the exhaust of smoke and dangerous gases. Birds can block the flue with their nests. Animals such as raccoons, squirrels or snakes may be taking shelter in your chimney. Your chimney may need a cap to keep out birds, animals, leaves, rain and snow. Often a chimney flue is not the appropriate size for the best performance of the fireplace, stove or furnace it is venting. Many chimneys do not have an adequate liner. A stove or fireplace insert may have been incorrectly installed. Sweeps frequently find that a stove’s clearances to combustible materials are less than the installation instructions or codes specify. Excess heat radiating onto combustible walls or floors from a heating appliance may cause a process known as pyrolysis, which decreases the ignition temperature of those materials. You know that burning wood, oil or coal leads to a build-up of soot in the flue. When was the last time you had your chimney swept?
Prevent Fires:
When you burn a fire in your fireplace or woodstove, smoke is created. Smoke actually contains droplets of unburned carbon material from your firewood, and some of these droplets condense on the inner walls of the flue, forming creosote.
These deposits can easily ignite – a slightly hotter fire than normal or newspapers flaming up to the damper could be enough.
Once kindled, creosote burns with an intense fire at temperatures above 2000°F. Creosote burning inside a chimney is known as a “flue fire” or “chimney fire.” Flaming balls of debris may be lifted out of your chimney onto your roof, your lawn, or your next door neighbor’s house. Structural materials in your house near the chimney, such as wood framing or paper-coated gypsum board, may be exposed to extremely high temperatures. Your chimney may be weakened so that it is unusable, or the house itself could catch fire.
On the other hand, creosote deposits can build up to the point where the flue is severely restricted. It may be difficult to light a fire or keep it going. Smoke or noxious fumes may spill out into your living area.
Professional chimney sweeps remove these creosote deposits from the chimney, opening the passageway for smoke and reducing the potential for an uncontrolled flue fire.
People who heat with wood are less likely to have a flue fire if they hire professional chimney sweeps than if they clean their own chimneys, a nationwide study showed.
Save Energy:
Keeping your heating system clean helps it operate more efficiently, and helps you get the most for your energy dollars. “Creosote can act as a thermal insulator,” according to Jay Shelton (Solid Fuels Encyclopedia). “Deposits inside a stove, connector, or interior exposed chimney can reduce heat transfer, which lowers the overall efficiency of the system.
Help Prevent Pollution:
Operating your combustion appliance most efficiently, whether it is a woodstove, fireplace, pellet stove or furnace, helps reduce the amount of smoke it will generate. The services of a competent chimney professional can help you attain that goal.
Air pollution from woodstoves and fireplaces has been a problem in some areas, so a maximum level of particulate emissions is enforced for new woodstoves on the market. Before any stove model can be sold, manufacturers must submit a sample for testing under controlled conditions in an emissions laboratory. If the stove model doesn’t smoke too much it is then “certified” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This has been the law in the United States since 1990.
Regular maintenance, including chimney sweeping, is important to keep certified stoves and other heating appliances operating at peak efficiency. Stoves serviced regularly by a chimney sweep averaged 65% less smoke than other stoves in a study where EPA-certified woodstoves were tested for emissions after many years of real world household use.
Save Lives:
Every winter, we hear or read about needless tragedies occurring when people are poisoned by carbon monoxide due to blocked or faulty flues.
Not reported, of course, are the countless times when such tragedies are prevented by timely inspection and cleaning and/or repair. Your chimney professional can probably tell you, with justifiable satisfaction, of instances where he or she has saved a family from disaster by getting called just in time.
Are you sure your combustion systems are in suitable condition?
Please Call Alliance Property Services for your free inspection of your chimney TODAY, before it’s too late…
Yourself and family could be at risk…
Do something NOW to correct this problem…
DO YOU have a chimney cap?
We can help you TODAY, please call 408.227.4697 OR 800.975.4697
www.Alliance-PropertyServices.com
***LICENSED, INSURED & BONDED***
***FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY, MENTION THIS CRAIGSLIST AD AND RECIEVE A 20% DISCOUNT ON ALL SERVICES***
***We are proud members of the BBB (San Jose Better Business Bureau), ECHO (Executive Council of Homeowners), TCAA (Tri County Apartment Association) and SDCAA (San Diego County Apartment Association) providing services since 1995***
|
