Three Fireplace Tips for New Homeowners

9/1/2016

As the owner of a new home, a fireplace can be a bit daunting. Even if you’ve used a fireplace before, there’s no way to know how your particular fireplace was maintained by its previous owners. Whether you’re a seasoned professional at stoking flames or a novice looking to light it up for the first time, here are some important fireplace tips for new homeowners.

1. Know your fireplace type.

Not every fireplace is the same. Before you even consider getting a blaze going, you must know what kind of fireplace you have.

Out of all the options available on the market today, the wood-burning fireplace is still one of the most common types. As the only option that actively utilizes a chimney, wood-burning fireplaces also require the most maintenance from a professional. Services like those provided by Clean Sweep ensure that potentially dangerous creosote deposits don’t get trapped within your chimney. Wood-burning fireplaces also require that the owner empties the ashes from the ash dump preferably after each time the fireplace is used.

2. Understand how your chimney works.

Sure, you’ve seen a chimney before, and you’ve watched smoke billowing out its top end while the roaring flame rages within. What you may not have considered, however, is how a chimney’s design is so important to its overall function.

This excerpt, taken from the Wood Heat Organization Inc., says it best:

When a chimney is filled with hot gas, that gas tends to rise because it is less dense than the air outside the house. The rising hot gas creates a pressure difference called draft which draws combustion air into the appliance and expels the exhaust gas outside.

Two factors affect the amount of draft produced by a chimney.

1. Heat: the hotter the gases in the chimney compared to the air outside, the stronger the draft.
2. Height: the taller the chimney, the more draft it will produce at a given temperature difference.

3. Have your chimney inspected and cleaned regularly.

Taking into account the amount of exhaust that flows through a chimney each minute, it’s completely reasonable to believe that this system could become gunked up from time to time.

As a result, it’s not only important to have your chimney inspected before you use it for the first time, but it is also wise to have your chimney re-inspected before the start of each autumn season. This way, any exterior damage caused by warm-weather storms, as well as internal buildup of creosote deposits from the previous year’s fires, can be detected and taken care of accordingly. A failure to do so could result in a dangerous chimney fire that can cause massive damage to your chimney or even burn down your home!

Use your fireplace responsibly.

A warm, toasty fire can be one of the most enjoyable experiences of the colder seasons, but only if done so in a safe manner. A thorough chimney inspection from Clean Sweep could mean the difference between a cozy home or a charred one.

Take back some peace of mind in knowing that your fireplace is ready to tackle the cold. Schedule your inspection today.