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 Everything you need to make your wood-burning experience safe, attractive, and enjoyable:
- A Woodstove Thermometer will help you burn your fires hot enough to avoid building up flammable creosote in the chimney
- Cast-Iron Fireplace Grates hold logs securely and safely
- Choose from a selection of decorative and plain Firebacks to radiate heat into your room
- Hearth and wall protection in a variety of materials, colors, and costs
- If your flue's too small in relation to the fireplace opening, it's likely that the fireplace smokes back. Install a Smoke Guard (available in black or brass) to adjust the ratio.
- (not shown) Fireplace Glass Doors, Hearth Rugs, Wood Carriers, Steamers, Fireplace Screens, and much more. Ask your technician.
We often hear questions about the consumer use of chemical chimney cleaning products to the exclusion of conventional chimney inspections and cleaning. These products often are promoted for their ability to remove a portion of the creosote from a masonry or metal chimney interior through catalytic action when burned in a fireplace or wood stove. Use of these products alone is not an adequate substitute for mechanical chimney cleaning and inspection because it does not provide the same level of protection to the chimney system. Current promotional claims for some of the products may be creating a false sense of security among consumers.
It is the consensus among qualified experts that chimney maintenance is best achieved through annual inspections and mechanical sweeping by trained professional chimney sweeps. Chimney inspections often reveal hidden problems within a chimney structure that could be potentially hazardous. Mechanical sweeping of chimneys not only removes layers of creosote from the chimney surface, it removes the resulting loose soot and creosote from the chimney, fireplace, or wood stove. A substantial percentage of fireplace and wood stove chimneys do not provide a straight path from the firebox to the outside. If chemical chimney cleaning products cause debris in the chimney to fall, that debris still needs to be removed from the smoke shelf, baffle, catalytic combustor, or offset in order to ensure a properly functioning chimney.
Chemical products that claim to clean or assist in cleaning chimneys are not new. Indeed, some of these chemical products are used successfully by professional chimney sweeps in conjunction with the mechanical cleaning of a chimney. In some situations a chimney can develop a hard-glazed or tacky layer of creosote in the chimney that cannot be removed by normal mechanical brushing. Under the supervision of a qualified chimney professional, certain chemical cleaners may be used to change the chemical composition of the hard-glazed or tacky layer of creosote into a brittle or powdery condition to facilitate its removal.
The optimal method for cleaning a chimney is by a mechanical brushing of the chimney in conjunction with a complete evaluation of the system by a qualified chimney professional. The Chimney Safety Institute of America and the National Fire Protection Association recommend annual inspections.
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