“Heaters” can be all kinds of things but, from fireplace inserts to electric space heaters, they present a fire hazard and need to be safely used. If they can warm you up quickly, they do the same for other things, so space heaters need to be carefully positioned. If cozy fires can heat the room, even a little, imagine what they can do to the chimney above them, so fireplaces need clean chimneys.
Otherwise, it does not take long for the space heater to catch the drapes on fire and the fireplace to ignite the creosote. There are safety concerns with the use of every type of heater, whether inside or outside the home. Portable fire pits carry their own dangers and outdoor ovens get just as dirty as the ones inside.
Heating Up More than the Den
Obviously, heat from fireplaces raises enormous risks, hopefully up the chimney and out of the house. When chimneys are not kept clean and in good working condition by CSIA certified sweeps, those risks remain in both your chimney and your home. If obstructions block updrafts or creosote accumulates unnoticed, the “family room heater” can become a deadly weapon.
In addition to risks of fire with improper use, even space heaters can stir things to life in air you do not want to breathe. This gets compounded when apparent vents in bathrooms and kitchens actually go nowhere except the crawl space above them. Those need to be checked by venting professionals when they clean your other air ducts and vents.
Remember All Your Heaters
From mere conveniences to basic, built-in parts of your house, “heaters” pose many of the risks of fire whether or not they involve it. Their portability increases the likelihood that small heaters will end up too close to the wrong thing and bring on real heat. The big guys, from gas furnaces to wood fireplaces, are especially dangerous “heaters” – because too often we forget the danger they can bring.
It is that time of year! – when warmer weather draws us outdoors and keeps us there for barbeques in the still chilly evenings. This almost universal love of eating and relaxing outdoors with friends explains the soaring popularity of fire pits. Warm and attractive, they make perfect portable outdoor heaters…but they do not come without some fire dangers.
Long at the center of outdoor gatherings, fire has always brought people together, whether around bonfires or wood stoves. Now fire comes in pretty outdoor packaging, with a huge array of choices for consumers, including full-on outdoor fireplaces. Far cheaper and simpler fire pits are the ones stealing the home show, raging with popularity and small, controlled fires.
There’s the Rub
That “small, controlled” part is essential to safety around fire pits, since the last thing you want is to start a much bigger fire. That can happen for several reasons:
placement too close to flammables
too much fuel for the fire in the pit
failure to put the lid on it
sudden gusts of wind that lift sparks through screens
pit fires left burning unattended
As much as we like to think that we are careful when we build fires outdoors, entertaining our friends distracts us from lots of things. We start the fire and run indoors to spice-rub the steaks, forgetting to specifically ask someone to keep an eye on the pit. Our friends, however, are playing darts and shooting hoops and nobody is really minding the fire.
Slings and Arrows
It only takes a spark to start the fire you did not intend, so never walk away from an unattended fire. Run the risk of a few verbal barbs and designate a pit minder if you are busy. ‘Tis nobler to be a drag than completely irresponsible, so put up with the ribbing you might get and play it safe. When the fire is no longer small and controlled within your pit, your risks rise with the flames.
By Ronald Caillais on March 20th, 2013 | Tagged with: Tags: fire hazards, fire pits |
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Lovable Bert, who forever left us with an impression of chimney sweeps as soot faced rooftop dancers, was in some ways a fitting caricature. He was, after all, a jack of all trades, selling kites one minute, cleaning chimneys the next. That can be what you get these days if you do not ask the right question when you choose a chimney sweep.
Professional Fitness for a Changing Job
It is important to remember that this profession began with less than scrupulous simple vent cleaners who were no longer a good fit for modernized chimneys. That pretty well describes some of the “chimney sweeps” who completed a quick training in the use of specialized brushes and got a business license. They may be equipped to clean a modern chimney, but they are a bad fit for modern fireplace systems and they are not really into them.
Bert was not the guy to handle an inspection of the chimney to assess its condition, safety, and performance. He was the type to tap dance around clearances without ever knowing they were there. You may love him, but Bert is far from a CSIA certified chimney sweep, and not the guy you want to entrust with your home safety.
One Tip Is All You Need
The ability to professionally inspect your chimney is the primary thing for which you should be looking. That is what takes years of training and ongoing education, and that is what results in chimney sweep certification. Young boys living in orphanages were quickly taught to clean chimneys, but nobody relied on them to do more than that.
The most important tip we have for you is really the only one you need…to make a good choice. Ask the sweep you called if they have proof of industry certification in addition to a license and insurance. If he is not a certified sweep, simply look elsewhere to find someone that is truly qualified to clean your chimney.
Creosote is an unavoidable result of fireplace use so, if the fireplace is more than just a decorative feature, creosote will be in the chimney. It can be there in any or all of three forms, or stages, of development, and the sooner it is gone, the better. In addition to being traps for many of those horrible smells that linger in fireplaces, creosote is also extremely corrosive.
Stage 3 Creosote – Image Courtesy of The Mad Hatter Chimney Service in Indianapolis, IN.
Danger in All Three Forms of Creosote
Every time smoke goes up the chimney, it carries what will become creosote with it, which is commonly known as soot. This is the first stage of creosote development, and the easiest for chimney sweeps to deal with. When the fire goes out and the chimney cools, the tars in soot condense on the walls of the flue liner.
Enter stage two, when creosote is a sticky, tar-like, corrosive substance on the chimney walls. This gooey gunk eats away at the flue liner, exposing it to moisture which then completely compromises the chimney’s integrity. The primary danger that creosote poses in spring and summer is the steady corrosion of the flue by the stage two goo dried into porous chunks of gunk.
Stage three unfolds when the gunk solidifies into a hard shiny buildup, known as chimney glaze, which is extremely difficult to remove. Under no circumstances can a fire be lit in a fireplace with stage-three creosote in the chimney, unless you are trying to burn the house down. Indeed, another danger of creosote buildup is a chimney fire, with its loud roar and menacing shake of the structure.
Time to Go
As the seasons change, and we get ready to do our spring cleaning and yard work, it is important to remember to schedule a chimney cleaning and inspection. Not only will our homes smell fresher, but our chimneys will be ready to handle the showers and downpours and steady drumbeats of rain that are coming. With corrosive creosote removed, their dangers are a thing of the past, until the next time the fireplace is used.
