About Us
Frequently asked questions:
On this page I hope to answer some of the things I get asked about as a Brighton chimney sweep.
Now into my 11th season as an independent chimney sweep in Brighton, Hove and the surrounding area I have an in depth knowledge of all the different type of properties ranging from the Victorian and Edwardian terraced streets of Brighton with their 4 pot flues
to 1960's bungalow found in the coastal suburbs.
HOW OFTEN TO SWEEP A CHIMNEY?
Once a year for regular users and twice a year for heavy burners. Even the cleanest of fuels leave deposits, may be blocked by spiders webs or birds nests and annual chimney sweep visits are recommended by both the Fire service and household insurers.
OPEN FIRE VS WOOD BURNER:
Both forms of heating have their pluses and minuses. If you already have a working fireplace then you might be thinking of getting a wood burner installed to save on fuel costs. Typically, an open fire uses around 3 times the amount of logs that a wood burner does so if we say that on average using the fire weekends and the odd cozy night in the week you might use 6 bags at £75 to £95 a metre builders bag. that's £260 to maybe £400 more per year than a wood burner would use.
If we say that the average cost for a smallish but decent quality type of stove with a liner fitted will be around £1500 then on money terms for just on the logs saved it will take around 4years to get your money back on the stove installation. If the wood burner is to get near daily use then expect a much quicker pay back. To cut costs and for a more efficient burn logs should be lit on an open fire sitting on a good bed of ashes.
Wood burners are far less dusty than an open fire.
Wood burners are safer. There are no flames dancing about in your living room. Most chimney fires are caused by masonry chimneys from open fires that have not been cleaned properly or too much oily or resiny wood has been burnt like pine or even teak which then catches fire. Some fires are caused by sparks shooting out from the fire onto carpets and open fires that are left unattended. Steel liners, provided the stove has been used correctly are much cleaner.
Also, in our more environmentally aware times, modern wood burners burn carbon neutral wood and give off much lower amounts of soot smoke. All newly fitted wood burners nowadays have to be ultra efficient Defra approved stoves.
Open fires throw out a different radiant heat that is blocked partly by people or animals being in the way. The flames flickering and the sounds of the wood crackling away however are unmatched by the enclosed stoves that may only have a little window to look through. There really is nothing to match the ambience and cozy home feel of an open fire or a wood burner on a cold winters evening.
BEST PLACES TO GET FUEL:
Most people buy in their logs in 1 metre square bulk bags from the local suppliers that are around. Prices are from £75 to £100 or in excess of £120 for kiln dried wood. Prices are cheaper towards the eastern end of the county where the larger forests are. Beware of buying logs from some of the larger companies that buy in imported wood, don't season it properly and fill out the bags with soft wood to increase their profit.
I can recommend a list of local suppliers selling sustainably sourced, Sussex logs made up of predominantly quality burns like ash and oak. Sussex is a very wooded county still and has a historically large log market that is well established to supply everyones fuel needs, there is no need to buy in imported timber. The ash dieback crisis has produced a lot of wood for the log market.
SEASONED WOOD:
Seasoned, or dried wood is easier to light and burns hotter. Wet wood burning is using it's own fuel to dry out before it burns off the water producing a lot less heat into your room. Also wet wood will tar up flues in no time due to the colder smoke and incomplete combustion. All wood takes at least a year to dry the sap out. Only hard woods are suitable for heating homes.
MOST COMMON PROBLEMS:
By far the most common problems are caused by burning the wrong fuel. Soft woods like pine that has a lot of sticky resin in it will tar up flues in no time. Often people will burn a lot of pine offcuts they have got hold of or saw up pallet wood and use that. Pine offcuts are best used as kindling in very small doses.
Yes but you need a reasonable draw and in the Brighton area we are blessed with well designed Victorian and Edwardian flues that have a good draw. If you have a 16" wide bow front and an 8" back then an 8" stove mix type of logs will do. The narrow flues and tight dogs leg bends of Victorian and Edwardian terrace houses in Brighton were designed in the coal age and coal burns much hotter than wood creating more draw.
CAN I BURN COAL IN AN OPEN WOOD FIREPLACE:
Again yes but by reason of economy coal burns best in a more enclosed space. You could use the coal up very quickly. The straight sides of a usual open fireplace do not reflect the heat back in the room very well unlike coal ones that are shaped to do just this. This can be remedied by inserting an iron coal insert which will have a coal grate fitting. The heavy metal iron surround will also reflect heat back out into the room. Although the tiled fireplaces look pretty an iron insert acts like a giant radiator, invented and perfected by the Victorians they make the most efficient use of coal by throwing out a large percentage of the heat created by the fuel and teamed up with modern, clean burning smokeless coal like that make this type of fireplace ultra efficient.
BIRDS NESTS:
Jackdaws like nesting in holes and our chimney pots must be very enticing for them despite the soot. It can be incredible just how many twigs they manage to stuff down a flue and in turn how hard it can be to shift them as they can be wedged in tight. They will often prefer to nest in houses along ridges with a good view, near woods or just a few trees and some houses in certain areas are more prone to birds nests. Very rarely a pigeon may nest on top of a pot but the seagulls don't, they prefer flat areas on the roof. Seaguls though will chuck bones and all sorts of other things down chimney pots. Sparrows also nest often in anti-downdraught cowls but much prefer behind facia boards and that type of thing.
DISCOUNTS:
There are discounts for multiple flues in the same property, the more there are the cheaper it gets. Also discounts for neighbours chipping in together to get their chimneys swepton the same day.
CLEANING INGLENOOKS:
Inglenook fireplaces are charged extra according to size but are typically £85.
UNLINED CHIMNEYS:
If you have an unlined chimney with a wood burner there has to be access to the flue so it can be swept through proper sweeping hatches either side of the stove pipe. Wood burners are designed to be used with class 1 stainless steel liners and so without having one fitted could make the chimney a fair bit harder to clean. This is because the modern wood burners are so efficient the smoke and gases coming out of the top are much cooler than other types of solid fuel fires and so will condense much easier on the sides of the brick built flue that is inside your chimney. When a liner is fitted to the wood stove the smoke can escape much quicker out of the pot and the shiny sides of the liner means the soot won't stick so easily. Liners are usually very easy to clean with the right gear and, so long as it is swept regularly and good quality fuel is used the chance of chimney fires will be eliminated. The quickest way to wreck any flue is by burning soft resiny woods like pine which stick to the inside of any flue and build up quickly into a thick, hard and brittle creosote. A sweeps nightmare!
COMMON CAUSES OF POOR DRAW:
If you have smoke coming into the room where it wasn't before then there may be a blockage like a birds nest or it may just need a good clean.
Some chimneys will naturally have a poor draw like bungalows as the shorter chimneys don't allow a good updraught to develop. Exterior facing chimneys are colder in winter and don't heat up as quick as the warmer a chimney is the better the draw.
Wood burners that have the stove pipe coming out of the back will not draw as well as top fitted stove pipes. Often, Defra approved high efficiency multi fuel stoves which have a firebox neatly enclosed in firebricks and with a smaller gap between the top baffle plate will clog up easily with soot.
Back to open fireplaces and believe it or not probably the most common cause of smoke coming back into a room when burning after the summer lay off will be cobwebs. As chimneys draw air up them they suck insects and in turn this attracts spiders and their webs then clog up with dust restricting the air flow further.
HOW TO FIND OUT THE DRAW:
If you want to find out the draw of your chimney for yourself in an open fire just crumple up some newspaper in the grate and light it. The natural draw should take all the smoke up with it. Proper smoke pellets give a much better view of it though, it's the same for a wood burner but open the door a couple of inches after it has filled up with smoke a bit, billowing should be seen going down the glass this mimicks the flames bouncing off the baffle plate to the front and down instead of going straight up and out. This is what makes stoves so efficient. The stove is burning the various wood gases that would otherwise go straight up a chimney. The smoke should rush up the flue nicely when the door is ajar slightly with none coming back out into the room.
Wood burner door window gets sooty quick:
It is very common for wood burner glass to soot up quickly and this will be from shutting off the air flow. Keeping a good air flow going through the stove when its being used will prevent this.
Thinking of getting a wood burner?
You will need to get your chimney swept beforehand to clear it of any debris so the liner will drop down smoothly and won't kink.Your stove installer could do this for your or I can.
CharlieChimneySweep
Defra type wood burning stoves a speciality
FULLY INSURED AND EXPERIENCED, YOU CAN EXPECT A PROPER SWEEP FROM ME!
