Can Chimney Sweeping Logs Take The Place Of Professional Maintenance?
We value all our clients at Clean Sweep of Anne Arundel County, and we hope that by coming to see you once a year for a chimney sweeping and chimney inspection , you can spend the whole heating season enjoying peace of mind. Our goal is to keep our clients’ chimney systems in tip-top shape, providing a proper cleaning and a thorough inspection that alerts you to any issues while they’re small and easy to repair.
What’s The Difference Between How Chimney Sweeping Logs Work And What A Chimney Sweep Does?
A professional chimney technician uses specially designed brushes and tools and high-tech vacuums to manually remove creosote deposits and other byproducts from your chimney system, top to bottom. We brush everything from your firebox all the way up through your flue, and we remove the debris, ensuring that none of it gets into your home.
Before purchasing a chimney sweeping log product, make sure you understand the risks. There is no substitute for the eyes of an expert.
As CSIA-certified technicians, we’ve been extensively trained and tested to ensure that we’re doing that work properly, so that your system is free of damaging and combustible creosote and prepared for a thorough chimney inspection.
At Clean Sweep of Anne Arundel County, every chimney sweeping visit includes a chimney inspection — and inspections are key to maintaining the highest levels of safety and performance in your chimney system. During our inspections, we use the industry-leading Chim-Scan camera to inspect your entire system, checking for any cracks, gaps, voids, separations, installation issues or other problems. We’ll recommend any necessary repairs, and answer any questions you might have about upkeep or smart and efficient burning practices. In essence: We’ll help you enjoy your heating system in the best way possible, every step of the way.
Chimney Sweeping Logs are basically a chemical catalyst designed to break up creosote deposits so they fall from your flue walls. Ideally, you’d remove that creosote deposit debris from your firebox after it falls. But there are a lot of issues that make this process less than ideal.
If creosote deposits do fall from your flue walls, there’s no guarantee that they won’t land and collect on your smoke shelf, leaving a mound of highly combustible material in a spot in your system that gets extremely hot, or creating a flue blockage. That can quickly turn into a fire hazard.
If a log does remove some of your creosote, there’s no way to ensure that you’re getting a thorough cleaning, so you can’t be sure that you’re using a chimney that’s set up for the level of safety and performance you expect and need. And a log can’t inspect a chimney to make sure there aren’t hidden cracks, leaks or fire hazards hiding in the system.
We think of it a little like dental maintenance — brushing your teeth every day is certainly a helpful practice, but it doesn’t take the place of regular visits to your dentist, who can make sure you have a proper, professional cleaning and are keeping serious issues at bay.
The Chimney Safety Institute of America’s Word On The Matter
The Chimney Safety Institute of America, which guides the chimney industry’s best practices, says that burning a chemical cleaning log “does not take the place of inspection and professional cleaning,” and we can’t think of a much better way to put it. The CSIA’s guidelines for ensuring the safety and proper function of your chimney system are simple and direct. Your chimney should be:
1. Inspected completely by a qualified CSIA Certified technician
2. Repaired, as necessary, by qualified CSIA Certified technicians
3. Thoroughly swept — with the waste material properly removed — by a qualified CSIA Certified technician
And we can help. Just give Clean Sweep of Anne Arundel County a call!