Your chimney is the most important part of your house if you live in countries where the winters are unbearable. Imagine the bliss sitting in front of the fireplace and warming up yourself. But cleaning the chimney and maintaining it on an annual basis by a chimney sweep service is equally important or else you could be putting your family and your house in danger.

Why Chimney Cleaning Is Essential?

Cleaning is not just sweeping the burning remnants from the fireplace but you will need to call in the chimney sweep to professionally clean the chimney and scrape the interior walls of the chimney from soot and creosote. Creosote is a flammable and dangerous by-product of burning wood that is released when the gases are produced and cool down as they gradually travel up the chimney. When it cools down it gets stuck on the interior walls of the chimney. It forms as a sticky tar-like substance. The buildup increases with time and is flammable. So, if it is not cleaned it can lead to dangerous house fires.

Ways To Clean Your Chimney

Since now you know how utterly important it is to keep your chimney clean, now you should search for ways so that it stays maximum clean. What you already know is that a professional is called for the cleaning and this should be done annually to rid the interior of the accumulated creosote and soot.

Furthermore, you can also clean your chimney yourself by cleaning from top to bottom or from bottom to the top. You need protective gear and chimney cleaning tools to perform this.

Is there a chimney cleaning method which doesn’t take too much of time and energy? You can burn chimney cleaning logs, potato peels or aluminum cans to clean it. We will discuss the aluminum cans method.

Cleaning Your Chimney By Burning Aluminum Cans

1. Yes, the empty aluminum cans which you tend to crush and kick in your bins is a way to keep your chimney clean. Many people tried it and some said it works while some said it’s a waste of time. But certain conditions and prerequisites are required for the whole burning process so that the chimney could be cleaned.
2. For this method you will need the temperature to be extremely hot. You will need to start the fire and put papers in it so that the fire is kindled. Put rolled papers or newspapers and burn it and then put it on fire so that a draft starts and the fire begins to get very hot.
3. Open the damper completely so that the smoke can easily escape out and the temperature of the room stays normal.
4. Use dry hardwood for this as dry hardwood burns efficiently and produces a good amount of fire.
5. Use a draft regulator to get a good hot fire burning. A good draft is the ultimate necessity because for the fire to be extremely hot, it should get a continuous source of oxygen.
6. Maintain a good and hot fire for a good amount of time. Carefully add the wood without displacing the fire. The temperature should increase 250 degrees Fahrenheit for the aluminum can method to work.
7. When the fire is burning very hot, add a few aluminum cans to the fire. If your chimney is throwing off a heavy cloud of smoke then it means creosote is being accumulated. Add a few more aluminum cans.
8. When the cans are burnt, manganese is released. Manganese reacts with the creosote and causes the tar like substance to wear off. The creosote turns into flakes and scrapes and then into a powdery form and falls into the fire box.
9. Next day when the fire is off and the chimney cools down. Clean the firebox thoroughly. Then brush and scrape the sides of the interior to completely get rid of soot and creosote.
10. Done. You have cleaned your chimney and fireplace with less effort.

Conclusion

Surely if this procedure is followed correctly then you get rid of soot and creosote at home. But this method still does not compensate for professional cleaning. You should hire chimney cleaning services Ellicott City on an annual basis to clean and repair the chimney.