Your questions answered, a new video series – Why do I need a chimney sweep?
Lee Pearce of Apex Chimney Sweeps London explains why you need a chimney sweep and why they need to be certified professional chimney sweeps.
Video Transcript
(with added subheadings for better readability)
Chimneys should be swept for safety reasons
Lee Pearce: A chimney should be swept to ensure that it is safe to use. To ensure that the combustion gases escape, and go out to the outside air rather than come back into the room.
Combustion Gases
When burning any fire but especially a real fire (wood or coal) the combustion gasses contain soot and other components that can hold in the chimney and catch fire – so the purpose of sweeping the chimney would be, two fold, firstly,to make sure that the flue is clear of obstruction and that it takes the combustion gases away and secondly that the flue is swept clear of soot to make sure that it doesn’t catch fire.
Chimney Sweeping For Gas Fires
Even if you don’t burn a real fire – if you burn a gas fire – cobwebs can block flues. If you get cobwebs in chimneys and brick dust falls on top of them, that can block a flue also, and inhibit the fumes from going out through the chimney, in the same way a birds nest can be very dangerous, blocking the flue and preventing the safe evacuation of the combustion gasses.
Poisonous Fumes
The fumes are not just fumes, they are actually quite deadly. They contain carbon monoxide and other noxious gases so they’re not something to be breathed in. They’re certainly not something you want to come into the house. So you would sweep the chimney to make it safer.
When you sweep a chimney, you can’t guarantee it’s 100% safe but it’s certainly a lot safer than if you don’t sweep it.
How often should my chimneys be swept?
Chimneys need to be swept at different intervals. Chimneys burning wood need to be swept every three months that they’re used, if they’re used daily. If they’re used less often, probably one a year will be fine. For smokeless coal, the recommendation is that they’re swept once a year, for gas fires once a year. And if you use Bituminous Coal, which is coal that’s dug out of the ground – raw coal – then they should be swept every 3 months that they’re used, which is twice in the wintertime.
There are guidelines from the solid fuel association. There are also guidelines from my own trade association, which is the Guild Of Master Chimney Sweeps.
Chimney Sweeping Certificates
After we have swept the chimney, we will issue a certificate to say that the chimney’s been swept in accordance with the code of practice, which is an industry standard code of practice – and we detail what we find, good or bad, onto the certificate. So once we have swept the chimney, you have information – not only verbally, but in writing – of what we’ve found during the sweep.
Chimney Sweeping Warnings – do you need a chimney sweep? Yes you do.
If we find something that we deem to be dangerous, we will issue a Warning Notice which will contain the details of our findings. In effect this is a prohibition notice on the chimney or appliance of whatever it is we find to be dangerous. We will attach a warning label to the appliance itself. Once completed both the Chimney Sweeping Certificate and the Warning Notice will require the customers signature. If the Certificate says everything is Acceptable then the installation is good to use. But if we issue a Warning Notice, that is a directive that you do not continue to use the fireplace / chimney until the fault has been rectified, if you do continue to use the fire then you could be in breach of current regulations and are certainly placing yourself, anybody else in the property,the property itself and possibly that of your neighbours in a dangerous situation.
For more information about chimney sweeping in London or elsewhere, please check our FAQ page.
