How to Clean a Fireplace Chimney

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By Lilfix
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Clean a Chimney

It doesn't take a chimney cleaning company to clean a fireplace chimney. What it does take is a little time, a few tools and careful footing.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

goggles
surgical type mask
chimney brush

Step 1

Creosote is a by-product of the smoke and gases that escapes through your fireplace chimney when you are using it. This creosote builds up on the inside of the chimney walls and this can cause a chimney fire.
Step 2

One solution is to burn hotter fires. You can purchase burning logs that you put in your fireplace and it will make your fire hotter and burn some of the creosote off the chimney walls.

Through the wood burning season, we try to use one of these logs once a month. This keeps things fairly clean inside the chimney.
Step 3

But the best way to clean your chimney of the creosote is to actually clean your chimney. We do this each year BEFORE we ever start the first fire and we do this at the end of the fire burning season.

The reason we do this before any fire is burnt is to make sure the chimney is clean of debris that may have fallen into the chimney (leaves, sticks, etc.)

And of course the reason we do this at the end of the season is because it is a lot easier to clean off the burnt creosote before it sits too long (just like cleaning your frying pan...the quicker you get to it, the easier it is to clean)
Step 4

So how do you use a chimney brush to clean a chimney?

First, you remove all items on your fireplace that can be removed. If you remove these items, then things can't get stuck on them. Because if you don't know the things are stuck up in there and then you start a fire, you might have a safety issue.
Step 5

Take some plastic sheeting and fully seal the opening of the fireplace. Use duct tape to keep the plastic in place. This will keep any debris and dirt/dust that might be in your chimney from getting all over your furniture, carpet, etc.
Step 6

Mask

You will want to wear goggles and surgical mask to keep any dust, etc out of your eyes and mouth/lungs.
Step 7

chimney brush

The next step is to get up on your roof with your chimney brush. Insert the chimney brush into the opening of the chimney. Work slow to make sure you are getting everything. Push the brush up and down in the chimney a few times. Then, starting at the top, push your brush down and twist the brush while working your way to the bottom of the chimney. This will 'brush' the debris off the wall. When you have made several sweeps with the brush, you are ready to get down off the roof.
Step 8

Wait 1 hour to make sure all the dust has settled before removing your plastic from your fireplace.

Using a shop vacuum, remove all dust and debris from inside the fireplace. Don't forget the smoke shelf inside the chimney.

Replace the fireplace items that you removed in the beginning.

Comments

Lilfix said

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on 10/24/2009 My hubs and I clean our chimney like this and have for years. If you follow these tips, you will have a clean chimney in no time.

No need to call a professional when you can do it yourself and save lots of money.

Just be careful and take your time...you'll do great! Hugs...

maryanne09 said

on 3/3/2009 Very well written! We do ours, too, only ours is a metal chimney. :o)5*'s

PropMgr said

on 3/2/2009 Thank you for this wonderful article on cleaning a fireplace chimney. My husband and I have been discussing using ours because of the cost of fuel. If we decide to do so, I will be using these instructions to make sure we are cleaning our fire place chimney the right way. Thanks