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Show 'Brush twice a year' ' Applies to chimneys .J-r;- "Vrr:. sweep says tuSh' 1 r P""- oXAbr' M Kent Parke may not have mastered HdlP- :iJhTpi x h VW the art of climbing steeples or dancing LlTS- tjAJlJp' with a umbrella just yet, but he still hST? HrTSSr""" I ?! f feels strongly about the necessity of Dtjr cJrpV l2-i keeping flues and chimneys clean. ETF"" y.ii.rfuJ fci 1, Here he demonstrates the round brush flrllt'l ""J f"T" on a piece of stovepipe. Below he "tZJ,"' , -Mmimm I shows the substance creosote. OQC t wck 5ir s 1 natni I ! jirtTv? . ) fir; !r i el ... f .4 i &) - 531 ni . 4s' : Chim-chimney, chim-chimney, : chim chim-cheree Did you know Cedar City has its own chimney sweep? Oh, he doesn't patrol the streets in his top hat and tails, nor will you see him scaling a steeple to brush down a hard-to-get-at chimney. ; But Kent Parke claims the possibility for real problems in the Cedar City area are increasing and homeowners with fireplaces and wood-burning stoves should be aware of the dangers. "I am particularly worried about the old chimneys in town," Parke said, "and the pre-fab chimneys such as the triple-wall pipe, that just don't have great strength." Distributor, too A distributor of the Jotul and Woodsman stoves, Parke said, "I would hate to read about a house burning down in Cedar City and to have a woodstove involved. It would be a shame to have someone buy a woodstove to lower their heat bills and then have their house burn down because of a chimney fire." Chimney fires are caused-and chimney sweeps are needed-due to creosote, Parke said. Creosote is a black once-liquid substance that collects in bits and thin layers on the flues and pipes and masonry of chimneys. Creosote is highly volatile, Parke said, and can be ignited by simply a newspaper fire if the conditions are right. Soot is creosote The black soot coating the flues in a home are saturated with creosote, particularly if pine is burned regularly, the Jotul distributor said. "Pine is noted for having creosote and green wood has more than aged wood," Parke expalined. "The resin mixed with the carbon elements of creosote make it very flammable. It's in a condensed form, sort of like coke." Parke said some persons advise burning the creosote out of the chimney by such methods as "throwing on a piece of quakey" and firing the fireplace to a high temperature. tem-perature. This method "could cause or could prevent" chimney fires, Parke said, because there is always the chance the creosote will ignite. "It really can be dangerous," he said. When older masonry chimneys get coated with creosote a unique problem exists, Parke said, which could turn the chimney into a "Roman candle." If the volatiel soot does ignite it often will melt the mortor between the brick due to the intense heat. The red-hot mortor actually drips into the flu, only to be caught in the updraft. These little fireballs fire-balls shoot out of the chimney and onto the roof. "Really intense" "The heat is really intense," Parke said, "and can reach temperatures up to 2000 degrees inside the chimney during a fire. Plus there is tremendous tremen-dous expansion and contraction going on which can weaken or damage the chimney. The second time you might not be so lucky." Some statistics show the United States had over 40,000 chimney fires reported in 1976, Boston alone, had over 2,000 reported. "And a lot of people hear the foar of a chimney fire in their home and just let it burn itself out, never reporting the fire. So I think the 40,000 figure is low," Parke said. Two rules of thumb to test a home's creosote level is the watch and see if the chimney tends to become clogged and smoke more than normal. ' Secondly, the homeowner should tap the stovepipe and see if bits of soot can be heard falling down inside the pipe or if it has a different sound than when it was installed. Sure Fire? The sure fire mehtod-"or should I say sure non-fire method," Parke said--to eliminate or clean creosote from a chimney is to do it manually, rather than attempting to burn it out. He said a chimney brush or bundle of chain will most effectively scrapte out the soot. Parke said he is now selling round chimney brushes in five to eight inch sizes, made by Norwegian chimney sweep craftsmen. He said running the brushes down a round chimney or using them to brush out a bigger masonry chimney "clean until there is nothing left." Another precaution to take in preventing chimney fires is to age the wood, Parke said, and he recommended recom-mended splitting and stacking the wood for as long as feasible. Not used to it "It is just a matter of going up on the roof, pulling the cap off and cleaning the chimney," Parke explained. ex-plained. "You should run a brush or a chain down the chimney so that the creosote falls to the bottom of the stove or fireplace." "People in the U.S. aren't used to having chimney sweeps like they are in Europe, but they had better learn how to do it. There are an awful lot of coal and woodburning stoves in Cedar City today. Parke added he would be happy to speak to any organizations or groups on the art of chimney sweeping and fire prevention. |