Thursday, November 14, 2013

Improve The Efficiency Of Chimneys With Help Of A Maryland Chimney Sweep

By Katrina Wheeler


Proper cleanup of chimneys promotes good health, reduces premature damages of flues, extends the life of flues, and reduces smoke damage. Chimneys can safely expel noxious gases and soot out of your home when maintained properly. However, due to accumulation of soot and creosote on surfaces, chimneys suffer from fires. You can contact a Maryland chimney sweep to inspect the flues and clean them properly.

When maintained properly, chimneys can safely extract smoke and other noxious gases from your home when you are burning solid fuels like wood and coal or gas and electricity. During combustion, the fuels released hydrocarbons, unburned wood particles, water vapor, and tar fog, which move upward through the flue to the exterior of the house. However, as these substances draft upwards, they may condense inside the chimneys and stick on the surfaces.

The substance that sticks on walls of chimneys is known as creosote and it appears black and shiny with a tar like layer. As this creosote accumulates in large amounts, it risks your home from fire damages. Fires occurring in chimneys not only damage the liners but also risk the entire building blazing up in flames.

If chimneys are left uncleaned for a long time, the creosote continues building up and with time, it reaches a threshold where it could catch fire easily. When creosote builds in the interior of the chimneys, it reduces the draft opening. With a reduced draft area, the gases or substances from combusting fuels cannot move up smoothly to the exterior.

That moisture reacts with the substances inside the flue and forms acidic compounds. The liners may wear out because of those acids thus allowing smoke and noxious gases to move to other areas. In addition, the moisture might spread to other parts of chimneys through the openings of the wearing liners. With help of the chimney sweeps, you are able to restore sanity in your flues. This promotes good health among the people living in the house.

Moisture could also enter chimneys and cause damages especially when it mixes with the debris. The substances accumulating on walls of flues mix with moisture and form acidic compounds. These compounds begin to cause damage on liners and with time, the liners wear out. When holes form on the liners, the smoke, and soot penetrates through those openings and could spread to other areas of the building including the interior and roofing surfaces. Damaged liners cannot prevent the spreading of smoke and the acidic compound to the masonry surfaces.

The efficiency of your chimneys is reduced when there is clogging with debris. To ensure that your chimneys operate efficiently, you need to clean them regularly with help of a professional cleaner. Proper cleanup will extend the life of chimneys by preventing premature damages and deterioration of the masonry surfaces. The acidic substance may damage the masonry walls of your chimneys thus creating weak zones, cracks, and spalling.

When you clean chimneys with help of a Maryland chimney sweep, you ensure that the drafts are not clogged with residues. Clogging or narrowing of drafts promotes back flow of smoke into the house. The smoking flowing back may blacken surfaces and walls leading to dirt and bad appearance. When moisture enters through the chimneys stacks, it can cause bad smell that spreads to your home.




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