THE DANGER OF CARBON MONOXIDE

Carbon Monoxide is colorless and odorless and can kill a person in minutes.  It is the cause of over 500 deaths a year in the United States alone.  Carbon Monoxide backdrafting is caused by blockages in the chimney flu or liner that can lead to CO fumes re-entering your house rather than venting through your chimney.  It is recommended that at the beginning of every heating season, you have a trained professional inspect your fireplace to check for carbon monoxide backdrafting.

Our detailed backdrafting test is performed by measuring the amount of carbon monoxide backdrafting into the residence at the connection between the smoke pipe and the furnace flu.  This is performed by a certified technician who is specifically trained in air quality testing.

WHY CLEANING IS IMPORTANT

CLEANING THE OIL BURNER AND GAS BURNER FLUE

According to the National Fire Protection Agency, oil burner flues should be cleaned and inspected annually and gas burner flues should be cleaned and inspected once every year and a half to two years. The cleaning involves disconnecting the vent pipe from the burner and sweeping the oil flue with a wire brush. It is then vacuumed out from the bottom. When this is complete, we will provide a 20 Point Fire Safety Inspection. The cleaning of the oil burner flue helps prevent blockages which would result in a puff back or chimney fire. It also increases the efficiency of the burner up to 33%.

CLEANING THE FIREPLACE FLUE

The cleaning of the fireplace flue involves sweeping out the chimney using the spin brush. We also check for a buildup of creosote, which is flammable and accumulates in fireplace chimneys. Standard cleaning removes the first layer of creosote buildup and is a Stage 1 cleaning.