How often does a flue need sweeping ?

[detritus21]

We do ours twice a year. rarely goes out in winter burning both coal and wood. After a nights slow burn I put it on for a very hot burn for 20 mins or so partly to get our rads back on and partly to burn off deposits in the flue. You could always do what the farmer where I keep my stuff does and deliberately torch his flue to clean it.

[muttley9050]

When you give your stove a good blasting the creosotes will heat up and run back down the flue into the stove,hence the reason that flues should always be socketed with the male on top of the female. I have seen this done the wrong way and creosotes then run down the outside of the flue. This leaves behind the clinker, which is far less volatile but causes the blockages. Your never going to leave your flue clean when you sweep it but you will leave it open with a good draw, reducing blockages and critically flue temperature. Its also important that you use a recognised flue product with a smooth inner wall as the clinker will fall off this far easier than the cheaper corrugated stuff.

[teepeeat]

not relevant to the UK, but in Germany I believe it is a legal requirement to have your flue swept annually by a qualified sweep. If you dont have the cert. your insurance wont pay in event of problems

[muttley9050]

This is very true, in several other countries too. In u.k. profession is unregulated and the only way to see if a sweep is good is wether hes a member of the guild of master chimney sweeps. Ive swept countless chimneys and flues in my time, and no disrespect to trained sweeps, but im glad its unregulated and i can sweep my own chimneys. Its hardly rocket science.

[teepeeat]

Agreed Muttley, although to be fair I think in Germany they do a bit more than just sweep the chimney, especially as there are a lot of technically involved appliances used which need an annual check.

Historically the sweeps were more important due to the number of fires and the lack of reliable fire services which we take for granted these days. It was a case of prevention being better than cure.

[muttley9050]

Yeah good point, i live with a couple of germans and from the sound of it there stoves seem to be a little more advanced than ours, alot more gassification and thermal mass, but do you really think that these sweeps are servicing these appliances too? The only gassification boiler we have is by far the easiest to sweep and we service this boiler monthly and clean weekly.

[Riggerbear]

Thanks for all the posts, I tend to have it burning hard all the time so it shouldn't be that bad. I'm going to have a look in the inspection hatch over the weekend.

Thanks again guys

[County4x4]

Unfortunately membership of one of the trade bodies does not guarantee you'll get a good job at all - if only it did! I've followed members of HETAS, GMCS and all the others on to jobs where they've ripped the customer off or given advice that's wrong or even plain dangerous. My advice would be to ask around locally to see who the locals are using and happy with, or try checking on the Chimney Sweeps forum (yep - we have a forum too!) to see if any of the members there are local to you.

 

As far as sweeping frequency is concerned - all the trade bodies will tell you that a woodstove should be swept "quarterly when in use". They do however have to cater for everyone, including those folk who think wood that's been sitting in a swamp for years will be fine "once it gets going". I've seen liners where I couldn't even get the rods up, never mind a brush, and you can achieve this in a matter of a few months if you really try! In practice, the best person to advise is the sweep - the vast majority of my customers are fine with an annual visit though. Creosote is funny stuff - there are forms that look like black glass which are very hard to remove with traditional gear, other forms that are sticky, some which will run down the inside of the flue, and dry crunchy deposits that look like the indside of a crunchie bar - these are often formed when the glassy type catches fire. Power sweeping will take out a lot more than a traditional brush - but the gear is probably way too expensive for the average home user.

[pie eater pete]

We do ours twice a year. rarely goes out in winter burning both coal and wood. After a nights slow burn I put it on for a very hot burn for 20 mins or so partly to get our rads back on and partly to burn off deposits in the flue. You could always do what the farmer where I keep my stuff does and deliberately torch his flue to clean it.

 

What animal is Jimmy cookin tonight?...:lol:

[Steve999]

 

I've seen liners where I couldn't even get the rods up, never mind a brush, and you can achieve this in a matter of a few months if you really try! In practice, the best person to advise is the sweep - the vast majority of my customers are fine with an annual sweep.

I've never been around when the sweep has done ours, and when I ask the mrs she hasn't a clue. I'm curious whether you stick a camera up to check, similar to the way drains are checked for damage etc.