Fireplace Maintenance

Subject: Re: Fireplace Maintenance

FranklinTeany wrote: Hello All:

I was wondering if anyone had fireplace maintenance experience.

I have a fireplace in my rental apartment and I have been living here for a year. Now that the cold weather has finally arrived I want to start up the fireplace again, but I am concerned about cleaning it. I hear that self cleaning logs are a hoax and the only real way to clean the fireplace is by using a licensed cleaner.

Does any one have experience with this? I am assuming that I am far from the only one with a fireplace in the nabe. How much does a cleaning cost? And can I ask my landlord to pay for this? Or should I just purchase fire insurance and pray for the best.

I usually use a dead racoon and a waterpik to clean my chimney..........just kidding, yes you need to clean out the chimney once in a while, how often depends on how much you use it and what kind of wood you burn in it. If you don't clean it the chimney itself can catch fire (it's called a chimney fire) internally. It's a very very hot fire and can easily melt triple insulated chimneys or cause tile chimnies to glow red hot, not very fun. You should have it inspected every other year at least. I used to clean out my chimney myself, it's not hard but it's real messy. I haven't hard a fireplace in decades so I don't have a recommendation, but perhaps someone else here does.

Thanks, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!