Like the plumber, the person who has taken on the title of “chimney sweep” can demonstrate recognized skills, skills associated with a money making trade. By utilizing those skillful actions, the sweeper of a chimney can increase both the chimney’s safety and performance. At the same time, he or she can reduce the number of fume emissions that are caused by a blocked passageway, i.e. the intended passageway for the soot-filled air.
Today many aspects of the chimney sweeping procedure resemble greatly the procedure that has been carried out for centuries. The sweep’s actions facilitate removal of the creosote found in soot. Creosote is the substance that can form as smoke from a coal or wood burning fire drifts upward in a chimney’s long, sky-directed channel. Over time, the formation of creosote can lead to development of an obstruction.
The formation of an obstruction can impede normal ascension of the fire’s smoke and hot air. When the hot air can not work its way up a chimney, then it can not leave the confined space where it was created. Because it can not leave that confined space, no vacuum can be created, and consequently none of the room’s air gets sucked into the fireplace. In the absence of that air, the burning fuel fails to receive an added amount of oxygen.
In other words, chimney sweep tools should not be seen as equipment that no longer have any use. No scientific advancement has made it possible to burn wood or coal in the absence of oxygen. For that reason, employment of the sweeper’s tools represents one of the chief ways for guaranteeing quality performance by the metal of masonry structure that rises above the location of any fuel that is burned in the home.
The tools of a professional sweeper accomplish far more than a simple vacuum. Such a device can not remove the substances that have impacted themselves onto the chimney’s walls. The professional sweeper has a ready supply of chimney brushes. He or she can locate a brush of the proper size.
The right-sized brush should be as large as the liner, the liner in the structure that needs to be cleaned. A wire brush is the one that is best used in a masonry structure. While maintenance of a chimney does not demand utilization of a professional sweeper, such an action can save the homeowner from certain unwanted problems.
Suppose, for example, that a homeowner decided to use special chemicals on the home’s fire, chemicals that give off a certain gas. That gas helps to initiate the breakdown of the substances that have been deposited by the rising smoke. The breakdown of such substances eliminates their possible conversion into an annoying obstruction.
However, there is not way to time this entire process. Therefore, a homeowner can never know exactly when the loosened materials might come crashing down into the fireplace. That could of course lead to production of a rather messy area, all in the vicinity of the fireplace.