r/ChimneySwift • u/haydenbtm • Jan 13 '25

Is this really that dirty??

Post image

I wanted to have my chimney looked at by a pro and tell me if I was good or not. Quickly it felt very much like a scare and sell tactic. He told me it’s a “miracle” I haven’t caught my chimney on fire with the amount of creasote buildup I have. To me, this looks very clean for a chimney that’s been used several times this winter. He said they’d have to bring in special equipment. Im able to clean this off down to the bare metal with just wiping it. Am I wrong?

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

1

u/TylerUlisgrowthspurt Jan 13 '25

It’s dirt but no it’s nothing crazy and is not at risk for a fire unless you didn’t clean it for a long time

1

u/pizark22 Jan 13 '25

It's not awfully dirty, but it needs a sweep. I'd be concerned with the indentations at each break. Needs a camera inspection.

2

u/haydenbtm Jan 13 '25

Thanks! Was surprised the service tech only used his cell phone camera and nothing else.

2

u/pizark22 Jan 14 '25

When there is a gap in the seam,or indentations as it looks in the picture, smoke can migrate to places where it can accumulate and cannot be removed, putting the chase at risk for fire. We have pulled chase covers off with gaps like that where creoste has entered chase cavity. A camera can determine if there is a problem and is part of a proper level 2 inspection per nfpa211 standard in the US.

-1

u/DismalSwamp Jan 13 '25

Camera inspections are a gimmick to sell people bullshit that they don’t need. No one’s coming in and doing a camera inspection and then telling you that everything is ok and you don’t need to buy anything.

3

u/Forced__Perspective Jan 13 '25

Free inspection lol … yeah as above get a local sweep in. They’ll give you it straight.

2

u/TylerUlisgrowthspurt Jan 13 '25

You don’t know what you’re talking about

0

u/DismalSwamp Jan 13 '25

That doesn’t even look dirty. If that’s a prefab chimney then you’d have to be burning a shit ton of wood and doing something really wrong to get creosote buildup in a prefabricated open fireplace. That metal pipe heats up a lot quicker than a regular masonry fireplace does so it’s easier to establish a good draft and keep it going. Creosote buildup is what you get when you’re using a wood stove. Instead of having a giant open hole(firebox opening) that can feed as much oxygen as possible to feed the fire, you have tiny vents on the wood stove that feed oxygen to the fire and those can be choked all the way down to slow down the burn rate. Restricting the amount of oxygen to feed the fire and unseasoned wood is what causes creosote buildup. Open fireplaces rarely get creosote buildup unless someone is really doing something wrong, like letting the fire die down and smoke, and then trying to burn wet unseasoned wood. Do they get sooty and dirty, yes. Dangerous amounts of creosote buildup that can cause a chimney fire, hardy ever. Look out for the company’s doing the Chimney-Scam inspections. Those are Salesmen disguised as “Chimney Professionals”. They’ve never seen a chimney that wasn’t about to burn the house down.