The Secret to Having a More Efficient Chimney!

Over the years, fireplaces and chimneys have become less popular due to the advent of the seemingly convenient alternative for home heating in the form of fossil fuels. Since then the number of homeowners having fireplaces dropped in significant numbers because we have been led to believe that chimneys are no longer efficient when it comes to home heating.

One way to lower your energy costs and usage is to have your chimney cleaned annually.

One way to lower your energy costs and usage is to have your chimney cleaned annually.

Well, we here at Fire Safe Chimney Sweep would beg to differ. Chimneys can be an equally effective home heating system, at times it can even be more beneficial to you compared to utilizing fossil fuels.  The following are a few things that you need to take note of in order to make your chimney more efficient:

Check the Damper

The damper is a door-like part of the chimney that controls the entrance and exit of air. There are some fireplaces that have bottom dampers. These are the dampers that are situated underneath the firebox. When you open the bottom damper, you would be preventing major heat loss. In cases when your chimney doesn’t have a bottom damper, you can open an adjacent window buy no more than an inch and close the door. This will help in pushing the heat from the chimney allowing it to circulate in the room.

Get an Insert

Having an insert installed transforms your traditional chimney into a wood-burning stove with the use of a special metal encasing and a heat exchanger. According to the study conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , having a fireplace insert installed would increase the efficiency of your chimney, making it up to five times more efficient.

Regular Maintenance

One of the simplest and most neglected thing that we homeowners should remember to do in order to improve the efficiency of our chimney is to schedule for regular maintenance. Think about it, how would your chimney be able to work properly if it’s either dirty or damaged? It is therefore of great importance that we maintain our chimneys well. This means regular chimney checks and sweeps by the chimney experts. Not only will help make our chimneys more efficient, but this would also save us from spending a lot on simple damages that got out of hand.