We Answer Your Frequently Asked Questions

Creosote comes from smoldering gases in smoke of slow burning wood that has not completely ignited. The smoke then condenses and builds up in many forms. Powdery dusty flakes and bubbly black shinny creosote build up to block passageways, causing smoke to back into your home or to ignite into a serious flue fire. Burning unseasoned wood will cause excessive creosote buildup. Much of the green wood’s BTU’S are consumed in trying to dry the wood. This slower burning causes cooler flue temperatures resulting in clogged flue tiles or pipes and clogged chimney cap screens. Annual chimney cleaning or per cord of wood burned cleaning is essential. Quick hot fires will slow accumulation, but nothing replaces a stiff brush chimney cleaning. A heavy creosote buildup usually requires a two to three stage chemical wash in addition to the brush cleaning.

You can inspect your chimney by removing your chimney/flue cap and checking the thickness of the creosote and soot buildup. From inside, keeping your eyes protected, open the damper and check the thickness of creosote/soot above the damper with a scoring tool. Cleaning is recommended if buildup is over 1/8 inch in either location.

Dampers will stick for a number of reasons. A missing chimney cap allows moisture in and can cause rust. Creosote/soot can cake and solidify on the damper. With use heat can also warp a damper, making it hard to operate. Stuck damper can break if forced open by either a chain or handle. Replacement dampers are available for masonry fireplaces and there are drop in dampers for zero clearance fireplaces.

Caps prevent rain, snow, leaves, birds, various animals, balls or any other foreign debris from entering the chimney flue. Moisture is destructive to chimney flue tiles or chimney pipes. Moisture reaching the fireplace smoke shelf is absorbed into the mortar joints and brick which can weaken and cause them to crumble. Fire start ups heat the brick and mortar and escaping moisture from the brick can cause them to crack. As bricks and mortar do crack, the firebrick starts to loosen up, resulting in a serious fire hazard to the home’s interior walls. Masonry caps are available from service technicians and are guaranteed for life. Zero clearance or stove pipe chimney caps are available on special order, also with lifetime guarantee.

If the flue size changes on an insert installation, flue gases will cool rapidly resulting in excess creosote buildup. The burning draft will also be reduced due to the cooler flue temperatures.

There are two types of gas log fireplaces:

1. A sealed gas log unit

Has glass covering the front of the unit and usually turns on with a wall mounted switch. This type of unit does not need to be cleaned.

2. Gas log conversion 

A wood burning fireplace that has been converted to burn gas vs. wood. This type of gas log conversion does require to be cleaned every 3-5 years depending on use.

As your aware there are dozens of pellet manufactures out there. Most importantly is to find a pellet that fits in your budget, just because you pay more doesn’t always mean that your buying a better product. All pellet bags have a data print that tells you Ash, BTU and Moisture specifications. Although pellets come in a standard 40# bag differences in density of wood can affect burn time.

Pellets are broken down into 4 categories: PREMIUM, CERTIFIED PREMIUM, CERTIFIED PREMIUM PLUS and CERTIFIED SUPER PREMIUM. Almost all stoves are able to burn soft and hard wood pellets, soft wood pellets are claimed to burn at higher BTU’S WITH LESS ASH. All stove manufactures have different combustion processes, some have an air control or damper others are controlled by combustion blower speed. Pellets will burn differently in each stove, our best recommendation is to buy a few bags at a time switching brands until you find pellets that work best for you.