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Today it is not easy to find a professional chimney sweep. There are practically none. It's a pity. After all, many are faced with the problem of how to clean a pipe in a bathhouse, which is found in almost every summer cottage.
Why is this necessary?
Some people believe that there is no need to clean chimneys at all. And in vain. Even a careful owner cannot keep a well-built stove perfectly clean for years. Especially if we are talking about a bathhouse, into the firebox of which in our country it is customary to throw everything that comes to hand. And the deposition of even a small amount of soot on the walls of the chimney narrows its clearance, which as a result causes deterioration in draft, and, consequently, insufficient heating of the pipe walls, and increased smoke in the room during kindling. The overall efficiency of the furnace also decreases.
If the day is rainy with high relative humidity, some pieces of charcoal along with sticks or even a small amount of alcohol gel can be used to rapid promotion temperature inside the combustion chamber. Try to save the wood in advance for good drying.
Therefore, put only alcohol fuel gel into the combustion chamber and in sufficient quantity to burn vigorously for about 5 minutes. Observe whether the chimney is heating up, and when you feel that the chimney is already hot enough to create a draft, start shooting into the combustion chamber. Alcohol gel also works well on cold and rainy days.
But, of course, the most an unpleasant surprise Spontaneous combustion of the chimney and wooden floors can occur, which, in turn, can pose a threat not only to property, but also to your health or even life.
There are three types of stove blockages:
- Condensate
- A certain amount of accumulated soot
- Any foreign object caught in the pipe
Condensation and soot
Condensation is a weak acidic solution that appears as a result of irregular use of the firebox. Because of it, the masonry of the walls gradually collapses over time, and resinous deposits form on the outer surfaces of the stove.
A second alternative to quickly heating the chimney would be to place an alcohol gel on the base of the chimney. In this coating, in its inner part, a cup is attached that allows you to apply gel alcohol. Then, very carefully, press the cap into place using alcohol gel on the burner.
Then watch to see if the chimney gets hot, and once it is very hot, put the gel spirit with wood in the combustion chamber and start the fire. The alcohol gel in a cup at the base of the chimney quickly heats the chimney and creates the necessary draft to support the fire that starts in the combustion chamber. In this case, remove the covers from the stove or even the entire plate, the horizontal diffuser and the base chimney cover. Holding tight, approach the already burning cap near the base of the chimney and allow the fire to warm inside the chimney for about 30 seconds to force accumulated smoke to rise and new oxygen into the chimney above the bowl.
To prevent such a process, you need to use a special cleaning agent several times a month - “log-chimney sweeper”, which is sold in almost all hardware stores. When burned, it produces carbon-based smoke, and it actually corrodes the condensate, as well as tar deposits.
If the sauna pipes are full of accumulated soot, then this will be somewhat more difficult. In this case, they resort to the classic method of cleaning the chimney: having climbed onto the roof, you need to lower a rope with a brush and a weight attached to it into the chimney and carefully, with smooth movements up and down, clean off the dirt. Moreover, the brush should be slightly larger than the hole in the pipe so that it can easily penetrate there and at the same time remove soot. Most modern pipes have one significant advantage - special side windows, through which this can be done much faster.
Once the chimney is already hot, insert the burning cup into the base of the chimney, then replace the plate and its caps in place and finally the horizontal box before starting a new fire in the combustion chamber with a combination of alcohol gel wood. When the sheet is already very hot, you can gradually reduce the amount of wood until the ideal temperature is reached. The plate produces different heat intensities. There is an area of more intense heat on the burner, and areas of lower heat intensity along and around the stove.
There is also a preventive way to combat soot formation. Currently releasing special compounds(for example, an anti-carbon chemical composition or simply PCP), which is used to treat the inner surface of chimneys or burn them along with firewood. During the combustion process, a non-toxic gas is released, which causes plaque to crumble from the walls, and most importantly, prevents its further formation. There are also known folk remedies for getting rid of soot on the walls of a chimney - burning aspen logs or potato peelings.
Use each area according to your needs. Take advantage of the heat generated by the stove to speed up the heating of pots, so it is recommended to place all pots that will be used on the stove to begin heating.
Do not use very thick or very thin wood. The ideal combination should be 3 to 5 pieces of firewood with a diameter of 2 to 5 centimeters, placed parallel to each other, but maintaining a minimum distance between them of at least 1 cm, allowing air to pass between each of them. Oxidation of wood is important for good combustion. Cracked firewood usually burns better than wood that is still plump.
If the fireplace is difficult to light, and the stove is smoking, if flakes of black smoke are swirling above the roof of the bathhouse, you need to immediately clean the chimney. Poor chimney function can cause carbon monoxide poisoning or cause a fire! Not only fireplace chimneys and pipes of wood stoves should be cleaned in a timely manner; pipes of heating boilers, in which gas combustion products accumulate, must be serviced.
Do not insert wood into the burner tightly, as there is a risk of breaking the firebox. When it is very hot, the refractory becomes more brittle and therefore sudden impacts can damage it. Also avoid pushing the wood all the way to the end of the burner, which makes it difficult for air to get to the bottom behind the wood. It is advisable to leave the logs at a distance of 1-2 centimeters from the bottom of the burner for the passage of gases. You must slowly put the wood into the fire. Burning the ends of wood produces less smoke and saves wood. Go rubbing wood into the stove as she walks away. combustion.
Causes of chimney contamination
Why does the chimney become dirty? There are many reasons. When laying the stove, the stove maker violated the dimensions of the internal clearance and over time the walls became overgrown with soot and soot, so it is difficult to light the stove, the draft is poor, and there is no heat. The causes of chimney contamination may be:
- violation of technology during the construction of the furnace;
- illiterate operation;
- poor chimney material;
- debris in the pipe;
- soot deposits.
You cannot burn plastic bags, cellophane bags, household waste chemical origin. Do not use wet firewood with a high resin content. Wet firewood is first dried in the firebox. The temperature naturally drops, carbon accumulates, and a black cloud of oxidation products settles on the chimney.
If the wood burns or goes out but there are still good coals in the burner, simply add another piece of wood, which should light spontaneously after a few minutes. If it takes too long, try throwing a piece of newsprint or napkin into it for a quick start.
Folk remedies – fairy tales or reality?
When you're done cooking, you can let the wood burn until you turn it off. To invert the curvature of a convex base to a concave base, support the pan on a flat, hard surface and gently hammer the bottom of the pan, starting from the edges in a circular motion to the center, until you can reverse the curvature completely inward.
Advice! It is better not to use coniferous wood to fire the stove, but today they are the most affordable in terms of cost and ability to purchase. There is nothing else left to do but build a more spacious firewood shed and stock up on firewood in advance; wood lying around for a year or two dries well and does not harm the chimney.
Soot deposits hide emerging defects and cracks, untimely maintenance of which can lead to destruction chimney. And the accumulated soot has the ability to spontaneously combust in the chimney; a fire on the roof will not lead to anything good. The accumulation of combustion products in the chimney of a heating system can lead to problems with equipment and heating failure. It is obvious that chimney cleaning and regular maintenance of heating boiler pipes are necessary.
Burning aspen wood
To ensure proper operation of the stove, it is recommended to use as much wood as possible for optimal heating. Apply with a soft cloth or thin nylon sponge, rinse with a damp cloth and dry with a soft cloth. Never use steel wool as it may scratch and leave residue on the surface of the of stainless steel, which reduces corrosion resistance.
Traditional methods of cleaning pipes
When storing stainless steel items, always try to use a gentler cleaning method; be patient and repeat the operation a reasonable number of times before resorting to more severe methods. The grate is removed and the ash is removed using a hook, which can be used to fertilize the garden. If necessary, it should also be cleaned under the plate, removing any accumulated soot, the vertical diffuser next to the oven, the horizontal diffuser under the oven, as well as chimneys, especially when connecting a stove to a chimney, plate failure can result in a significant reduction in stove heating, while failure to clean the plate, diffusers and chimneys can result in smoke returning.
Three old-fashioned ways
The profession of a chimney sweep practically does not exist today. You can only find a friendly, grimy face in fairy tales or for fabulously big money. Our ancestors cleaned the stove chimney regularly using the following methods:
- Place table salt in the firebox while burning. Being a combustion inhibitor, that is, a substance that inhibits the process, salt promotes rapid ignition and slow burning of firewood, while maintaining a constant combustion temperature. If you constantly put a little salt in the firebox along with the firewood, you can forget about problems in the chimney for a long time. But if the pipes are full of soot, clogged with soot, salt will not help.
- Do not throw away potato peelings if there is a need for regular chimney cleaning. They effectively clean the walls of accumulated combustion products if they are added to the firebox in dried form. Cleaning should be added to the coals, hot steam with starch softens the soot that has accumulated on the walls, greatly facilitating the process of mechanical cleaning.
- The stove can be easily cleaned with aspen and birch firewood. This wood creates a high temperature in the firebox and a powerful draft, which perfectly cleans the walls of the chimney without any brushes or brushes. Birch firewood should be used without bark.
Advice! Salt and potato peelings are safe for the chimney. But high combustion temperatures of aspen or birch firewood can damage a pipe contaminated with soot. To prevent ignition from occurring, monitor the process, do not place too many logs at one time, and keep fire-fighting equipment on hand.
Making your own brush
Be careful when putting the vertical diffuser back into place as it must be installed in the correct position or the oven will not heat up. The following illustrations. Every day, dish and diffusers weekly, and chimney every 12 months. However, if you are using wood with a lot of resin, cleaning will need to be more frequent as this type of wood, although it burns well, will generate a lot of soot.
Your usage practices and the type of firewood you use will indicate the frequency of cleaning required. To maintain your tablet, follow these tips. The plate should be lubricated periodically olive oil or vegetable oil, so that it does not oxidize, which would give greater strength and brightness. It should also be lubricated when cooking steaks directly on the plate.
Modern chemicals to combat soot and soot
- copper sulfate, sprinkled in small quantities on coals creates conditions for soot to fall off;
- the means Smoke Log, Cheerful Chimney Sweep, Kominichek, HG also work; the recommendations for use for each product are different, following them you can get the desired result - a clean chimney.
All means are used during the burning of wood, coal, the substances released during the combustion process are harmless to humans.
When spilling any liquid or food onto the hob, clean it as quickly as possible to avoid staining and debris buildup. If you use it daily, we recommend cleaning it once a week. To do this, remove the stove from the stove and use a brush to remove the soot that accumulates on the inner surface of the plate and on the stove body. Often due to excess soot accumulation it is necessary to scrape off with a spatula.
Tools that can help you with these tasks. Used to hold the plate. . There are also situations where the chimney draft is very strong, drawing out most of the smoke, which can also very quickly raise the fire under the stove rather than heating it properly.
Advice! Even safe emissions are not needed to the human body, even if the manufacturer assures in the instructions that substances evaporate through the chimney, good ventilation of the room would be a good idea.
Chemical assistants are effective in combination with mechanical cleaning. Contact chimney cleaning is the most effective and reliable.
In this case, try to reduce the sediment by installing a draft regulator. Another possibility is not having enough fuel. Be aware that when using a flat plate, woks, overheating, or very thick pans. Use flat bottom pots.
Also check that the vertical diffuser is installed correctly. Another possibility is when there is high relative humidity during rain or winter, which causes moisture to accumulate under the slab. In this case, it is recommended to lift the sheet and dry this moisture with paper or even a piece of old cloth.
Mechanical chimney cleaning
Mechanical method chimney cleaning is simple and harmless. The necessary devices and tools are easy to make yourself. You will need:
- brushes, different diameters;
- ramrod;
- a weight suspended on a chain;
- brushes;
- gaff
Anyone can make a brush with metal bristles, with plastic bristles, hard, rough, with their own hands. You need a hook the length of the pipe, a reliable mount for the brush and compliance with safety measures on the roof. You will also need a respirator, gloves, and safety glasses.
When it rains, there may be water penetration into the chimney and possibly into Ekofno. Also check the sealing tape to make sure it is installed correctly. Sometimes you feel like your lungs are clogged. That they were worn down from years of smoking. You feel like you never go a day without coughing without mucus or phlegm.
But in fact, you know that none of this is very good. This is not good sign for Your health. This problem is common among smokers. The vast majority of people who smoke regularly, even small smokers, face this problem.
The cleaning technology is simple; its goal is to scrape off soot from the inside of the pipe. A weight is needed for tapping, pushing through blockages, and for weighing down the tool used. Brushes and ruffs are required to remove soot from the walls, and their diameter should exceed the diameter of the pipe by one and a half to two times, and a cleaning rod for pushing debris down into the furnace.
If you are in this case, don't worry, it is quite normal if you have been smoking for many years. It is important to remember that in order to take care of your health when you are a smoker, you must first treat yourself with your lungs and cleanse your lungs of the accumulated tobacco over so many years.
Diet is essential if you want to give a second life to your lungs. The health of our body is directly affected by what we eat, so it is important to monitor our diet. To cleanse your lungs, it is recommended to eat foods rich in antioxidants. Here is a small list of those that contain the most.
Everything that is cleaned is deposited at the bottom of the furnace ash pans, which must in turn be cleaned.
Advice! Do not climb onto the roof in snow and rain, use dry, windless weather to clean the chimney, and do not climb onto the roof without a safety rope.
Cleaning the fireplace chimney is sometimes done in two directions, top and bottom. Build up the arms, use a core or a kettlebell. It is worth noting that this activity is labor-intensive and requires strength, physical training. This is a dangerous occupation; sometimes soot explodes; specialists use special vacuum cleaners. In any case, it would be a good idea to contact professionals for advice. A call to the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the fire department won't hurt.
Practical physical activity
Usually, even if it's hard for you, you should find your happiness in all these choices. 🙂. These magical foods that can cleanse the lungs of smokers should be consumed without moderation! Sports activities are very good way make your lungs work to cleanse them.
You may be familiar with after intense physical activity? Well, she speaks for herself! The best views Sports to practice if you want to effectively cleanse your lungs are sports that appeal to your cardio. The best examples are cycling, swimming and running.
In conclusion, four tips from a professional chimney sweep.
- Preference should be given to mechanical cleaning after burning potato peelings.
- Don't get carried away with chemicals.
- During operation, combine chemical and folk remedies.
- Thorough cleaning should be carried out once every 2 years or when the soot layer has reached 2mm.
Other more playful sports are also very effective, such as tennis, football, dance, rugby or combat sports. It is important not to exercise for several hours at a time. On the contrary, it is preferable to engage in short but intense activities.
This way, you will force your lungs to work to send oxygen to your body. It is this start that will allow your lungs to recover. If you are a regular, doing two 30-minute sessions per week is ideal for decanting your lungs.
Prepare a detoxifying bath with rosemary
Here is a simple trick that allows you to enjoy this exciting time to clear your lungs of tobacco. You can add rosemary to your bath to cleanse your lungs. Either way it would be a little weird. To prepare a good rosemary detox bath, you need to pour ten branches of rosemary into 2 liters of boiling water.
You can check how well the chimney has been cleaned using a video camera suspended on a rope. But this is hardly reasonable. The cleanliness of the chimney is due to good draft, high-quality heating, and the cozy heat of the steam room. Whether you invite a chimney sweep to help (the cost of the service is quite impressive) or whether to clean it yourself is up to you.
