We have all been there. You try to put on fire in your chimney but it fails. Chimney contractors report that fire can fail to start in your chimney due to many reasons. The most common ones being:
Closed damper
For there to be fire, you need to ensure that the damper is fully open. Some people will open the damper but fail to open it all the way. In most cases, this is due to a buildup of soot behind the dampers and water damage.
You should inspect the damper and confirm that it’s fully open. If there is soot or water damage that is preventing it from being fully open, you should consider getting rid of the soot. Is the chimney big? Hire a chimney sweep to help you with the cleaning and the problem will most likely be gone.
The gas supply is cut off
Do you have a gas fireplace? For the fireplace, to function, you need to supply it with gas. If you have tried to put on the fire but it won’t come on, the first thing you should check is whether the gas supply has been cut off.
Take a look at the wall switch or valve near the fireplace. Is it turned off? Turn it back on. If still there isn’t gas, chances are that you haven’t paid your gas bill. You need to pay it for the gas company to restore the gas.
The wood is too wet
If you are one of the many people that have a wooden fireplace, your chimney might not be functioning optimally if the wood is too wet. From the first look, you might have the impression that the wood is dry, but this might not be the case.
If you have been trying to light it but it fails, chances are that it’s too wet. You should get dry wood for there to be a fire in your fireplace. For you have an easy time putting on the fire, go with seasoned wood that has been air dried for at least six months.
Even if you use dry wood that isn’t seasoned, you might not get the fire and warmth that you need. This is because unseasoned wood tends to burn with less heat and produces less warmth.
There is a lot of cold air in the chimney
This often happens when you are having a chimney located outside of your home. When you have an outside chimney, there might be a cold column of air pushing down towards the fire. Due to this, the fireplace might not be having enough draft thus making it hard to light.
In addition to this, the smoke tends to flow into the house instead of up. As you might have guessed, this leads to an uncomfortable house. For you to be able to light the house you need to get rid of the cold.
There are many ways in which you can get rid of the smoke. One of the best ways is lighting a rolled up newspaper and holding it up near the damper. The heat will dispel the cold air and you will be able to start a fire in your chimney.
You have sealed your home too much
While a sealed house is warm to be in, it often doesn’t have a lot of air. As a homeowner, you know that you need air for the chimney to light. When the fire is burning, air flows up the chimney in large volumes. This means that you need to have enough air in the house to compensate for the lost air and also keep the fire burning.
When the house is too tightly sealed, you don’t have enough air in the house to support the fire. As a result, you have problems lighting it.
Chimney cleaning services Columbia MD providers also observe that when a house is too sealed it tends to cause a dangerous buildup of carbon monoxide. How can you fix this problem? One of the things you can do is to open the window.
When you do this you temporarily relieve the problem. For a permanent solution, you should hire chimney experts to inspect the house and find out whether they can get rid of the excessive sealant.
