How often should you clean your flue?
Ideally you should have your flue check or cleaned once a year. The best time is before you use it again for winter. Here in Tasmania that could be late March, early April.
Cleaning your flue will depend on how well your heater burns the wood and what sort of wood you use. Pine should be avoided as it is a rapid burning wood and will deposit creosote at a much faster rate and burns hot which can cause problems in your fire box. A mixture of green wood and seasoned wood will give you a longer lasting fire. The greener wood you use will cause resin build-up and can cause fires in the flue. If you only burn seasoned wood, then you would need to put more wood on the fire more often.
Opening your flue all the way causes air flow to burn your fire. If your flue is open and you are not getting a good fire, then there could be a creosote build-up that needs cleaning.
If the fire door is open and there is a lot of smoke entering the room, then this is an indication that there is no air flow and you may need a flue clean.
Have birds made nests in the top of your flue over summer?
Make sure you put a flue clean on your list of jobs prior to winter.
Do your Flues look like this?
Call Gutter-Vac Tasmania for a quote 1300 654 253
Why not have your gutters cleaned at the same time and tick another job of that winter list?
