With the temperature finally dropping, it’s time for residents of Interior Alaska who burn wood to clean their chimneys and check the condition of their pipes.

Every fall, this newspaper writes about homes destroyed by chimney fires. Cleaning and inspecting a chimney can eliminate the problem, but people often put off the chore until it’s too late.

Slow burning fires produce a lot of smoke, especially if the wood is wet. As the smoke cools, material in it condenses into creosote on the inside of chimneys. Since smoldering fires often are all that is needed to keep a home warm in the spring and fall, those seasons typically see above-normal creosote deposition.

When the temperature falls, hotter fires are needed to keep a home warm. If those fires are hot enough to ignite the creosote that has built up in the chimney during the past spring and fall, a dangerous fire can result.

More at source: News Miner

Find a chimney cleaning service here.