Keeping Safe

[Lightspeed]

Mary,

If flue gasses are leaking through the chimney brickwork/pointing ( as opposed to back draughting) this is a problem that you should get fixed urgently.

What starts out as a small seepage can quickly grow into a major leak, especially if our of sight in the loft area etc.

Flue gasses from wood burning can be over 400C so you can see where this will lead.

Another thing for people to bear in mind is that burning under-seasoned wood with high moisture content, results in incomplete combustion and sticky tar like material being deposited in the chimney. This tar is flammable, and if allowed to build in large amounts, can be the cause of blast furnace style chimney fires. If in doubt the chimney should be swept once or twice per year.

Your thread is well timed to activities in our household. With the imminent arrival of the new boiler, we are at last forced to clean out the main lofts which are insulated with huge amounts of hay and straw. So far we've carted out 12 x 5 ton grain trailers of the stuff, and estimate that there's still another 30 trailers worth to go!

I will sleep easier once its all gone.

Get that chimney of yours looked at young lady. Better safe than sorry:-)