Winter is the time of year when anyone with a fireplace thinks about keeping warm and relaxing by the glow of the hearth. It’s also a great time to think about fireplace safety.
Enjoy those logs you’ve been splitting with your log splitter, but take care when you do! Avoid these nine mistakes that people commonly make when using their fireplaces, so that you can savor your time by the fire all through the season.
The reason is that when wood burns, it produces a residue called creosote that gets carried away with the smoke. The smoke will deposit some creosote on the inner walls of your fireplace’s chimney as it rises.
Creosote is extremely flammable. Too thick a layer of it in your chimney, and it can ignite and start a chimney fire when the temperature rises.
Home heating experts recommend cleaning your chimney at least once a year. The best time to do it is before the weather gets cool, but any time you clean it is better than not cleaning it at all.
It's recommended that you hire a certified chimney sweep to perform a cleaning and inspection. Professional chimney sweeps are experienced enough to get the job done more quickly than a homeowner while still looking for hidden problems that homeowners can miss.
Additionally, they also use specialized equipment, such as commercial vacuums fitted with HEPA filters to prevent harmful particles from escaping into the home.
More frequent inspections can also help you avoid excessive creosote buildup.
The damper is a structure inside the chimney that keeps it closed, preventing heat from escaping your home and blocking cold draughts when the fireplace isn’t in use.
The problem is that if you don’t open the damper before starting a fire, smoke from your fire will be unable to escape as well.
Don’t cause your living room to fill up with smoke. Before lighting your fire, be sure to open the damper. With many fireplaces, it can be opened or closed using a knob just above the firebox where you build your fire.
But safety always should come first. Firefighters, chimney sweeps, and other professionals recommend placing any flammable cloth items at least three feet away from your fireplace. That includes items like these:
If you like to hang stockings from the mantel so that Santa can fill them with holiday gifts, be sure to remove them and temporarily put them in a safe place each time you light a fire.
No matter which species you choose (oak, maple, or any other), you should not use it if it’s green or unseasoned. Always make sure that your firewood has had at least six months outside to dry out. This process is called curing or seasoning your wood. Seasoned logs will look dry and cracked at their ends.
Unseasoned wood, also known green wood, releases excess moisture when it burns, which can lead to heavy creosote buildup.
If possible, buy your firewood early in the year. This not only will give you a wider selection but also will give the wood even more time to dry out and cure.
Additionally, a log splitter can help even if you buy firewood elsewhere. Use your splitter to split large logs into smaller pieces that will cure more quickly.
A word of caution also extends to using wood from conifer trees like pine and cedar. This wood contains a lot of resin that will pop, crackle, and shoot out sparks as the temperature rises. Because it catches fire so easily, it makes excellent kindling, but it’s safer not to use as your primary type of firewood.
Instead, use dry tinder material like crumpled-up newspaper or dryer lint. Don’t use too much newspaper, though, or you’ll risk the same problem: your fire will get too big to control!
Why? Because these materials might contain chemicals that can be toxic when burned and released into the air. Stay healthy, and dispose of non-wood materials properly, or better yet, recycle them when you can.
Glass shields offer the most protection, but they can be dangerous for small children who might not understand that there’s a transparent barrier in place. Extra caution should be used when children are present to keep them away from glass shields.
Wire screen or chain link metal curtains provide slightly less protection than glass shields but are still effective.
You might think that you should clean out all the ash after every fire, but this isn’t the case. Leaving a layer of wood ash that’s about 1” high can provide insulation and help build fires. Don’t let that ash layer get too high, however. Sweep some away once it touches the grate; this much ash can start to inhibit fires.
When cleaning out ash, wait until it has cooled completely and you see no glowing embers before sweeping it away. Sweep it into a metal container with a lid for extra safety. Check your local regulations before disposing of wood ash. Some cities require you to hold it for safekeeping in that metal container for a week before throwing it out with your regular trash.
A safe fire is an enjoyable fire. By avoiding these common mistakes and following some basic fireplace safety recommendations, you’ll be sure to build fires in your hearth that burn brightly and carefully.