How Many Disasters Start In The Fireplace?

No matter if you live along the lake or in one of the suburbs of Chicago, everyone who has a fireplace knows that it can cause issues in your home. In fact, nearly 40,000 house fires each year are caused by chimneys or fireplaces, so it is important to practice good fireplace safety. 

The fires and the fumes they contain can cause damage to your home as well as loss of life. If you want to prevent a fire from spreading from your chimney or fireplace, there are some fireplace safety steps you can take to make sure you and your family are protected. 

Why Are Fireplaces So Dangerous?

People have had fireplaces in their homes for thousands of years. In fact, prehistoric humans hollowed out areas in caves to keep a fire burning for warmth and light. Fireplaces became standard in homes as a source of heat and light, as well as a place to cook the family meal. While we do not usually use fireplaces now for cooking food, they become indispensable during power outages due to thunderstorms, blizzards, and ice storms. No matter when you use your fireplace, it is vital to ensure fireplace safety for you and your family. 

While fireplaces are extremely useful and versatile, they can also be very dangerous. Anytime you have an open flame in your home, you are inviting the chance of a house fire. For example, if you have a fireplace that uses wood, and you do not have a fireplace screen for keeping the embers inside the fireplace itself, a floating ember can land on something combustible, such as a rug or a couch, and start a fire. 

Fireplaces can also overheat and crack, especially if they have not been inspected in a while. This could cause a chimney fire that can spread to other areas of your house. Smoke and fumes can also leach into your house, which can cause breathing problems for members of your family. 

Fireplaces are amazing additions to your home, but there are some ways that you can prepare your fireplace and make sure your new favorite home addition does not cause damage to your home. You’ll be able to enjoy your fireplace and practice fireplace safety measures. Here are some tips for great fireplace care. 

Check Your Fireplace Linings

A fireplace lining, also known as a flue liner, is a non-combustible tube that runs up the length of a chimney to protect it from overheating. The lining also vents toxic gasses and particles from a fireplace, stove, or furnace. Linings are made from a variety of materials, including stainless steel, clay tiles, aluminum, or casted masonry material. 

Clay tile liners are often used in older homes because they are inexpensive and durable, but they can suffer from excessive condensation from higher-efficiency gas appliances. If you are not sure what your liner is made of, it is a great time to ask an expert at Valley Chimney to come out and take a look. 

No matter what your fireplace lining is made of, you need to check it. Fireplace safety is only as good as your lining. If there are cracks or worn spaces in your lining, it can cause your fireplace to overheat, send harmful vapors into your home, or even cause accidental fires. If your fireplace lining is worn or cracked, you will need to get it replaced before you begin burning wood or turning on the gas jets. 

Getting a New Fireplace? Be Sure You Are Not Locating It Near Combustible Materials

In northern Illinois, most homes have a working fireplace. However, on the off chance that your home does not have one, you may be able to have one installed. Whether you choose to install a wood-burning stove, a traditional wood-burning fireplace, or a natural gas fireplace, you need to make sure you are locating it away from areas in your home where combustible materials are constantly present. 

For example, you would not want to locate your fireplace near a garage where gas fumes are present that could catch fire. You also would not want to locate your fireplace near a closet area or where there is a lot of clutter because that raises the risk of an accidental fire. If you are thinking about adding a fireplace to your home, it never hurts to have an expert opinion about where it is located. 

Fire Is Not the Only Problem Fireplaces and Chimneys Can Cause

When you have a fireplace with a chimney, you run the risk of having an accidental fire, but there is another danger you need to look out for. Every year that you burn wood or gas in your fireplace, combustible materials such as soot and creosote coat the linings of your chimney. 

These combustible materials can leak out of your chimney when you start a fire and cause carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide poisoning happens when the carbon monoxide replaces all of the oxygen in your body, which can cause you to lose consciousness due to the lack of oxygen in your body. 

When you have your chimney cleaned each year, you dramatically lower the risk your family will be exposed to carbon monoxide poisoning. While you are thinking about carbon monoxide poisoning, you may want to make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector so that if your home fills with carbon monoxide, an alarm will sound, and you can get your family out in time. When you get your chimney cleaned and inspected, you can also change all of the batteries in all of your carbon monoxide and smoke detectors so that you know your home is prepared. 

The Centers For Disease Control found that 100,000 people have to be rushed to the emergency room each year because of carbon monoxide poisoning, and nearly 15,000 have to spend nights at the hospital. 

Getting Your Fireplace Cleaned and Inspected Lowers Your Risk of a Fireplace Disaster

One of the best ways you can ensure that you do not have an accidental fire in your chimney or fireplace is to have your fireplace cleaned and inspected each year. A fireplace inspection or a chimney inspection takes very little time. 

If you use Valley Chimney, you will not have to do the dirty job of cleaning your chimney and fireplace yourself, but you also make sure that harmful creosote and soot cannot cause a fire or cause deadly carbon monoxide fumes to enter your home. If you are worried about your fireplace safety, now is a great time to give us a call so that we can set up an appointment for you with one of our chimney sweeps and inspectors. Reach out to us today.