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Get Your Fireplace Ready for Winter
CHECK YOUR CHIMNEY |
KEEP YOUR CHIMNEY CLEAN | STOCK UP ON FIREWOOD |
FIREPLACE TOOLS |
FIREPLACE SAFETY TIPS
Sometime this winter, you may want
to use your fireplace. The worst time to realize your fireplace is not
prepared or you lack the appropriate
fireplace tools is on a snowy day when you don't
feel like leaving home. If you don't plan ahead by purchasing logs,
checking your chimney, and obtaining the right tools, that beautiful
fireplace will remain unused the entire winter. On a cold day, you
can always turn up the thermostat, but reading a good book or bringing the
family together in front of an open fire is a great alternative to watching
television. Here are some steps you can take to ensure the readiness
and safety of your fireplace:
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Stock up on Firewood.
It's important to choose the right type of firewood. Fire logs, or
manufactured wood, burn cleaner than lumber and do not leave as much
flammable resin on the interior lining of your chimney. Only purchase
fire logs that have been approved by Underwriters Laboratories (UL). If you
plan on using wood, use hardwoods, such as hickory and oak, rather
than softwoods, like fir and cedar. Hardwoods release more heat and
emit less pollution. Buy firewood that is less than 20
percent moisture. Seasoned wood makes an
excellent choice, as it has been dried for six to 12 months.
Only bring as much wood as you need into your home. If too much
firewood is in the house, it will remain in the
log rack
in your living room for a very long time. Plenty of insects live in
and are attracted to wood. Keep them outside! If you store wood
outside, it
should be elevated to prevent it from getting soaked with water.
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Check Your Chimney.
Starting a fire with a clogged or backed up chimney can be very dangerous.
In a worst-case scenario, your living room will fill up with smoke, forcing
you and your family to evacuate your home and wait in the cold for the
fire department to arrive. At the very least, the chimney will not
provide adequate ventilation, and moderate amounts of carbon monoxide, an
odorless and colorless carcinogen, will enter your living space. We
recommend checking your chimney monthly. All it takes is five minutes.
First, go outside and see if anything is blocking the chimney top. There
could be snow, ice, twigs, or even a bird's nest that would prevent smoke
from exiting your home. Next, from the inside of your house, check the
liner of the chimney to see if there is any blockage. Use a flashlight
and a mirror. Light from the rooftop should be visible.
It's a good idea to ask a licensed gas contractor to show you how to perform
the inspection the first time you do it. If your fireplace has no
chimney, just make sure that gases have a clear path outside the home.
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Keep the Chimney Clean.
You can keep the chimney free of flammable resin by scheduling an annual
professional inspection along with a yearly cleaning. This prevents
chimney fires and ensures an efficient airflow. Fewer dangerous gases
will enter your home if the chimney is clean.
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Make Sure You Have Fireplace
Tools. Without a fireplace poker, you'll never keep that fire
burning for very long. If you don't have a shovel, you'll end up
burning your hands as you try to add coal. Owning a fireplace tool set
ensures that you have everything you need, from a brush for cleaning to
tongs for rearranging burning logs.
In addition to tools, you'll also need a
fireplace screen, a log grate, and
a fireplace ashtray. The screen is very important for safety purposes,
as it prevents burning embers from floating into the living room.
Fireplace sparks can cause fires, and if they hit someone in they eye, they
will cause serious damage. The premier screens are made of steel.
A fire log grate will improve the quality of your fire. A flame cannot
survive without plenty of oxygen. If you place fire logs directly on
the floor of your fireplace, they will not get enough air, and the flame
will suffocate. A grate elevates firewood so that it has exposure to
the air on all sides. For easy cleanup and additional heat, place a
fireplace
ashtray below the grate.
Additional Fireplace Safety
Tips
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Limit the Size of Your Fire.
Use only one fire log at a time, and don't throw newspapers into the
fireplace unless you're either starting a fire or preventing one from dying
out. It may be fun to see how high that flame will blaze when you
continually feed it with crumpled newspapers, but doing this can cause your chimney to crack, or
at the very worst, start a
chimney fire.
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Place Logs at the Rear of the
Fireplace. You always want the fire to remain as far from the
living room as possible. This way, floating ambers are less likely
enter the room. People too close to the fireplace will be less likely to get burned. You can always use your fireplace tools to
reach into the back and rearrange the burning logs.
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Never Leave the Fire Unattended.
Regardless of the safety precautions you take in building the fire, an
adult should stay near the fireplace at all times. If something goes
wrong, someone responsible must be there to diffuse any problems before they
become major issues. This is especially true if children are in the
house. Staying with the fire is not only a safety precaution but also
a preventative measure against lost efficiency. Say, for example, you
start a fire and then go off to watch television in another room. If
you fall asleep in front of the TV, that fire might dwindle down to nothing,
and the cold air from outside will fill your living room.
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Clear the Area Near the
Fireplace. Make sure the fireplace area is clear of debris,
especially flammables. Everyone keeps firewood racks and newspaper near the fireplace, but make sure these items are off to the
side, where the heat is less intense and where no embers will reach them.
Make sure to keep lighter fluid or any aerosol cans away from the fireplace.
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Keep a Fire Extinguisher Nearby.
The goal is always to keep a fire confined to the fireplace, but in the
event that a fire happened to get out of hand, a fire extinguisher nearby
can mean the difference between life and death. Always put safety
first when building, tending, and extinguishing a fire.
None of the above steps take much
time, money, or even effort on your part. Don't let that fireplace of
yours go to waste, and make sure your family stays safe and warm this
winter.
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