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We tune up & clean gas appliances!

Homeowners with gas fireplaces and heating stoves love their hearth appliances because they are easy to use and require little maintenance. However, if you want your system to continue to perform with optimal efficiency, you must invest in simple annual maintenance. Fortunately, Chimney Care Co. is here to help keep your gas hearth appliance running efficiently and smoothly. We tune up and clean gas appliances, too!

Why your gas fireplace requires maintenance, too

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Gas fireplaces don’t create ash or smoke compared to wood-burning fireplaces. So why does your gas fireplace need regular maintenance? First, your gas fireplace features many working components. These parts include the vents, blowers, pilot lights, and burners. as they can become blocked with debris to prevent proper function. Gaskets, seals and glass doors can also wear down to cause eventual failure. This also reduces your fireplace’s efficiency and pose dangers within your home.

While creosote is not a concern in your gas fireplace’s, the chimney can still become blocked with debris or animal intrusion. The chimney liner or structure could still break down to pose a hazard. All in all, you should get our gas fireplace or heating stove a professional cleaning, inspection, and tune up annually, as this keep your gas hearth appliance safe and efficient. Annual maintenance removes soot and debris that can degrade the look of your fireplace. Annual cleaning and inspection also ensure that your logs, firebox, and glass continue to look clean and attractive.

What gas fireplace maintenance entails

What exactly does gas fireplace maintenance entail, you might ask? First, your certified technician will clean and inspect the chimney to remove any soot, which can eat away at the chimney. We will also look and verify that there aren’t any defects, weaknesses or blockages inside your chimney to pose a hazard. Your sweep also remove the logs from your gas fireplace to thoroughly clean the logs, firebox, fireplace glass, blowers, and pilot. We want to clear all debris or dust from all parts to lessen the chance of a blockage, as it could lead to a system failure. Finally, your sweep check all of the working components. We also check the seals of your gas fireplace or heating stove to ensure that the system is working properly and safely.

Call to schedule your gas fireplace tune-up today

Gas fireplaces and heating stoves are low maintenance. However, while gas hearth appliances require less maintenance than their wood-burning or pellet-burning counterpart, you gas system still need annual tune-up, cleaning and inspection to ensure it stays clean, attractive, and in proper working condition year after year. Give the team at Chimney Care Co a call at 513-248-9600 to get started!

What To Do About Animals in Your Chimney

Each spring, animals from squirrels and raccoons to bats and birds look for the perfect place to build their nests. Often times, that “perfect place” turns out to be a chimney. If you hear the telltale sounds of scuffling animal paws, flapping wings or chirping in your chimney, you’re probably left wondering what to do when an animal is in your chimney. Here’s your step-by-step guide to dealing with this particular issue.

Don’t try to deal with the animals on your own.

Trying to extract an animal from your chimney could be a dangerous task and even at times lead to injuries. Resist the temptation to deal with an animal on your own. Never try to smoke an animal out of the chimney, this will likely kill or severely injure the animal, leaving you with an even bigger problem. Additionally, some species, such as chimney swifts, are protected – to remove them from your chimney during their nesting is illegal.

Close off openings between your chimney in your home.

A major problem of having an animal in your chimney is that it could make its way into your home, bringing unwanted diseases and causing extensive damages to your home. If you can hear an animal in your chimney,  first, create as many barriers as possible between the flue and your home. Next, close your chimney damper to prevent the animal or bird from descending into your firebox, and finally, close your fireplace doors to create one final barrier to prevent the animal from invading your home.

Call in the professionals.

Once you have your chimney blocked off as well as possible, call in a professional to help deal with the animal nesting in your chimney. Some chimney sweeps will remove animals themselves, or you might need a company specifically skilled in animal removal.

Have your chimney cleaned and inspected.

Once the animal has been removed from the chimney, you will need the chimney swept and inspected to remove any debris and ensure that the animal hasn’t left behind any damages. The debris and damages left behind can leave your home at risk for a chimney fire. You’ll want to rely on a CSIA-certified chimney sweep to be sure that your chimney is safe to use again.

Install a chimney cap to prevent future animal intrusion.

To prevent animal intrusions from happening, have your chimney outfitted with a caged chimney cap.  With a chimney cap firmly in place, animals and birds won’t be able to access the flue opening when they’re looking for a place to nest. Your chimney sweep should always check the condition of your chimney cap during your annual inspection to verify that it is secure and will continue to protect your chimney.

If you have animals or birds rustling in your chimney — or if you’d like to prevent an animal from nesting in your chimney this spring — call the Chimney Care Co. to schedule an appointment. We can clean and inspect your chimney after an animal intrusion or install a new chimney cap to keep animals out of your flue.

Does Your Gas Fireplace Need Service?

As you flip the switch to ignite your gas fireplace this fall, you might be wondering: Does your gas fireplace need to be serviced? Homeowners overwhelmingly favor gas fireplaces, and it’s no wonder why. They provide a warm, glowing fire with ease and convenience. While your gas fireplace may not require the upkeep and care of its wood-burning counterpart, your gas fireplace does need service each year, too.

Why Your Gas Fireplace Needs Service

If it doesn’t produce ash, heavy smoke and creosote like a wood fire, why does a gas fireplace need service? There are two primary reasons; cleanliness and complexity.

Prized for their cleanliness, gas fireplaces still require maintenance. The fireplace itself can gather dust that can interfere with blowers or the pilot light. The ceramic logs inside will break down over time and create their own debris that can clog the working components of the fireplace. The chimney won’t fill up with dangerous creosote, but it will collect soot over time. Soot is corrosive and leads to the breakdown of the chimney pipe if it isn’t cleared away. And, of course, regular cleaning will keep your gas fireplace looking great for years to come!

There are a lot of components of a gas fireplace — from pilot lights to blowers to gaskets — that can break down or malfunction over time. If your gas fireplace isn’t in perfect operating condition, it might not light when you want it to, drive your energy bills up by not working efficiently or even put your family in danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. That’s why your gas fireplace needs an annual inspection to ensure it is in good working order.

What Your Gas Fireplace Service Should Entail

So now that you know y0ur gas fireplace requires annual servicing, what should that service entail? First and foremost, your annual gas fireplace maintenance should be performed by a certified fireplace professional. The service itself includes a thorough cleaning of the chimney, blowers, gas logs and glass doors. There is also a full-system inspection to verify that the chimney is properly venting, damage free and unobstructed. We also check that the valves, gaskets, pilot, and blowers are properly functioning. Finally, we ensure that there are no signs of damage, condensation, improper ventilation or deterioration that could compromise the safe operation of the fireplace or chimney. If any problems are spotted, they should be addressed as soon as possible and before the fireplace is used again.

Now that you know your gas fireplace does require annual servicing, don’t wait to schedule an appointment! A certified professional should examine your gas fireplace before you use it this winter. To make sure your gas fireplace is ready to keep your family warm and cozy all winter long, call the Chimney Care Co. to schedule your gas fireplace service today!

Gas Fireplace Tune-Ups and Cleaning

Gas fireplaces are a modern convenience. They give you the heat and ambiance of a traditional fireplace, without the hassle of building and maintaining a fireplace. They’re also cleaner, without the ash, soot and smoke of a wood-burning fireplace.

Gas Fireplace Tune-Ups and Cleaning - Cincinnati OH - Chimney Care CoBecause of their ease of use and clean, efficient burn, homeowners often forget that a gas fireplace requires annual cleaning and maintenance, just like their wood-burning counterparts.

Why your gas fireplace needs an annual tune-up and inspection.

Gas fireplaces are incredibly easy to use and nearly maintenance free. However, the Chimney Safety Institute of America recommends that the gas fireplaces and their chimneys undergo annual cleaning and inspection. This is just like any other type of heating stove or fireplace. With gas fireplaces, chimneys can still face damage or deterioration that compromises their structure and safe use. In addition, chimneys can become blocked by animals, leaves or debris. An annual chimney cleaning and inspection ensures that the chimney is structurally sound. Making it free from damage, and clear of any animals or obstructions.

The inside of the gas fireplace also requires an annual cleaning and inspection for safe operation. The burners and vents can become clogged with debris, either from dust or deteriorating bits of your ceramic logs. Over time, glass can crack or chip, compromising its function, and other parts of the fireplace. This includes seals, valves, fans, and blowers. Even the pilot light can malfunction or fail. Your annual gas fireplace cleaning clears away any debris that could inhibit the fireplace’s safe function. Also, the inspection checks for any problems that could compromise the safe or efficient function of your gas fireplace.

What the annual cleaning and inspection of a gas fireplace entails:

During your annual gas fireplace tune-up and inspection, your Chimney Care Co. fireplace technician will clean and inspect your chimney flue. They will also check your gas fireplace for proper clearances and venting. This is to make sure that valves, seals, gaskets, fans, blowers and the pilot are functioning properly. The technician also will look for damaged or worn-out fireplace components. These include cracks, gaps or scrapes within the firebox, signs of condensation around the chimney, and signs of leaking gases into the home.

What you can do to maintain your fireplace.

In between your annual gas fireplace cleaning and inspection, there are some things you can do to keep your gas fireplace operating optimally. Each month, especially during the months when the fireplace is in use, clean both sides of the fireplace glass. Inspect the glass for signs of cracks or chips. Inspect the inside of the fireplace for signs of deteriorating logs. Clear away any dust or spider webs from the inside of the fireplace. Always call for service if you notice any problems with the fireplace, such as difficulty igniting the pilot or malfunctioning blowers.

Call to schedule your gas fireplace tune-up and inspection today!

Before you fire up your gas fireplace for the season, call The Chimney Care Co. to schedule your gas fireplace tune-up and inspection! We’ll make sure that your gas fireplace is clean and safe for a winter’s worth of heating. We will also talk to you about regular maintenance to keep your gas fireplace burning cleanly, safely and efficiently all year long.

Take Care of Your Gas Fireplace and It Will Take Care of You

Gas Fireplace Maintenance - Cincinnati OH - Chimney Care CoMany homes have a gas fireplace. Unfortunately, homeowners generally don’t think about servicing them until something goes wrong, which is usually at the most inopportune time. Whether you take a few moments to check out some of the more obvious things yourself or schedule an appointment with a trusted fireplace service technician, both can save you a lot of frustration down the line.

Guidelines for Gas Fireplace Service 

As you may or may not know, there are several different types of gas fireplaces, and the guidelines for servicing each is somewhat different. If a model has what is known as a standing pilot—the pilot light stays on all the time—the most important regular service item is the pilot assembly. Some units have a pilot light that’s only on when the unit is in use, while others use electronic ignition to light the burner directly without using a pilot system at all; both of these won’t need servicing quite as often.

For the last few decades, all unvented gas fireplaces and inserts as well as gas log sets have been manufactured with an Oxygen Depletion Sensor (ODS) to ensure safe operation of the appliance; these sensors should be cleaned every year to keep the system from becoming more sensitive and/or causing nuisance shutdowns. If you are particularly handy—one capable of changing you own oil or the spark plugs in your car without breaking something—you should be able to handle this task; however, if you are the slightest bit apprehensive about handling anything dealing with gas, it’s best to leave this to a trained, experienced professional.

The goal is to clear out the accumulation of sediment in the tiny pilot opening. A can of compressed air can be used with the included straw to direct air toward the opening to clean it out. If you opt to do this yourself, remember to make sure the pilot is OFF. If the pilot assembly is at least five years old or if you live close to salt water, this method might not be as effective as it once was, leaving you needing to seek professional assistance anyway!

Gas Fireplace Cleaning Needs 

Unvented logs are designed to burn very cleanly; as such, if you notice any black sooty deposits on your logs, it is best to stop using them immediately to make sure your logs and/or burner are set up correctly. If you aren’t absolutely sure that everything is correct, please refrain from using your fireplace until you can have a professional technician evaluate the situation for you.

Other fireplace options and gas log sets need cleaning, too, but perhaps not as often depending on the frequency of their use. Vented gas logs should be cleaned regularly if there is any sooty buildup present; there are commercially available sprays on the market to assist with this task if you are comfortable doing so. If at any point you are unsure or the least bit apprehensive, it is best to err on the side of caution and contact a professional to handle the work on your behalf.

Direct vent gas fireplaces have fixed glass panels that will likely need annual cleaning to stay clear. If the glass is collecting a black residue (soot), the fireplace should be adjusted to remedy this issue. If the glass has a gray or white film, however, there is no need to worry; there are chemical compounds in the gas itself that produce the residue (this is completely normal). The use glass cleaners containing ammonia is a huge no-no. Water and a soft cloth will usually suffice as long as you make this is part of your regular cleaning routine; adding a little vinegar to the water may save you a little elbow grease. Tougher deposits may require special fireplace glass cleaner to ensure that the job is done properly. Don’t forget to dry your glass completely and check for streaks and fingerprints before re-installing the glass!

Here at Chimney Care Company, your family’s sense of security and safety is important to us—which is why we’ve spent the last 25 years installing, repairing, cleaning and maintaining the chimneys, fireplaces and dryer vents of our neighbors in Cincinnati, southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky. To schedule an appointment, please give us a call at 513-248-9600 or click here. We appreciate your business and look forward to helping you keep your family safe and warm for years to come!

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Chimney Care Company | 413 Wards Corner Road, Loveland, Ohio 45140