Fireplace advice

For those that have the rotating cowl on your chimneys, how often do you grease the rotating bits?
 
does some wood give off like a toxic chemical smell

so i have some wood from last year and its blue gum

not sure if they sprayed something on it but its quite a bad smell

other wood i burn does not have any smell
 
I.am.Sam said:
builders

the living out ones are like R18 and they very good
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I use these for our closed fireplace, the ywork well and I like that each 'brick' is individually wrapped so they don't dry out and they're safer for little prying hands. I use the Rhino Balls for the built in and Weber braai and also have a stash of old corks soaking in paraffin as a backup solution. The backup to everything is a tampon coated liberally in vaseline...
 
All of that expanded polystyrene that comes in packaging also works a treat. Not an eco friendly option though. Just dissolve it in thinners and make a thick paste out of it.
 
TedLasso said:
Yes. Once every two years. Fireplace gets serviced/clean too.

Need to do this year again. Been to busy travelling
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Fok mense. So couldn't find the guy that normally services it. Found another guy recommended highly by the local community whatsapp groups.

Sent him a pic of the fireplace inside and just from that one pic, he tells me what type of chimney I got, etc. He was spot on. Those firebricks in the fireplace were light brown. To him it was too much condensation and hence he was correct in assuming it's a single pipe chimney etc. He even told me how it would look inside the ceiling void with fireproof material covering the chimney/flue. He was right because I saw it before. He told me that while that works over time, with expansion/contraction, the insulation material gets loose falls to the ceiling and then your house burns down sometimes.

He quoted to service fireplace (new bricks, paint, clean) and also for stainless steel dual insulated chimney which he said would prevent condensation, etc . Said he would offer warranty on service only if chimney was replaced, otherwise no warranty.

Anyway, we decided to go for it, the pipes that came down, were truly rusted (holes in three places where I could see). The ceiling void bit was the most affected. So we perhaps dodged a bullet but are 15K poorer . Really hoping the new chimney is going to be better as distributing heat.
 
TedLasso said:
Fok mense. So couldn't find the guy that normally services it. Found another guy recommended highly by the local community whatsapp groups.

Sent him a pic of the fireplace inside and just from that one pic, he tells me what type of chimney I got, etc. He was spot on. Those firebricks in the fireplace were light brown. To him it was too much condensation and hence he was correct in assuming it's a single pipe chimney etc. He even told me how it would look inside the ceiling void with fireproof material covering the chimney/flue. He was right because I saw it before. He told me that while that works over time, with expansion/contraction, the insulation material gets loose falls to the ceiling and then your house burns down sometimes.

He quoted to service fireplace (new bricks, paint, clean) and also for stainless steel dual insulated chimney which he said would prevent condensation, etc . Said he would offer warranty on service only if chimney was replaced, otherwise no warranty.

Anyway, we decided to go for it, the pipes that came down, were truly rusted (holes in three places where I could see). The ceiling void bit was the most affected. So we perhaps dodged a bullet but are 15K poorer . Really hoping the new chimney is going to be better as distributing heat.
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Had my flue replaced last year too with the stainless steel one with the double insulated part that goes through the roof. Old one still worked but was single layer, I'm not taking chances when it comes to fires.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
Had my flue replaced last year too with the stainless steel one with the double insulated part that goes through the roof. Old one still worked but was single layer, I'm not taking chances when it comes to fires.
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Thats the one we had installed when we installed the fireplace, works great!
 
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Got two cubes of firewood (hard and soft) from Firewood Farm. Seemed be cheaper than stompies, who I used last year.

This year, at least they packed all the wood at back of house (so much!! )
Perfect size (20cm) they are super chunky - nice for the fireplace to chew through.

The updated/serviced fireplace with stainless steel chimney is running lekker too.

Gonna run it the entire day this weekend :). It was one of the things all those years ago which we saw when we first looked to buy the house that is now our home.
 
Not so sure about the firewood farm wood. Bought hardwood and softwood (but unsure what they are).

A week later, I have never seen so much ash in my fireplace in all the years I have been using it.

Unsure if it is because these pieces are chunky whereas all the other wood I ever used (whether side of the road bag etc) were thinner .

Anyway, I hate the amount of ash that I need to clean now. Previously, I needed to empty the ash tray every 3-4 days, and now it's daily.

Next time, will also only be buying hardwood
 
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