When the EPA started to crack down on wood stove emissions, the early technology utilized catalytic converters to help clean up the emissions from the stove. Over time these converters can become brittle. Sometimes it gets as bad as when the chimney sweep pulls it out...
Chimney sweeps in Portland Oregon are having to deal less and less with un-lined woodstove inserts. Back in the ancient days wood stove inserts ( a wood stove that has been set into an open fireplace ) were not installed with a stainless steel liner being...
A chimney sweep’s brush vs chimney sweeping logs. Do these logs really clean the chimney? I have been cleaning chimneys for 30 years now, and I get this question asked of me several times each year. I cannot speak for the cleaning logs because I have not...
A fireplace damper repair can be easily achieved by installing a top-closing damper to take the place of a missing or existing defective damper. With a few simple tools and some very basic masonry skill and knowledge, you can remove your defective damper and install a...
We recently encountered a chimney that had been occupied by a raccoon for some time. We were unable to clean this chimney because of the chance that the raccoon had left droppings in this chimney. These droppings can contain a particularly unpleasant parasitic...
There are two reasons that I like Napolean woodstoves: They heat well and my customers rave about them. They save my customers money. ( Click on photo to enlarge ) We do not have a brick-and-mortar storefront, as we clean and repair chimneys and install woodstoves. We...