Murray · Salt Lake County
Sweeping Post-War Fireplaces Across Murray
Murray sits low and central in the Salt Lake Valley, which means it spends more of the winter inside the inversion layer than the bench towns do. That has a direct effect on how a chimney behaves.
A chimney is a machine driven by a difference in air density. Warm gas inside the flue is lighter than the air outside, so it rises and pulls fresh air in behind it. That is the whole mechanism, and it is weaker than most people assume.
What the inversion does to a flue
During an inversion a lid of warmer air sits over a pool of cold, dense, still air on the valley floor. Murray is in that pool. The outside air pressing on the chimney top is heavier than usual, the wind that would normally help is absent, and the flue has to work against both. A fireplace that drafts adequately in October can smolder in January without a single thing having changed about the chimney.
Smoldering is the point. A fire that is not drawing well burns cooler and incompletely, and the unburned material it sends up a cooling flue is what condenses out as creosote. The same wood, the same fireplace and the same household can put down two or three times the deposit in a bad inversion week as in a clear one.
Seventy-year-old flues do not help
A lot of Murray fireplaces are original to post-war brick homes, and the flues serving them are small by modern standards, often unlined, and lined with clay tile whose joints have opened over seven decades. A rough, leaky flue interior adds friction and lets cold masonry chill the exhaust, which is another push in the direction of deposit rather than exhaust.
How we sweep
The firebox opening is sealed and a HEPA vacuum runs from the moment we start until we pack up. We rod the flue, brush the smoke chamber and shelf, clear the damper, and vacuum the firebox out. Then we photograph the liner and the smoke chamber and show you what came out, because a sweep you cannot see the results of is just a bill.
Where a flue is heavily loaded or the deposit has hardened into glaze, brushing is not the answer and we will say so on the day rather than after. That takes different tools and it is quoted separately.
Best time to book
Late summer through early fall. Everybody in this valley remembers their chimney in the same cold week, and that is the week it is hardest to get someone out.
Questions
Chimney Sweep in Murray — common questions
My fireplace draws fine some days and smokes on others. Is it broken?
Probably not. That pattern follows the weather. On still, cold inversion days the pressure on the valley floor works against the flue, and a marginal draft becomes a failing one. We check for a blockage first, then look at whether the flue and opening are correctly proportioned.
How often does a Murray fireplace need sweeping?
Once a year for anyone burning regularly. If you burn only a handful of times over the winter we can usually stretch that, but we still want eyes in the flue annually, because animals and moisture do not care how often you light a fire.
Will you make a mess in an older house?
No. The opening is sealed before any tool goes in and the vacuum runs continuously, so the dust never reaches the room. In older Murray homes we also put down protection on the hearth and the floor in front of it, since the surfaces are frequently original.
Is a sooty smell in the house a sign the chimney needs cleaning?
It is a sign that flue air is entering the room, which is worth taking seriously. Sweeping removes the source of the smell, but we also want to know why the air is coming down the flue rather than going up it, because that part is the actual fault.
Also in Murray
Our other services here
Inspection Chimney Repair Fireplace Repair Installation Gas Fireplace Caps & Dampers Dryer Vents All Murray services
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