Chimney cleaning

[WillSingForCake]

Those of you with open fires, do you get your chimney professionally swept each year? We moved into our house last autumn and had it swept then, but this is the first house we've lived in with a fire so not sure how often it's meant to be done. It's a new build if that makes any difference.

we normally get the chimneys swept in the autumn, before we start lighting fires so any problems in the chimneys can be sorted before they cause chaos - we also have a fire most nights in the winter so will get that particular chimney swept again around April or the start of May -

Yup. We just consider it as equivalent to getting the boiler serviced... Good maintenance prevent problems that would be dangerous, or perhaps expensive to fix. I don't think the age of the house makes any difference.

Thanks for your replies. Will book a sweep!

Just had 3 chimneys swept this afternoon.
He recommended once a year for open fires except if you use it a lot then they recommend earlier than that.
Gas fires don't need to be swept very often as there is much less of a build up however if you don't know when they were last swept it's worth getting them done before you use them.
Ours had antique soot in them I think they were last swept 20yrs ago.

I booked our sweep last week, he's coming this weekend. He says once a year is fine for us doing some evening and weekend use over the colder months.

Do you have a coal fire or wood burner? We have a wood burner and our sweep told us we needed a Carbon Monoxide detector, so maybe something you need to bear in mind.

We use our fire on high days and holidays so I usually get it done every other year. We do have a carbon monoxide detector though