wood burners

[TippyToes248]

Hi all

I wonder if there are any firemen out there that can answer this vexed question. My neighbour has told me that I am wasting my money having my wood burner swept by a chimney sweep every 4 months because I will never have a fire as I use kiln dried wood. I had it swept at the beginning of February this year and used it for roughly 3 hours every night (never let it smoulder) until June and I have just had it swept again as I started using it a couple of weeks ago. Is my neighbour correct?

All the blogs say wood burners that burn just wood should be swept regularly every quarter when in use.

Any information would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.

That sounds excessive to me. My multifuel stove is on more or less 24/7 in winter- I burn wood during the day and chuck some coal on last thing at night, and mines only swept once a year. Chimney sweep says that's enough. My wood is soft wood and not kiln dried either.

I have mine swept once a year, we use a mixture of kiln dried hardwoods & seasoned woods, the installer said once a year enough, unless you are burning logs that are not seasoned properly/pallets etc.
Think quarterly is a bit excessive especially for such light use.

Our advice from manufacturer, installation team and sweep has all been annual sweeps.

Our chimney sweep says annual is fine

We had our multi fuel stove installed in 2002 and we have had the chimney swept once, last year. There wasn't much soot. We use it about 5 times a week in winter and burn mostly seasoned wood, but coal sometimes too.

I would say that burning wood only is less risky than coal as the wood leaves much less residue behind.
Remember a chimney sweep isn't going to talk themselves out of business are they?

We have ours swept once a year. It's been lit tonight for the first time and will probably be on every day now until march.

Once a year is sufficient, as long as you know how to use the stove efficiently and are using decent fuel.

We have a wood burner and sweep it once a year it's been in use every night since beggining october and will prob continue up until March time x

Ours is swept yearly- usually sept/October before the winter season begins

Ours is done annually. Our house insurance requires this. It's never that bad so it's never crossed our minds to do it more regularly.

Annually here too

My husband is both a firefighter and a HETAS reg log burner fitter.

He advises once yearly sweeps. The only chimney fires he ever goes to are those that have structural problems, those where burners have been incorrectly fitted, those where dodgy fuel is being used (plastics, for example) or those where they have not been swept for donkey's years.

I've been trying to get a log/multi burner quote since August !! My local company are pants as I'm still waiting despite chasing them several times ! If you are in Dorset and your husband is interested, JaniceBatersby, PM me ! Thanks !

Oh sorry Wookieswife, we're miles and miles away. Have you checked the HETAS website for registered fitters?

I had bees in my woodburner chimneys so had to get mine swept in a hurry in the summer and the lovely sweep who came to do it at an hour's notice said once a year was absolutely fine for light use. So some sweeps will talk themselves out of a job!

Thanks JB looking on there shortly!