Maintenance a priority for wood stoves> Chimneys need annual check

BANGOR — Can it be more than three decades since a song from “Mary Poppins” earned an Oscar and gave movie-goers some notion that a chimney was something that ought to be cleaned?

… chim, chim, cheroo,

Good luck will rub off

If I shake hands with you.

According to Bangor Fire Department Lt. Peter Metcalf, real good luck accrues not from shaking hands with a chimney sweep, but from making the effort to tend to your chimney regularly.

“It is recommended to have your chimney cleaned and inspected at least once a year,” Metcalf said.

Even those who don’t use their wood stoves on a daily basis need to have their chimneys checked out, especially, he said, “if you burn more than a cord of wood.”

It’s easy for a chimney to get blocked by the buildup of creosote, Metcalf said. If smoke can’t get out the chimney, “it finds other ways to go,” and may well spread deadly carbon monoxide throughout the house.

“Creosote also builds up the potential for a chimney fire,” he added, an event which can both destroy a house or apartment and claim lives.

Cracks in the liner or the chimney itself can be a problem, Metcalf said, and the mortar may be loose. All of those are things that need to be checked out, he said. “Inspections are very important.” Chimney cleaners can be found in the telephone directory, he suggested.

Metcalf, who does school-age prevention education, is one of four employees in the department’s Bureau of Fire Prevention. He and Lt. Jason Johnson, who does the adult education, work out of Central Fire Station on Main Street.

Lt. John Ellis and Lt. Garrett Bray, who handle inspections, fire code and new construction, have their office at City Hall.

The installation of wood stoves comes under both state law and city ordinance, Ellis explained, and the time to apply for the permit at City Hall is before the wood stove is actually put in.

The stove “needs to be listed,” Ellis said, with a testing laboratory such as Underwriters Laboratories. With the woodburning boom of the ’70s and ’80s over, a lot of marginal stove companies went out of business, he said, “but there are a lot of really good products on the market now.”

Ellis and Bray can discuss with the applicant the specifics required to install a stove, such as setback requirements, floor and wall protection, and the way to vent the stove. The proper location is important, he said, point out that wood stoves may not be allowed in garages unless there is a separate room for heating equipment.

A wood stove cannot share a chimney with an oil or gas furnace, Ellis emphasized. “You need to have a dedicated flue, and make sure the chimney is sound and in good repair.”

If it’s going to be a central heating system, he added, that has to be installed by a burner technician with a master’s license.

When buying a house that already has a wood stove, Ellis advises that the prospective owner have the stove and chimney evaluated by someone who inspects houses for real estate transfer. That is not a service which the Bureau of Fire Prevention provides.

If someone has a house with a stove that hasn’t been used for a few years, the bureau can inspect it to let the owner know if the stove meets code requirements, and would recommend having a cleaner tend to the chimney.

The two critical issues for using a wood stove are proper installation and maintenance, he said. A wood stove is “really maintenance-intensive,” he said, “more than any other heating appliance on the market. … Be careful about starting it if you haven’t cleaned it.”

People tend to fill their stoves with a lot of wrapping paper during the holidays, Ellis said, not realizing that the wrapping makes for a very hot fire and could start a chimney fire. Newer high-tech stoves may not be intended to burn some materials, he said.

Eight fires in Bangor were classified as chimney fires last year, Metcalf said, and about six others started out as chimney fires but turned into structure fires.

The state Fire Marshal’s Office told Metcalf recently that more Mainers are expected to burn wood this year because oil prices are rising.

That office also recommends cleaning chimneys and wood stoves, having them inspected, burning seasoned dry wood and having a working smoke detector on every level of one’s home.

For more information, call the Bureau of Fire Prevention at Bangor City Hall, at 945-4400.