Well, the chimney sweeps just left and it didnt' go anywhere near how I would expect. So I need advice form you guys on several things. Specific qustions are farther down, in the second part that's also labeled 1 and 2.
They were supposed to come between noon and 4, and I figured they had to come by four because it's dark by 5 and the woman on the phone said they alway clean from the roof and the basement. -- I was getting the the oil furnace and also the fireplace chimneys cleaned.
Their work:
1) The fireplace took them about 10 or 15 minutes, from the basement only and almost nothing came out when they ran the brush up the metal pipe. It was a sort of ratty-looking brush in that I thought the bristles were uneven and that quite a few were missing. He said I had burnt less than a half cord of wood (since the previous cleaning) and that is probably true, even though it's been 22 years or so and I use the fireplace 4 to 10 times a year. Not one of my important questions today but say that totals 110 hours of fires, do you think that would be less than 1/2 cord? He held his hands together like a bowl and said that volume would come from a cord of wood.He saw a clearly visible crack, a crooked black line, but with no empty space between the sides, which I think is called a hairline crack, in the back panel of the steel pre-fab fireplace, and said that would be $389 dollars to be replaced. Each panel he had said before he started was about $380. Even before he started, he brought up how easy it is with prefab fireplaces to replace one of the three walls or the bottom.
He was done and when I asked about the roof, he said they went up on the roof when it was necessary. In contrast to the woman on the phone who said they always did.
2) Then the two men went to the furnace, and took apart the flue, pointing me to the dirt inside, and it was 1/4 inch or a little more all around. The soot definitely tends to stick together and makes my fingers dirty, but it's a lot more like dry and very little if at all like oily.Then one of them slid behind the furnace even though the space is only
14 1/2" wide and he wasn't especially small, and looked where the flue went up to that black metal plate I posted abbout earlier** He raised his arms and seemed to be doing something for 2 or 3 minutes.He came out from behind the furnace and said because the dirt was 1/4" to in some places 1/2 inch thick, if he tried to clean [the flue], it would ruin his brushes (which he later told me are made out of some kind of plastic) and that he couldn't use them again, and he couldn't clean the pipes anyhow. He said I needed new pipes from furnace to ....well I thought he was going to say roof, but I realize he never said that, and the paper he wrote says ceiling. So he's only talking about the flue***. He said he couldn't do anything now, and said it would be $685 to replace the pipes. He said if he took it apart more there would be dirt everywhere. He said that amount of dirt was lethal and it meant the furnace was putting out carbon monoxide, although my brand new Kidde CO detector always says zero.
He put the old pipes back together, and asked for $115 which is their price for the second chimney, and the fireplace was the second chimney in my case.
My questions:
So what do you guys think?
1) I think I've had the crack in the fireplace for years. I've never seen it open up but it's hard to see when there are flames in front of it. Still I watch the fire closely and when it's low I still don't think I've seen the crack open. Maybe I'll make a fire and verify this. The fireplace make banging noises when the fire increases and somewhat when it descreases. I think that's normal for a steel fireplace.He didnt' say what would happen if it wasnt' fixed and I didnt' ask. What would?
Actually it's been over 20 years since the fireplace chimney was cleaned, and since it had almost no dirt fall down, even with the ratty brush which was run up and down only once, I think I can go another 30 years or until I move or die, whichever comes first.
2) WRT the furnace, have you ever heard of a stove pipe that can't be cleaned because of soot or other oil furnace residue?**(Actually, several days ago I said it was a black plate, but when I looked at the bottom of the chimney from the other side a few days ago, I saw that it's not a plate, but a box, about 12 or 14 inches square and 2 inches high, all very even black-color, like the surface is just like new. It's not soot or dust because around it it's not black at all. One side of the box is against the outside wall, one against the wood-framing that holds up the basement landing, one side partially against the main heating duct and the rest open but there is no door, and the fourth side facing me but above the flue and no door, so there is no cleanout, even though with a different part, there could be one there.
***For the furnace, he itemizes one 2' ST pipe, one 4' ST, one 1' ST, 4 adjustable 90^ elbows. No mention of the T or the barometric damper.Thanks for any advice you can give me.