Fireplaces

Yes

To remove dog urine from a metal fireplace, use an antibacterial cleaner. For an all natural antibacterial alternative, use apple cider vinegar or white vinegar.

Well the first thing to do is dont panic! The second thing you do is fill your bath tub with tomato juice and sit in the tomato juice for about a hour or so for the smell to go away.

It used to be. Wood was part of a living plant, but has died.

No, because you can get the allergic reaction from the plant in your lungs. That would suck. Even if the doors were closed, you would still have the smoke going elsewhere. I got my first case of poison ivy in a campfire, and it got everywhere that wasn't covered with clothing. It was awful. Don't do it!!

yes

The cause of fireplace odor is usually humidity or downdraft in your fireplace chimney that is bringing the aroma out of the ash and creosote and backing it up into your home. In order to stop it at the source you can plug the fireplace chimney with a chimney balloon to stop the flow of air into your home through the fireplace.

Any remaining smokey odor can be neutralized with a fireplace deodorizer, or you can take a wide brimmed bowl (like a salad bowl) and put some vinegar in it and set this in your firebox for a few days. This will neutralize any leftover odor, but you need to stop the air entry first otherwise the deodorizer or vinegar wont work.

Having your chimney swept in the Spring, before Summer humidity begins to infiltrate your chimney will eliminate the creosote in the flue, smoke chamber and fireplace or stove so the sulfuric acid, which forms when the humidity reacts with the creosote, cannot form and cause the smell in the first place. Also, keep you damper shut whenever you are not using your fireplace, since in the Winter warm air will rise through it and cost you money, and in the Summer cool air will sink think through it and bring contaminants such as soot, ash and sulfuric acid into your home.

Finally, by having your chimney swept by a Certified Chimney Sweep in the Spring, you not only eliminate the source of that fireplace odor, you also ensure your chimney doesn't have any potentially costly water leaks, unsafe conditions such as gaps in the flue liner, or mis-aligned flue tiles, and you will be able to use your chimney as soon as it gets cool in the Autumn.

After removing all the beans that don't stick to the pan, fill it up with hot, soapy water. Scrub and scrape out all the bad stuff once it's been softened.

This repair is best handled by a professional, but if you can get your hands on a good quality 316 Ti alloy flexible stainless steel liner or rigid liner sections, you may be able to handle it with help from a friend. Most liners come with instructions from the manufacturer. Follow these closely. Basically, you just push the liner down the chimney from the top and then hook it up to your wood burning appliance using a tee. Make sure the liner is large enough to handle the smoke. As a general rule, the liner must be at least as large as the outlet on the appliance. For example, if you hook up 6" smoke pipe to the top or back of your stove, then you need at least a 6" liner diameter. In some instances, the existing terra cotta or vitreous clay flue tiles must be removed before you can put in the liner. And remember, too, that for any solid fuel burning appliance (coal or wood) the liner has to be insulated with a ceramic wool insulation material or pour-down masonry based insulation mix. Probably best just to call a pro.

If you are prepared to do it yourself, it can be easy, depending on the height, steepness of your roof, etc..., shop the internet well, there are a very few quality, reputable, fair priced companies out there, make sure of warranty, and type of liner, based on the ss grade, and style of liner...

Yes. Good idea ! Our homestead cabin always had a copper-bottomed pot full of water ( snow or ice in winter ) on the wood-burning stove in order to constantly humidify the dry air from the intense wood heat.

Stoneware is much more durable than pot which was still usable after about 15 years of being heated and kept hot. Caution - always top it up before going to bed so that you don't damage container by boiling it dry.

To open the handle must pull it towards you. The handle has pivot points allowing the door to open in steps.

While you CAN burn any wood (except petrified wood, which is now stone) the best wood for heating purposes will be dry hardwords, such as oak, ash, hickory, apple, etc. Softwood, such as pine, fir, cedar, has relatively low heat value (you burn a lot for a little heat) and produces a lot of creosote (coats inside of chimney, fire hazard if not cleaned, etc) TREATED lumber (used for decks, docks, landscaping, etc) has been treated with chemicals that may include chrome, copper, arsenic- and are a health hazard if the smoke is breathed- don't burn those. See the link at the bottom of this page for a guide to firewood. PS- dry means cut, split, stacked, and air dried for 6 months to a year.

Sure might possibly Burn Some Creosote,(toxic fumes??)however if you happen to have an old stove/heater then theremay be a little bit of rust in there (iron oxide)...this can (in theory)can create a super hotfire!! Possibly, even a thermite-like reaction. See wiki ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermite)

Information about fireplace safety can be found on various websites. The most reliable of these will be those provided by the various Fire Services because they know what they are talking about

Use washing up liquid and warm water,then apply teak oil

No, you do not need to open the damper.

Example - A gas cook stove is not vented and neither is the oven. Nor were the old gas space heaters (I still use them) your grandparents used. Carbon monoxide is produced by incomplete burning of fuel. Not just the burning of fuel. In fact the EPA states that a correctly operating gas appliance DOES NOT produce unsafe levels of carbon monoxide. If they did, all our grandparents would be dead. I remember sleeping by an old gas space heater turned on high.

Ventless gas logs are sold world wide, if just the burning of the gas produced CM then they would not sell logs that allowed you to close your damper. The bigger concern with these logs is not CM but oxygen depletion. All vent free logs have an oxygen depletion safety on them and not a CM safety. That should tell you something. So relax. If you are concerned, go to Home Depot and buy a CM detector. I think every home with gas appliances should have one in case an appliance gets faulty.

The gap around the stove to the wall really depends on the stove manufacturers guidelines. My stove has a gap of 50mm (5cm) all the way around.

The UK building regulations 'document J' states that a minimum gap of 150mm should extend from the side of the front doors of the stove to the edge of the hearth and a minimum of 300mm to the front.

A stove that is close to the wall will have poorer air circulation around it meaning the heat released to your room will be less. Think of it like standard UK radiator, it sits a few inches from the wall to allow air circulation, if it was flush to the wall all you are doing is spending your hard earned cash heating the wall.

A lot of people seem to think that the gap around the stove needs to be 150mm to the wall but this is not the case.

The purpose of the fireplace damper is to keep the outside elements, outside. The damper is opened only when there is a fire in the fireplace.

f

oak is a longer burning wood but provides less heat than most other woods. it's your choice really. but the direct answer to your question is most definately oak

The wood turns black because what is left behind is primarily compounds of carbon

By burning wood in it. Build some paper and small dry wooden parts to start the fire and slowly increase the size of the logs. You should take care that the wood gets enough air to keep burning. This can be facilitated by starting the fire on andirons and/or a fire grate.

There are two types of gas fireplace logs: vented and unvented. Both types can be found at fireplace and chimney stores, and at some hardware stores. Many gas log manufacturers offer gas fireplace logs for sale online.

There are several different things that can be done to help prevent the buildup of creosote in a chimney.

First: burn hard woods only. (no pine or other sappy woods)

Second: have your chimney cleaned regularly.

Third: there is a creosote conditioner that you can apply by placing it in your fire. It will burn and help clean your chimney.

-----

We advise our customers to burn wood that has a 12-18% moisture content. If the wood is too wet it will smolder and create creosote, too dry and it will burn too quickly and will overwhelm the reburn system with too much smoke.

Burn the stove hot for at least an hour a day to help.

Other than that follow the three above rules.

-----

One thing you can do is avoid using an airtight stove with a tightly restricted draft. Airtight stoves produce a lot of creosote, which is why they have fallen from favor with many people. If they are used with a more open draft, they can produce less creosote.