The main reason for commissioning a survey and inspection of a chimney, chimney liner or flue is to ascertain its safety. When you’re using a wood burner, multi-fuel stove or gas appliance you need to know that the fumes being given off are escaping freely out of the chimney.
Chimney surveys are especially useful in these situations:
Clearways (Jolly Pattison Ltd) – the Bristol area NACS & HETAS approved chimney sweep experts – are also qualified and very well equipped to carry out detailed inspections of the condition of flues and chimney stacks, inside and out. We use the latest CCTV equipment, drones for aerial views, and undertake smoke tests.
The chimney is a largely hidden part of any property, often overlooked and neglected. Our surveying team use a combination of expert knowledge and modern technology to inspect every corner of a chimney, chimney liner or flue, no matter how awkward access may be.
We use a small CCTV camera passed through the flue to record and identify any damage, blockages or hazards, and where the top of a chimney stack is hard to reach, we can mount an aerial drone inspection.
Over the years we have found some surprising things concealed in chimneys, what we are alert for, however, is things like loose masonry, birds’ nests, ledges, pipes and cables and anything else that constitutes an obstruction or needs remedial work.
Once we can see what is required to repair a chimney or flue for optimum performance and safe operation, we can give you an estimate for the work to be carried out.
Building regulations require that before having a new stove fitted, or before bringing an old fireplace back into use, the chimney needs to be tested to ensure it complies with the BS EN 1443:2019 basic performance requirements for chimneys, flues or flue liners.
We conduct these “Smoke Test 1” procedures which establish whether a chimney is sound. It involves sealing off the fireplace and the top of the chimney or flue and setting off a smoke pellet, so the smoke is trapped within the chimney.
We then run a check around the chimney stack, inside the house, under the eaves, in the loft and other likely spots – in your house as well as the neighbours’ if the property is on a terrace – to see if any smoke is escaping. We then unseal the top of the chimney to see if the smoke has stayed within, and billows out healthily when released.
We serve a wide area across north Wiltshire and north Somerset, up into South Gloucestershire, Bristol and its suburbs, keeping chimneys and flues clean and clear.
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