We have oil heat in our home, and the furnace vents through the house’s only chimney. We don’t use a fireplace, so this is the only way in which the chimney gets dirty.
A chimney-sweep we’ve used in the past thinks we should get the flue cleaned every year to the tune of $250 a pop. Is it necessary/prudent to have the chimney cleaned so often, when we don’t actually burn any wood? And is $250 a fair price for such a cleaning?
The Googles are all over the map on the subject, so I thought I’d see if any Dopers have opinions borne of experience or expertise. We live a few minutes north of Boston, if that informs your opinions.
What kind of chimney do you have? We’ve got a metal pipe chimney, with an inspection port at the bottom. The oil company always opens the inspection port as part of the annual cleaning/inspection, and has never told us it needs to be cleaned in the 10 years we’ve lived here. We’re also a few minutes north of Boston, so our heating usage is probably pretty similar to yours.
No idea what’s required if you’re using a masonry chimney.
Oh dear lord. Stuff like this is why I rent. But currently I’m in a 2 family house with an absentee landlord. I’ve been in the same place for about 8 years - oil heat, one brick chimney - and I can say with certainty that the chimney has not been cleaned since I got here. I highly doubt it ever got cleaned regularly before I moved in.
As soon as my son graduates I’m moving to a managed apartment complex with on site maintenance staff and one phone call for whatever problems arise.
Regardless of what responses follow mine I will now worry about chimney fires. Oy.
It should be inspected annually during the annual service call and cleaned when necessary. I had an oil furnace for many years with a metal flu but because the unit was serviced each year, the flu never required cleaning.
We had an oil burner in Maine. We looked in the chimney, and it was obviously completely clean (the house was 3 years old at the time.) Unless something is very wrong with your furnace, I can’t imagine it needs to be cleaned yearly.