Questions & Tips

  • How do I know if I have a problem with a downdraft?

    Before calling a sweep out to determine if you have a downdraft issue, there are some steps the homeowner can take to remedy a downdraft problem.  What you think may be a natural downdraft, may be due to factors inside the home.  Follow these simple steps: Open a couple of doors and/or windows in the room with the heating unit (fireplace). Open the heating unit’s damper, put your hand near the damper to feel for cold air.  If you did not feel cold air being pulled down the chimney with doors and windows open, your problem may be due to any number of other causes. Clothes dryers, kitchen fans, bathroom fans, and forced-air furnaces all remove air from the house. In order to compensate for lost air, additional air may be pulled down the chimney. To check potential sources of the problem: Close all doors and windows Turn off all appliances which remove air from the house (fans, dryers, etc) Turn on one of the air removing appliances Check for a downdraft by placing your hand near the open damper in the heating unit Repeat the process with each air removing appliance, being sure that only one such appliance is in operation at any one time. An upstairs bathroom fan may also draw air even when turned off. You can use smoke to determine if air is being drawn out: Turn off the fan Hold a smoke producing item near the fan (a lit cigarette or a couple of just extinguished matches will usually work) The smoke will be pulled towards the fan if it is drawing air If after trying the above techniques, you have determined that your problem is an outside wind–induced downdraft, then request a visit from a certified chimney sweep to provide the solution.

  • How often do I need to clean my chimney?

    A chimney fire occurs when a build-up of soot and creosote ignites inside the venting system of a fireplace or wood stove. Wood-burning chimneys should be cleaned when a quarter inch or more of soot is present. Build-up can be more rapid in a wood stove than in a fireplace. In a wood stove vent, dangerous build-up may occur in less than a month or may take much longer, depending on burn habits, fuel and other variables. New wood stove users should inspect their systems during the first season to learn their rate of soot build-up and determine cleaning frequency. Newer certified “clean-burning” stoves generate much less creosote than older non-certified stoves. Fireplaces usually do not need to be cleaned as often as wood-stove.  Cleaning frequency is again determined by the type and amount of wood being burned.

  • What areas do we service?
    Alhambra
    Anaheim
    Arcadia
    Artesia
    Azusa
    Baldwin Park
    Bell
    Bell Gardens
    Bellflower
    Bradbury
    Brea
    Buena Park
    Cerritos
    Chino Hills
    Compton
    Covina
    Cypress
    Diamond Bar
    Downey
    Duarte
    El Monte
    Fullerton
    Garden Grove
    Glendora
    Hacienda Heights
    Hawaiian Gardens
    Huntington Park
    Industry
    Irwindale
    La Habra
    La Habra Heights
    La Mirada
    La Palma
    La Puente
    Laguna Beach
    Lakewood
    Long Beach
    Los Alamitos
    Monrovia
    Montebello
    Monterey Park
    Norwalk
    Paramount
    Pasadena
    So. Pasadena
    Pico Rivera
    Rosemead
    Rowland Heights
    San Dimas
    San Gabriel
    San Marino
    Santa Fe Springs
    Sierra Madre
    South Gate
    Stanton
    Temple City
    W. Covina
    Walnut
    Westminster
    Whittier
    Yorba Linda
  • Does certification matter?

    Anyone can make claim they are chimney sweeps but Smokey Joe’s is certified by the California Chimney Sweep Guild!