Chimney Supplies

How to clean your chimney: How often your chimney needs to be cleaned depends on several factors. The type and quality of wood burned, how often it is being used and if it is a fireplace or woodstove. The combination of these factors determine the amount ot leftover carbon molecules from the wood that failed to get burned and  rise up on the hot air in the chimney. Some make it out of the chimney, while others don't and stick to the interior of the chimney on their way up. How much of it determines the amount of build-up of creosote and effort to remove it. To remove this buildup correctly, cleanly, and safely, simply do the following: Using a strong spotlight, look up or down the flue to determine the level of creosote in the chimney. If it is a dusty, soft and grayish/black buildup it can be easily removed with the proper sized chimney brush. On the other hand, if it is hard, black and shiny, it will be more difficult to remove and will require our prokleen chain system or a special spray-on powder that helps turn the tough black glaze to a more brittle state. It can then be removed with one of our flat wire heavy duty brushes. The flue/chimney should be cleaned with either a metal or plastic brush. Orange clay flue tiles need to be cleaned with a wire brush, while round metal flues should be cleaned with a plastic brush to avoid scraping the metal surface. Obviously, before cleaning any chimney, make sure the opening into the house is closed and  use a vacuum with a HEPA filter to suck up the soot. We carry a specialized fireplace cover and ash vac under our accessory section. Many of our customers ask us if they can clean the chimney from the bottom and avoid going up on the roof or ladder. For fireplaces, if the damper bisects the bottom of the chimney in half the proflex rods and sweeps all brushes can be used. The SweepsAll brushes are soft and oversized so they can be pushed past the damper and will then pop back open to clean the flue. The actual cleaning is fairly simple. You attach a series of rods to the brush to lengthen it as you proceed up or down the chimney. Cleaning is best accomplished with short, forceful, plunging motions, which will allow the brush to do its job. When performing the cleaning from the interior of the house, we suggest our hearth country ash vacuum to help control the dust. When cleaning from the top, the bottom can be sealed up during the cleaning. If you have any questions call us toll free at 800-260-8075. Chimney Caps for every situation, style and budget You might be asking yourself.. how do I know which type of  chimney cap I need ? First, are you trying to cover a rectangle ,round, square opening or does your chimney have multiple flues or maybe you want to cover the entire chimney for a cleaner appearance.   Black Galvanized, Stainless Steel and Copper Chimney Caps Black Galvanized chimney caps are great for customers looking to save money but still want a high quality cap that will last.  Stainless Steel is our most popular due to the lifetime warranty and great value. Copper chimney caps are for the customer who wants a beautiful cap for a classy look.  We carry chimney caps from all the leading manufacturers including  Gelco, HomesaverPro, HY-C, ICP and Whitecaps.  All of these chimney caps are easy to install and are the highest quality available.  Metal Pipe Chimney Caps We have chimney caps for solid pipe/pack flues, double or triple wall air insulated chimney pipes and flexible chimney liners. All of these chimney caps are Stainless Steel and come with a Lifetime Warranty. These chimney caps are fully assembled and ready to install. Chimney Dampers The lock top chimney dampers are our most popular and in our opinion the best design due to the fact that it creates a full seal and acts as a cover as well. Also the lock top is the one to use when you have a  round flue and the RS adaptor is needed to connect the damper to the round flue. The Lock Top II is our most complete design and includes a chimney cap for extra protection and  the sweeps ring for easy removal for chimney cleaning. The Lyemance top sealing chimney dampers have a low profile and swing down into the flue. We also suggest this type of damper when installing a top mount chimney cap over the top of the entire chimney. All ot these dampers are attached to the top of the flue with a silicon, watertight adhesive. They are operated by a steel cable down the inside of the flue, which is attached to a handle mounted to the side of the fireplace wall. (All of this is included with your chimney damper purchase) VacuStack Downdraft Chimney Caps The Vacu-Stack chimney caps are  the solution to chimney backdraft! These chimney caps are constructed of two concentric hoods that are positioned so the adjacent bands overlap, and so the unit presents a spherical image to the wind, regardless of the wind direction. When the wind blows, the air is forced around the unit and actually causes an increase in upward draft. The harder the wind blows, the more this effect will increase. The Vacustack chimney caps are available for both solid pipe chimneys and air insulated chimneys. They can also be used on masonry square and rectangle flues with the available adaptors. Top Mount Chimney Caps The top mount chimney caps are perfect when you need to cover multiple, odd sized, or unlined flues. These caps also have a more finished, professional look and protect the entire top of the chimney. The top mount  chimney caps come with lids that are easy to remove for chimney cleaning. We carry stock sizes available for same day shipping in sizes to accomodate any size chimney and desired screen height. The stainless steel and copper top mount  chimney caps come with a lifetime warranty and are the ideal solution for homeowners wanting a more customized look for the top ot the chimney. The top mount designer lid chimney caps are available in all of the same stock sizes as the flat lid top mount caps and add a beautiful hip and ridge lid that will give the top of the chimney a customized look at a muuch lower price than a custom cap.  The Chimney Surround is a great product for homeowners who would like to cover a pipe coming out of the roof and make it look like a real chimney. The Chimney Surround is easy to install and will change that ugly pipe into a beautiful looking chimney. Another product that will enhance your home's exterior is one  of our copper chimney pots. We offer the traditional looking Jack Arnold copper chimney pots and the Whitecap copper chimney pots that offer a cleaner more modern look and due to the simple design they can be purchased at a reasonable  price. Our Flue Stretcher Chimney Caps increase the height of the chimney resulting in increased draft and making the opening higher than another flue in the same chimney solving downdraft problems.  For customers with smoking fireplaces where other attempted solutions have not worked the Enervex Fan will usually solve the problem at a much lower cost than construction. The  Enervex Fan mounts outside, atop the chimney, where it literally sucks the smoke from the flue. Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed  Any Chimney Supplies purchased from ChimneyDirect.com will withstand the elements and will have high quality construction. ChimneyDirect  customers always enjoy the added confidence of knowing that our 30-day money back guarantee demonstrates our commitment to complete customer satisfaction.  Another advantage of ordering from us is our prompt delivery policy. Most chimney caps are shipped the same day they're ordered and for free if the order is over $ 100.