History of chimneys begins in the late 12th century when houses in the snow region needed furnaces, boilers or fireplace for the smoke to escape the house. Smoke has to be removed from the house and the thus chimney was innovated. Chimneys exist at many places like houses, ships hotels, manufacturing houses, steam locomotives etc.
Original chimneys were built of mud, wood then came bricks and steel. Mostly chimneys now days are made of steel. Ventilators are present in new appliances which are made nowadays. The chimney is always mostly vertical or almost vertical. Flashing seals up the joint in a pitched chimney built towards the roof. The industrial chimney is known as flue stacks and opposes the structure built in the buildings.
Burning causes combustion and this combustion results into smoke along with various residues getting lined up on the surface of the chimney depending upon the materials burnt in the furnaces.
The gres-2 power plant in Kazakhstan is the worlds tallest chimney of the world of height 1377 ft tall.
Why chimney must be cleaned?
After the burning of the materials the smoke evacuates through the chimneys leaving the residues and ash getting stuck up in the lining of the chimney this makes the residue settle and gather there if not cleaned it can lead to choking of the chimney after some years. Therefore, chimney cleaning is to be done on a regular basis. People who cleaned the chimney in the old days were known as chimney sweeps. Climbing boys were used earlier to sweep the chimneys these were orphan boys or brought from their parents, this system was mostly followed in the UK as the flues were large enough for a man to enter. Later the flues diameter was reduced now there was no possibility of a person to enter the chimney, therefore, new ways to clean the chimney had to be innovated. It gave rise to diseases too like cancer and allergies in the chimney sweeps.
New Techniques
With technology, the chimney cleaning and building patterns also changed. Chimneys with smaller flues were made as they were more productive. Vacuum cleaner, specialized chimney brushes, and instruments are used t0 clean the chimneys without the use of people still there exist chimney sweeps and are required for the proper functioning and maintenance of the chimney. This will help you have a clean and maintained chimney.
