On Tue, 21 Dec 2010 01:45:08 -0800 (PST), harry
wrote:

On Dec 21, 1:37*am, mm wrote:
On Mon, 20 Dec 2010 03:34:52 -0800 (PST), harry
wrote:

On Dec 20, 8:51*am, Joe wrote:
On Mon, 20 Dec 2010 03:39:59 -0500, Joe wrote:
I have a galvanized chimney, no bricks, no stones, no tile liner, just
one galvanized sheet metal pipe within another, to keep the outside
cool, and an oil furnace in the basement.

Reading more webpages, I see that maybe one or both layers is
stainless steel, not galvanized.

All chimneys need cleaning. I would be very surprised if there is no
means. Usually there is a door at the bottom of the vertical bit. It
may be on the underside out of sight.

It turns out there is no door. * The flue just turns to vertical and
comes up to a horizontal black plate about 12 inches square at the
ceiling

It was hard to get in there, and I see now that I'd never seen the
chimney from the bottom before (only above the roof), because the
closet next to it which is my access is only 4 feet tall, underneath
the stairway landing. *I can only look horizontally from there, not
up.

Plus there were three 2x4's in the way, one in the middle, and I'd
stored a folding card table up against them. *When I tried to lean in
to the furnace area and look up, I was afraid I would lose my footing
and break my neck.

So I moved about 70 spare fence pickets, and the card table, and got
in there through the cobwebs, and there was no door!

There was just one of those segmented pieces for making a flue turn
corners, and from going slightly uphill, it turned vertical, up to the
center of a black metal plate about 12 inches square. *I couldnt' see
but I suppose the flue detaches from the plate, and all the soot will
fall on my head** but I don't know if it will reattach easily, after
28 years.

** Maybe I can wear a hat, or a plastic bag. *The space is very small,
only 16 inches wide by about 30 inches, half of that bounded by the
furnace on one side and the wall on the other. * I was sorry I hadn't
left the front door unlocked and taken the cordless phone with me, in
case I got stuck in there, and couldn't crouch down to get back under
the stair landing, so I backed off and didn't get close enough to see
everything***.

Tomorrow I'll try to go in from the other side, but the water heater
is close to the furnace and I don't think I could have squeezed by
even when I was average weight. Now I'm fat but if I push my belly in,
it's no bigger than my ribcage, which is average size for a 5'8" man,
but I can't make it smaller. * *

Anyhow, I called a chimney sweep today but have to call back now with
this added info. *The woman said he cleaned from both the basement and
the roof, 170 dollars. *Another 170, no discount, for a second
chimney, even though he's already here and already on the roof!

Chimney sweeps used to be children (or small men?), because they
actually went down the chimneys I think, when chimneys were bigger. I
should remember to tell them they should send one of their thin guys.

***It's so good to be healthy again. A couple years ago, about a month
after abdominal surgery, I managed to move my 28-year-old washing
machine away from the wall about 30 inches, and I tried sitting down
behind it to tighten the belt. *Each time, I could barely get up. * I
couldn't get my legs underneath me, and there was nothing to hold on
to, except the laundry sink, which had no legs and was attached only
to the wall, and I was afraid pulling myself up with that would pull
the sink off the wall. *I thought I'd be stuck there for weeks.
(Later I put two legs under the front of the sink.)

I was still tired from the surgery and staying in bed for more than 3
weeks. I coudln't tell if I'd actually tightened the belt while I was
sitting there, only after I got out, so a year later I went back with
a scribing tool, and a GM jack handle for leverage. *Now it's tight
and should last for 5 or 10 years.

I am much stronger and more agile than for the month or two after the
surgery. *But it was still miserable in that small space, no room to
stand up, since I was under the landing.

Well, who ever installed that chinmey was a cheapskate in your
parlance.
As there is no cleaning door it makes it neccessary to do it from the
roof and from inside the furnace.

I talked to a couple chimney sweeps today, and they clean from the
roof regardless, it seems. Also from the basement regardless, since
they clean the stove pipe. This is there busy season, but I have one
coming next week.

I t may be possible to have one
retro-.fitted if you can find the chimney manufacturer. It's quite
dangerous not having the flue checked out regularly.
Re chimneys and children, check out the "Water Babies" and Charles
Kingsley.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wat...or_a_Land_Baby

Thanks