Chimney sweep in Purvciems - the private house quarter and six housing estates

Where the chimneys are in Purvciems

The neighbourhoods portal says that residential buildings take up 48.1% of the Purvciems area and that apartment block quarters have already been built in six estates. The private houses are in the south-east of the neighbourhood. There each house usually has its own heating with a boiler or a stove, while apartment blocks usually have district heating, and the flats have no chimney.

The neighbourhood also has new residential projects, retail and office buildings. If a new building has its own boiler room or gas appliances, they have their own flues and their own cleaning intervals.

Private houses in the south-east: boiler, fireplace, sauna

A private house in Purvciems often has more flues than the owner remembers: a boiler flue, a fireplace flue, sometimes an old stove channel and a sauna in the garden. Each has its own deadline:

• Wood, briquette or pellet boiler: by 1 November and once more between 1 November and 1 March.
• Fireplace or masonry stove: by 1 November.
• Sauna stove: the same as a boiler, twice, if the sauna is also used in winter.
• Gas boiler: a brick flue once a year, a liner or metal flue once every two years, servicing of the appliance once a year.
• Solid-fuel flues: a technical condition inspection once every five years with photos or video.

The owner of a private house may clean a solid-fuel flue themselves, and then no certificate is needed. If we clean it, there is always a certificate, and it makes it easier to show the insurer that the flue has been looked after. About work on private houses: chimney sweep for a private house.

Replacing a boiler in a private house under the Riga rules

Before you replace the boiler in a private house, check which heating zone your address is in. Riga binding regulations No. RD-24-260-sn ban new solid-fuel and gas appliances in zone I and new solid-fuel appliances in zone II, while zone III sets an order of priorities. In all zones you may replace an existing appliance with a new ecodesign appliance of up to 50 kW using the same fuel. The zone is shown on the zoning map on the page of the municipal Heat Supply Commission.

Under the fire safety regulations, when you replace a boiler, you need a certificate on whether the new appliance may be connected to the existing flue before the new boiler is used. It often turns out that an old brick chimney needs a liner for the new boiler. More: chimney lining and heating boiler flue cleaning.

In our reading of the zoning map, part of Purvciems is coloured as zone I or II, and part is not coloured. So two private houses in the same neighbourhood can fall under different rules, and only the map shows what applies to your plot.

Housing estates: ventilation

In the six housing estates the chimney sweep's job is natural ventilation ducts: once every 10 years, and once every five years in flats with gas appliances, with a certificate each time. This is usually ordered by the building manager. A flat owner needs us if the ventilation does not draw or if a gas water heater or boiler is being replaced in the flat: then the Riga rules require a certificate on the technical condition of the existing appliance, flues and ventilation ducts. More on this: ventilation check in an apartment building.

Offices, shops and new projects

In office and retail buildings the flue usually serves a gas boiler, sometimes in a rooftop boiler room, or backup heating. Such a property needs a certificate in the name of the owner or tenant and, from 1 January 2027, also a written contract for the fire safety service. More: chimney sweep for a business. New flues need an inspection before they are put into service: flue inspection for commissioning.

Access and price

Purvciems is reached along Deglava, Dzelzavas and Stirnu iela, and the main roads are busy. On the private house streets you can usually drive up to the gate, but in the large inner courtyards of the estates there is little parking. Tell us where a car can be parked and how to get onto the roof.

Cleaning a private house boiler, fireplace, stove or sauna flue with a certificate costs from €100, usually €100–130, with the call-out included. For ventilation duct inspection, condition reports and chimney lining we quote the price once we have your request. All prices: prices.