Tiled stove cleaning

Why a tiled stove must be cleaned from the inside

A tiled stove stores heat because the smoke gives it to the masonry before leaving through the chimney. That is why the channel is long: it runs up and down in several sections, or passes. At each turn the flue gases slow down, and soot and fine ash settle there. After a few seasons the cross-section of the channel narrows, and the stove starts to smoke and heat up less well.

If only the chimney is cleaned, the stove channels stay clogged. That is the most common reason why a stove still draws poorly after the chimney has been cleaned.

How tiled stove cleaning works

1. Finding the doors Cleaning doors are usually small cast-iron doors or removable tiles on the sides, bottom and top of the stove. On old stoves they are often painted over or sealed with clay.
2. Cleaning the channels With a scraper and a long, narrow brush we remove the soot from each pass, starting at the top doors and working down.
3. Flue pipe and chimney We clean the connection from the stove to the chimney and the flue itself, from the bottom or from the roof.
4. Sealing the doors We close the doors and, if they were sealed with clay, reseal them with clay mortar so that smoke does not leak into the room.
5. Draught, dampers, certificate We check the draught and both dampers. In the certificate we record the stove, its flue and everything we saw in the channels.

Tiled stoves in Riga's old masonry buildings

In many pre-war buildings in Āgenskalns, Avoti, Grīziņkalns and Centrs, flats are still heated with tiled stoves. Such a building has two particular features. First, it is an apartment building, and there a certificate with the number of the cleaner's qualification document must be drawn up for every cleaning. Second, the stoves of several flats are often connected to one chimney block with adjacent channels. So cleaning the chimney from the roof for the whole building is usually organised by the building manager, while the stove channels are cleaned in each flat separately.

If a flat's stove starts smoking after the building manager has had the chimney cleaned, the cause is usually the stove's own channels or the flue pipe. If you are a building manager and need the whole building done: chimney sweep for an apartment building.

What cleaning solves and what it does not

Cleaning solves smoking and weak draught caused by soot in the channels. It does not solve cracks between the tiles, crumbled joints, a cracked firebox or a collapsed partition wall in the channel. If smoke comes into the room through such a crack, the stove must not be used until a stove mason has repaired it. We do not rebuild stoves, but in the certificate we describe exactly where the damage is and why the stove is dangerous.

If you suspect the chimney rather than the stove, it can be examined from the inside with a camera: camera inspection. If the cracks are in the chimney: chimney repair.

How much tiled stove cleaning costs

Tiled stove cleaning together with the flue pipe and chimney costs from €100, usually €100–130, with the certificate and call-out in Riga and the Riga region. A large stove with many passes, a stove connected to a cooker or a heat-storage wall, and a stove that has not been cleaned for many years take more work. In that case we name the price after an inspection, before we start the work. All prices: prices.