I’d like to tell you a story about how you shouldn’t just take any old advice, or believe just anything you hear. During my army days (around 1984), I arrived in South Korea to serve in a forward area on the border between North and South Korea. In the motor pool where I worked, I met two great people, one was a young Korean girl I married and brought back to the United States. The other was Staff Sergeant Harmillio a very kind man who always tried to help out the incoming GI’s new to country.
I had been in the country for about 1 month, and one day Sergeant Harmillio, in January (the dead of winter), decided we needed to clean the oil fired stove that heated the single room building in our motor pool. I said, “Sure, Sarge. I can help.” So he told me to cut up some tire strips to add to the stove as it burned. Well, tires burn really hot and fast, but these were not taking off very well. So Sergeant Harmillio made the decision to add just a “little bit” of gasoline.
Five minutes later, with the stove fire out of control and no fire extinguishers nearby, the fire began to spread to the connected buildings. This included our field supplies, tents, and such needed for infantry bivouac.
Sergeant H lost 2 stripes and a piece of his dignity because he did not follow the standard operating procedures. It is vital that whomever you hire to work on your chimney follows CSIA standard operating procedures so you and your home are safe.
Here is yet another example of someone doing something foolish by not following standard operating procedures. This should never have even been considered as a cleaning process for a chimney.