Chimney inspection
Introduction
A chimney sweep or chimney cleaner is a person whose job is to clean home or industrial chimneys.
The chimney sweep is responsible for periodically removing ashes, carbon, soot, tar, creosote and other residues accumulated on the walls of chimneys, boilers and ovens due to their use, for hygienic purposes and to prevent fires, but also to improve their draft or oxygenation by increasing the bore of the duct. Their activity also extended to the maintenance of the chimney, repairing small cracks that could allow smoke to escape. Currently this dangerous work is facilitated by mechanization; Regulations require annual chimney sweeping of solid fuel installations, although, depending on the country, it may be even less frequent.
History
In the past, the chimney sweep unclogged the mouth of the chimney and other openings, for which he went up to the roof where he carried out his activity. From there, helped by a weight, he lowered a bag into which the dirt was deposited. Then, using hand tools such as large brushes or brooms, he swept or scraped the blackish walls to loosen the toxic soot and the traces of chalk and dirt that had adhered to them, so that it fell into the container. To verify the correct result of the operation, a mirror or lighting was used.
Although chimney cleaning is a very old occupation, as old as the chimneys themselves, it was not until around the turn of the century that chimneys became large enough for a thin man or even a child to climb down them, giving rise to the typical sooty image of the chimney sweep that became popular during the time of the Industrial Revolution.
Over the centuries and in Western Europe, the construction of stepped gables became common to allow easy access to the fireplace. And, with the growth of the urban population, the number of houses with chimneys increased and the profession of chimney sweep became more respected and sought after, although it was sometimes ridiculed in verses, romances and pantomimes for its uncourtly appearance.
In Victorian times in the United Kingdom, the profession was famous for employing young men thin enough to slide into chimneys to clean the inside. They were nicknamed the climbing boys. The work was dirty and risky, not only because of the altitude, but because of its numerous associated occupational diseases (the toxic soot causes skin, lung and bladder cancer, among other ailments), and its employers had a reputation for being exploitative; In England and other countries, orphaned children were forced to work as chimney sweeps by hospices, in order to reduce costs, and, instructed by an adult, they descended through pipes that were often not vertical, but sinuous and with angles, often still hot; They hurt and burned their knees, elbows and hands, and they received nothing. Soot was valuable and could be sold for 9 pence a bushel in 1840 (equivalent to £5 in 2023).