Hot chimney breast question

[magsy01]

Hello
Ive tried searching the forum but coming up with nothing.

My chimney breast gets hottish, hard to say how hot, not too hot to put your hand on.
Was going to get it swept (I read there could be a chimney fire if the chimney gets too hot) but I have a gas fire that a gas safe engineer says has to be taken out first for it to be swept.

Question is could it be soot build up or would the gas fire (which is inset with flames and pebbles) not be making that much soot and the chimney is just hot because the gas fire is.

Ive had the gas fire for about 15 years. Never had the chimney swept in that time.

Im probably going to have to get it done are'nt I.

Thanks for any help.
M

 

[45yearsagasman]

Get it serviced. Your service should include a visual inspection of the flue using a torch and a mirror as a basic check. It's unlikely, but possible that a poorly burning fire would deposit soot inside the chimney. Catching alight is highly unlikely. I've never seen a gas fire causing a chimney fire.

 

[gas112]

of course its going to feel hot you have something at the bottom of it burning at over 1000 degrees C

 

[magsy01]

Its serviced annually along with the CH and boiler.
Maybe Im worrying unnecessarily, thanks for the info.

 

[ScottishGasMan]

Depends how hot and how long its on for, if the chimney is not lined then heat will eventually warm up the chimney breast. And if its serviced correctly the fire would have been pulled out yearly for engineer to look up chimney and use smoke bombs to test how well its flowing.

Likewise never heard of a chimney fire started by gas appliance, probably cause a chimney fire happens when soild fuels especially wood deposit tar in the chimney which can eventually light, gas cannot do that and therefor wont be your issue.