Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-11-06
StOye-Pipes and Chimneys.

| THE season of the year is approaching
| when all the fre-places, stoves and fur
naces will be called into requisition. We
must so manage them that they will afford
the most heat possible, and must at the
same time be watchful that they do not
endanger the dwelling we occupy, or in
jure the health of our household. Here
is what the Prairie Farmer has to say
about them:
All chimneys should be cleaned before
the approach of winter. We may do this
by sweeping them out by means of
brush attached to the end of q long pole,
using it first at the mouth of the chimney,
and afterward at the top. But an easier
way, to effect the same end, and one that is
usually practiced in the country, is to burn
them out. In resorting to fire as a method
to clean the chimney, we must use suitable
precautions, so as not to endanger our
own or others property. A day should be
selected when the roofs are covered with
moisture, SO that any sparks that may fall
will speedily be eXtinguished. 1t is well
also to have some one on the look out to
see that no sparks light on any hay or
straw stacks or other combustible matter.
The morning should be selected for burn
ing out chimney, as then the danger will
be over before dark. A good fire should
first be kept up for some time, in order
that the chimney and SCOT may become
warm. Some straw or shavings should
then be added to the fire or thrust up the
chimney by means of POLE
Stove pipes for conducting smoke from
fires of soft-coal should be larger than.
those used on wood or hard-coal stoves, as
the amount of smoke is considerably
greater. They should also be as short as
possible, otherwise they will clog up with
SCOT. All stovepipes should be well
cleaned when they are put up in the fall
and at suitable times afterwards, in order
that they may draw well and give out the
largest possible amount of heat. Great
care should be taken in having all the
joints of the pipe put closely together and
In securing a good connection with the
chimney.
Many accidents happen every season in
consequence of defective stove pipes
Carbonic acid, one of the products of
combustion, escapes through some aper-
ture in the pipe, or some crevice where it
makes connection with the chimney, and
SO much of this noxious gas mixes with
the air that it is no longer fit to be
breathed. Headache and lassitude may
warn the occupants of room of the dam
ger, if it is in the day time; but fires
are often kept up during the night in
sleeping rooms, and then the persons who
occupy them are liable to pass, without
waking, into the sleep that knows no
waking. Not winter passes without
one or more accidents of the kind we
have described happening il this city.
But another, and even more dangerous,
kind of gas is liable to escape, especially
from stoves when hard coal is burned, or
where the damper is turned. We allude
to carbonis oxide. This may be formed
when a sort of smothered fire is kept up,
or when hard coal does not obtain suita-
able supply of air. The first oxygen that
comes in contact with the heated coal is
converted into carbonic acid, but in pass
ing up thus through the burning Goals they
rob it Of half its oxygen and convert It