Long exposure to creosote may have adverse impact health. When you use your fireplace and the chimney has a great amount of this substance inside, you and the people around can experience skin and eye irritation. People with more sensitive skin may experience redness and possibly blistering and peeling. Even though such health problems can occur fairly rarely given the fact that people in the household are not in direct contact with creosote, you must never leave things to chance. When you maintain and clean the chimney properly, you will never have to worry about this sort of risk.
More serious health issues can occur in case the chimney gets blocked as a result of improper care or an accident. In case of blockage, the fumes from the combustion process cannot be released and build up inside the flue. The fumes are drawn inside the closed room and can be quite dangerous to people. Carbon monoxide is undoubtedly the most hazardous among the different gases which are released inside the house in case of chimney blockage. It causes a variety of symptoms including headache, dizziness, blurred vision, nausea, shortness of breath and confusion. Carbon monoxide poisoning constitutes serious health emergency and medical assistance must be sought right away.
When the chimney is perfectly cleaned and maintained in good structural condition, the risk of fumes getting into the room and causing poisoning is immensely reduced. It makes sense to take every effort for achieving safety. By taking all required measures to protect your family, you will have complete peace of mind that everyone will have fun around the fireplace safely.