We bought a house with a Kacheloffen, wood burning stove, and oil heating and the Chimney Sweep guy came every year to clean it.
He also had to fill in a report to the Gemeinde on the state of the chimney/heating system.
I was interested in those houses without wood ovens, they all had chimney pots on their roofs - did he clean those too?
Yes, he did! By law they had to be cleaned every year.
If their heating system required the chimney as a vent for expended heat they had to be cleaned yearly.
The old family house has since replaced their oil heating with the hot air system requiring no chimney.
When the Kacheloffen and wood stove are removed - no chimney is required - no cleaning.
But ..... a Swedish oven is now being installed - so chimney sweep guy will still have business! As long as fumes are going up the chimney it has to be cleaned EVERY year!
How extreme this cleaning is ..... the chimney sweep occasionally and randomly takes samples of the soot for analysis - if you burn rubbish you could be in trouble and face a fine!
Destroying Kachelofen is a terrible crime imho The Reformed Church that owned our house did that in the dreaded 70s- and we so regret it . On the same lines, they also pulled out the marvellous flag floor to replace it with .... lino. Progress, hey
I agree wholeheartedly with you Odile, about the Kachelofen. It is a shame.
But in these economic times it no longer serves its original purpose, and space is a premium, in that house.
They (my kids) desperately want to keep it and are working on re-designing things to try and keep it. Means knocking out other walls etc, and completely re-designing the ground floor of the house so one can at least swing a cat in the kitchen (!) and have more than just a couch in the lounge, and a little more natural light down the long gloomy passage.
That other thread about "growing old" ....... one watches one`s kids enlarging their homes while their kids are growing up .... and when the house is finally big enough ..... the kids leave home!
Are there any laws about wood burning stoves, it's ok just to burn wood wherever you live? Sorry if this is an obvious question....have looked for answers here but not seen one.