Chimney sweep in Katlakalns - businesses and houses by the Daugava

Who has their own heating in Katlakalns

The neighbourhoods portal says Katlakalns is built up mainly with industrial and public buildings, while a sparsely built strip of private houses stretches along the Daugava. On the Rīgas siltums map, with data as of 01.01.2019, large parts of the neighbourhood are not marked as a district heating zone. So both businesses and houses often have their own boiler or stove and their own flue.

Industrial and public buildings

A company's or institution's boiler flue always needs a certificate. If the boiler burns wood chips, pellets or wood and does not store heat, the flue is cleaned by 1 November and once more by 1 March. A brick flue for a gas boiler is checked and cleaned once a year, a metal or lined one once every two years. Once every five years a solid-fuel flue also needs a technical condition inspection.

A large boiler has a long flue with a horizontal flue pipe and several cleaning doors. It is cleaned when the boiler is stopped and cooled down. More: chimney sweep for businesses.

Private houses along the Daugava

The houses in the strip along the Daugava bank are usually detached houses with gardens, heated with stoves, wood or pellet boilers and gas. The nearby river and lower-lying ground raise the flood risk in places. If there was water in the cellar or boiler room in spring, check the chimney base, the cleaning door and the flue pipe before the heating season, because in damp conditions metal rusts and bricks crumble.

If a private house is heated with wood, the owner may clean the flue themselves, and the fire safety regulations then do not require a certificate. For a gas boiler, a house with several flats, or when a chimney sweep does the cleaning, a certificate must be drawn up; it is also proof that the chimney was cleaned. More: chimney sweep for a private house.

Sauna and garden house by the river

On the Daugava bank many houses have a sauna or a garden house with its own stove in the yard. A sauna stove heats up quickly and cools down quickly, so the fire safety regulations count it among the appliances whose flue is cleaned twice: by 1 November and once more between 1 November and 1 March, if the sauna is also used in winter.

A sauna flue is often short, with one or two bends, and passes through a timber ceiling. After a damp summer the chimney sweep also checks that the flue joints have not rusted and that the ceiling pass-through has not been overheating. More about this job: sauna stove cleaning.

How cleaning works in a Katlakalns private house

1. Preparation Before cleaning, the firebox and flue must have cooled down, and there must be clear access to the boiler or stove and to the attic hatch.
2. Top If the roof allows it, the channel is cleaned from the top with a brush and a weight, while the chimney head and cap are inspected.
3. Bottom The soot is removed at the cleaning door and from the flue pipe.
4. Check and certificate The draught is checked, and the certificate records the condition of the flue and a statement on the result of the work.

Changing your heating and Riga's regulations

Riga's heat supply regulations also apply in Katlakalns, even though it borders Ķekava municipality, where different rules apply. In Riga, in all zones, an old appliance may be replaced with a new ecodesign appliance of up to 50 kW using the same fuel, and every appliance must be registered with the Riga Energy Agency. Check which zone your address is in on the municipal zoning map. Before a new appliance is used, you need a certificate on whether it may be connected to the flue.

Services in Katlakalns

• Boiler flue cleaning in Katlakalns: from €100 per flue with a certificate.
• Chimney cleaning for private houses with stoves: from €100.
• Chimney sweep's condition report once every five years: priced for your situation.
• Chimney repair, if damp has damaged the masonry: priced for your situation.

We reach addresses in Katlakalns via Bauskas iela and Ziepniekkalna iela. If you work or live on the other side of the border, see the page chimney sweep in Ķekava.