We don’t light a fire often as our only one is in the room that we dont use often. We tend to sit in what was the kid’s tv room when they lived here. I’ve twice had the sweep come and both times he said it didn’t need it. Had some soot drop down on to the hearth this last week so thinking maybe this is a sign it needs doing now. We’ve been having a fire for the last couple of weeks lighting it in the afternoons whilst OH sits and reads. How often do you get yours swept, if you have one?
We have a wood-burning stove and when the guy fitted it he said we should have the flue swept once a year. It was only fitted in March last year, so we had hardly used it when we had it swept in September, but when I mentioned to a friend who has had one for years that the sweep was coming, she hadn't realised you had to have them swept.
I would stay safe with an open fire and have the chimney swept every two years.
We have a log burning stove and have not had the flue liner swept, ours is clean burning and so long as I adhere to the manufacture’s guidelines on how to light up and maintain the temperature at the correct heat for our burner then soot will not be a problem.