Attn CJ or Walter: Taking a broom to chimney sweeps

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Taking a broom to chimney sweeps

Dec. 3, 2006 at 2:35PM

Thousands of Germans want to sweep away a Nazi-era law that authorizes chimney sweeps do regular chimney checkups by force if necessary.

The 1937 law, introduced by Interior Minister Heinrich Himmler, makes chimney sweeping compulsory, London's Sunday Telegraph reports.

It also gives a sweep, or Schornsteinfeger, the right to enlist police and firefighters to break down people's doors if residents do not let them in.

"They broke in and officers had to handcuff me and press me against the wall as the sweep went about his business," said Harry Hollmann, 77, part of a network of more than 100,000 people demanding a change in the law. "It's outrageous. I have had gas heating from the 1990s. I don't need my chimney swept at all."

Authorities set prices of up to $200 a visit and householders must accept the service up to four times a year.

A chimney sweeps spokesman responds: "Yes, we can force people to accept our service. Yes, people cannot choose their Schornsteinfeger, but he also cannot choose his clients. Our service is not like any other -- it is a legal obligation in the interest of public safety."

CJ or Walter: Have you experienced this?

I guess the only way to get out of this is to have your chimney removed?

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Would that be a chimnectomy?

Sounds painful.

Shocked

(Weird reading this right after the cosmetic surgery thread.)

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Well, that's one way to avoid chimnoplasty...

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No CJ or Walter yet? I really would be interested in their input on this.

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Oh sorry, I didn't see this thread sooner (thank you Reyn Smile

)

Well, this is one of the urban myth things that someone picks up.
Similar to the one that unmarried people cannot kiss in Alabama, and so
on...

Actually, chimney sweeps or Schornsteinfeger, as we call them
are considered "lucky charms" in Germany. It is believed that when
you see or shake hands with a chimney sweep, luck will be on your
side. So a chimney sweep is always a welcome sight.

On New Year we give little charms of four-leaf-clover, and chimney sweep
as a good luck present.

CHIMNEY SWEEP

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So there's absolutely no truth to the issue of compulsory chimney sweeping?

Thank you for clearing that up. It seemed rather heavy-handed to me.

By the way, can you say "Schornsteinfeger" three times fast? :wink: Laughing

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I can, but can you? Very Happy

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Not without breaking my tongue! Laughing

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Reyn wrote:

So there's absolutely no truth to the issue of compulsory chimney sweeping?

Well, actuallz it is ... since medieval times*. It's a safety cheques, looking at the central heating etc.
You get a certificate, similar to that on the car.

*I'm still in the UK, so chance to look up when such actually started ...

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Oh, and they come once per year - costs less than $ 50 (depending on the actual exchange rate).

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Hi, Walter, thanks for responding while you're on holidays! Very Happy

What about in the situation where a homeowner is not using their chimney, like in the case of someone using only natural gas for heating?

Are you allowed to remove a chimney that one is not using?

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Certainly you can remove/close chimneys.

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I think that's what I would do in the case of the person in the story complaining. Eventually, the cost of removal would be paid by not having to fork out cleaning fees. Plus, your home would probably be less drafty and warm.

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Actually, the tasks of a "Schornsteinfeger" are regulated in a by-law, called "Kehr- und Überprüfungsordnung - KÜO" (Sweep and checking regulation), which includes [in our state] natural gas heating systems.

The law is now being changed to get it conform with EU-laws, e.g. EU-firms can do it then as well, there'll be no monopol for the German chimney sweepers anymore.

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Do they talk like Dick Van Dyke?

x

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Ah, Reyn, your thread reminds me of a story that I read as a very young child. It was called "The Water-Babies". Thanks for that wonderful memory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Water_Babies

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smorgs wrote:

Do they talk like Dick Van Dyke?

Okay, okay, I'll bite. Why would they sound like DVD?

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Letty wrote:

Ah, Reyn, your thread reminds me of a story that I read as a very young child. It was called "The Water-Babies". Thanks for that wonderful memory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Water_Babies

I don't get it, Letty. Where's the analogy?

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The child Tom was a chimney sweep, Reyn, and shed his skin to become a water baby. It was a typical religious and didactic story against mistreatment of chimney sweeps at the time.

Dick Van Dyke was a chimney sweep in Mary Poppins. Razz

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[smacks forehead]

Ah, I see! Laughing

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