Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Delaware County, PA (Delco"") and the surrounding Philadelphia Metro Region.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Peter Beardsley of Chimney Cricket: Championing Safety Through Expert Chimney Services
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Peter Beardsley of Chimney Cricket: Championing Safety Through Expert Chimney Services
Can a local business could make a big safety impact on a community? In this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast, you'll hear it can as host Bob Blaisse chats with Peter Beardsley, the dedicated owner of Chimney Cricket in Media, PA. Founded 35 years ago by Phil Taggart, Chimney Cricket has been a cornerstone of safety and reliability for comprehensive chimney services like cleaning, inspecting, repairing and rebuilding chimney structures. Peter provides an eye-opening look into the intricacies of chimney maintenance and the critical role it plays in preventing fire hazards and ensuring proper ventilation in homes.
As a chimney sweep, Peter reveals his passion for community support and his mission-driven approach to the Chimney Cricket business, making him a true Good Neighbor Business in his community. And this episode isn't just about chimneys; it's about recognizing the incredible contributions of local business owners who go the extra mile for their communities. As we wrap up, you'll be inspired by Peter's dedication, and perhaps even motivated to nominate your own favorite local business serving Delaware county, PA and beyond for a future episode. Don't miss this heartwarming conversation that celebrates the community and the hardworking Peter Beardsley who leads Chimney Cricket to make a difference in Delaware County, PA and beyond.
Chimney Cricket
www.ChimneyCricket.net
facebook.com/chimneycricket
--- About The Show--- Good Neighbor Podcast is a spotlight on local businesses in and around Delaware County, PA (“Delco” ) and Beyond... The executive producer and host, Bob Blaisse, is a community sponsorship advocate, business branding specialist, and publisher of several hometown magazines, including: Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, mailed monthly to more than 12,000 homes in Western Delaware County, PA, and also available for reading online.
Chimney Cricket
Speaker 1Hello, delco. This is Michael Barkan, welcoming you to the Good Neighbor Podcast, where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again to introduce my friend and neighbor, our host Bob Blasey.
Speaker 2Wonderful. Thank you, michael Barkan, again for that introduction today for another episode of the Good Neighbor podcast. Bob Blasey is my name and we're coming to you from Delaware County, pennsylvania, the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania. If you've listened to before, you know we commonly call that Delco and there's definitely a Delco vibe that's known throughout our products and our culture here in Delaware County. There's movies made about the vibe that we have the people of Delaware County and beyond because we're influenced, say, by the city of Philadelphia. We have the people of Delaware County and beyond because we're influenced, say, by the city of Philadelphia and we influence the city of Philadelphia. Here in Delaware County we're just north of the state of Delaware and just south of the city of Philadelphia and of course on the east side of Philadelphia is New Jersey, but on the west side the Philadelphia suburbs you've heard of them, the suburbs that are in Chester County. You know horse country, chester County, beautiful Montgomery County, the main line of Philadelphia, all those towns like Villanova and Devon and Paoli and Bryn Mawr. So Delaware County is a small county in graphic size but we are really the third largest in population, just after the county of Philadelphia and Allegheny County in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2The purpose of our program here today and our episodes are always about good neighbor businesses. We call it the Good Neighbor Podcast, delco, and we bring you good neighbor businesses that serve the good people of Delco, and it's really a fun thing because we get to meet real people, real businesses, who really love their community and their customers. So today we have a great business, another business that it's got a great fun name to it. It's called Chimney Cricket and you know that sounds like Chimney Cricket but it's Chimney Cricket and it's kind of related. Here we're going to talk to the owner of Chimney Cricket.
Speaker 2Let me bring to the stage the owner of Chimney Cricket, peter Beardsley. Welcome to the program, peter. Hi Bob, thank you for coming. Thank you for having me on the show. Well, it's great. Peter, you were nominated as a Good Neighbor of Business and when that nomination comes in, it always means one thing the good people of Delaware County and beyond have used your services and been happy. Someone out there nominated your business because they've used your services and been proud to say I'm a customer. And we looked into your business a little bit and found out that there's a long history of Chimney Cricket and you're the owner. So we'll ask the owner how did this business, how did you start this business? And I understand it's been in business for about 30 years. Give us a little bit of the background of that about Chimney Cricket and we'll then talk about the products and the services that.
Speaker 3So about 35 years ago Phil Taggart started Chimney Cricket. He basically was on a trip to Gettysburg visiting his cousin who had a company called Chimney Cricket and he was there working with him on a fireplace restoration. And Phil had a history as a mason and just saw that there was an opportunity to restore chimneys in the Delaware County area.
Speaker 2When we talk about chimneys being restored just for my own benefit here to understand I guess we're talking about internal, inside the chimney, like a funnel that goes to a furnace or whatever, or we're talking about the outside of the building, which we all see chimneys popping up through. You know, the roofs and, and both inside and outside can get damaged over time and would need repair over time. So you're saying it was kind of more foundational and then and then are you also into cleaning chimneys as well as rebuilding them?
Speaker 3Yes, yeah, we're into cleaning them, um and rebuilding them and uh and inspecting them. But, um, so you know, often when people think about, um chimney restoration, yeah, they're thinking about the exterior of the chimney or what, what they can actually see. But, uh, probably one of the most important parts of a chimney is the inside of a chimney, um the restoration. So the the chimney will actually work, so it'll actually carry, you know, the, the products of combustion up into the atmosphere and that it'll protect the house from, from fire, you know.
Speaker 2So they have the proper clearances a lot of people don't realize, I think, that they, they all our houses have chimneys. I guess, um, even when we don't have a fireplace, right?
Speaker 3correct, correct. So they. So if you have a water heater or a boiler or a furnace, you more than likely have a chimney to vent the you know, the products of combustion into the atmosphere.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean I have a house and I have a water heater and I have a furnace and I see a stack going into the wall on top of my house. I have a. You know it looks like a chimney. I guess you have brick and I see it. You know there's something on top of my house. I have a. You know it looks like a chimney, I guess you have brick and I see it. You know there's something on the top of it. But really, I guess what I forget, because we're not worrying about it as much uh, keeping warm or whatever is that this is combustion, this is the burning of oil or gas, and that means smoke, that means carbon monoxide and that's got to get out. If it doesn't, we have a problem?
Speaker 3that Absolutely Well. And the other part of that equation, bob, is heat. You know, and so just basically, you know containing heat so that heat source doesn't become a fire risk to the rest of the home. You know, so that's part of you know the construction of the chimney and making sure that it's safe.
Speaker 2And I guess, because it's heat, it can also put stress on the actual mortar or bricks or piping conduit. That is, the internal side of the chimney and the outside of the chimney. So it's interesting, your business would actually cover multiple fronts. You're worried about the smoke getting out, so you're worried about the smoke being blocked, you're worried about the inside of the chimney. But then I guess the years of that chimney doing what it does, it can, it can and just outside weather can erode the functionality of the pipe inside or the or the outside of the chimney building, making sure it's high enough above your roof. And that's really where a specialty art I think, comes in. You're about. I mean, I've seen this, peter, that you can see where chimneys are crumbling a bit, and is that because of the wear and tear of them, just because heat's going through them so much?
Speaker 3Yeah, I mean there's. You know the inside of a chimney is a very harsh. You know environment and over time you know, with not just the, you know the acids and the water, you know the different chemicals that are in there, that are being vented.
Speaker 2You also have a lot of heat and there's a lot of expansion and contraction that's happening inside and so just over time, you know, things start to fall apart and then, when they do, there's going to be a problem with that gas, that carbon monoxide or fumes getting out the wrong way, right If they're blocked, I would think worry about my family smelling gases or being affected by gases that have to go somewhere if they're not able to get up.
Speaker 3Absolutely yeah, and that's probably one of the most rewarding parts of this profession and this industry for me. Bob has been, you know, just you know, on the inspection front. You know, sometimes people don't even realize you know and their conscience says, hey, listen, I should get a chimney inspection. I've been in homes where we've detected a blockage because the chimney has just fallen apart internally and people have complained about basically having headaches and some mild carbon monoxide symptoms from that and we were able to find the problem and repair the problem, which has been very rewarding professionally. It's always great when you can serve your client in such an extreme way like that.
Speaker 2Oh sure, such an extreme way like that. Oh sure, I'm impressed by the fact that somebody would even think they get their chimney looked at. I hate to say it, but I don't think I've had my chimney inspected. Now I would have the furnace maintained and I would have the furnace man kind of taking the stack off and looking in there. But I don't know, I'm not going up on the roof and looking down, so you can only look up a little bit from the stack in the basement.
Speaker 2So somewhere along the line between the stack and going up to the top of the chimney, there could be some compromising.
Speaker 2That has happened there bricks falling somewhere, sticking out or something, and I think the concern would be that if, if that concern, if that you know if that chimney conduit was affected, it could be that the gas it no longer just goes up but it goes sideways and you know, can, can, can go into rooms in the house or something like that. So to your point. Yes, carbon monoxide is a kind of a invisible gas that sometimes isn't even smelled and can lead to headaches. So if you're out there, if you're listening to this episode and you have a furnace and I would think most everybody does, because anybody that has any kind of a combustion heating source water heater with gas or oil, or a furnace gas or oil you're, You've got a chimney and you know it doesn't necessarily mean to look like a chimney, I guess, coming out of the side of the building, but a pipe coming up through the roof somewhere needs to be looked at, Right, Peter? I mean, your full advice here is to make sure that people are getting a chimney inspection.
Speaker 3Absolutely, bob. Yeah, so I mean definitely, you know. Like everything else, you know, chimneys have been brought into the 21st century and as we're moving towards a more greener culture and society where sustainability is really important, chimneys and fireplaces have come along that way as well. So you've got fireplaces that offer, you know, substantially more efficiency. You know in design, you have products that fit into fireplaces, you know, from gas to electric, to pellet, you know which, you know which brings substantial amount of efficiency to the chimney and fireplace experience efficiency to the chimney and fireplace experience. And then, from a home maintenance perspective, you've got chimney caps, where you've got custom caps that basically remove the water away from the whole structure. So that's also a part of some of the changes.
Speaker 3Then you've got linings. Basically, the tradition for the internals of chimneys has been that masonry has lined chimneys. Well, now it's stainless steel and what that offers is a product that offers more efficiency for draft and basically longer life for the chimney itself, as stainless steel, the way it's constructed, allows for expansion and contraction, you know. So it's designed specifically for the conditions of the chimney. You know versus. You know past building materials building materials.
Speaker 2So I guess, peter, the real advice here is to for anybody that's got a home, that's got any kind of combustional combustion for you know, gas or oil kind of heating or a fireplace recognize that you can't just continue to put smoke up the chimney without making sure the chimney is functioning right, and to also recognize it needs to be cleaned or at least inspected. And then to recognize too that as time passes and these hundred years passes, you know from the last century, there's technology now to be able to make your chimney build soot less, or to make your chimney have the draft work better, or to keep water or animals from getting down your chimney and things dropping down your chimney. It's all important and we've learned a lot here from you today, peter Beardsley of Chimney Cricket.
Local Business Appreciation and Nomination
Speaker 2Chimney Cricket I'm saying it like that sounds easy to remember, right, but it's chimneycricketnet on the web and you can visit them if you're in Delaware County. It's 101 State Road in Media, pennsylvania, and the phone number is 610-557-1638. You'll get a chance to speak with the owner, peter Beardsley. Peter, you definitely are a kind of business and I can see why you're nominated that you really reach out and you help people. You have mission in what you do and it's an important mission really could possibly even save lives. So I want to thank you for being a good neighbor business and thank you for being on the Good Neighbor podcast today.
Speaker 3Thank you, Bob. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today.
Speaker 2It's been great getting to know you. Thank you, Peter.
Speaker 1Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast hosted by Bob Lacey. This is Michael Barkan inviting everyone to get on the Good Neighbor team. Nominate your favorite local business to be featured on an upcoming episode by going to gnpdelcocom or by calling Bob at 610-557-3745.