Fireplace/Chimney help

[PIMking]

our house has a fireplace and I've never used it. since it's going to get a little brisk the next few nights I want to use it to help out the heat pump.

Well lets start by saying that there isn't a flue! the previous owners built this steel thing that covered the chute going up. They had a hole cut in it and something that looks like an AC duct through it. I removed that plate thing and looked up the fireplace to see if it was unobstructed which it is clear.

I have no idea what to do, should I get some of those "cleaning logs" and let that do it's magic?

Here are the photos

this is the plate thing they built in there


The tube that went trough the hole, they were not attached to the chimney at all just kinda hanging in the hole



Right side of fireplace


Left side of fireplace


Middle of fireplace


looking up through the fireplace




Here are the rest of the photos

http://s249.photobucket.com/user/PIM...ibrary/Chimney

[surferguy]

get it cleaned before you burn would be my recommendation. I paid 145 this year to have mine cleaned. The chimment sweep will be able to give you any further recommendations.

[killer_carlson]

Spend the few bucks to get it cleaned properly, even if it means waiting until the spring.

[Regular_John]

Ditto, on the "pay to have it cleaned/inspected" message here. A faulty fireplace is not something to mess around with. Between the fire & smoke risk it's money well spent.

We've got a fireplace in our home that we've yet to use just because I haven't had some one in to look at it yet, a previous tenant/owner stuffed pink insulation up the chimney, so I'm not risking it until it's looked at.