Black Knight Energy, Inc. was started in 1976 by Robert L. Purvis, Jr.  After returning from a tour in Vietnam and getting a mechanical engineering degree in the HVAC field a life’s purpose was found.

Working as a service man for a local heating company in 1976 a customer had no heat. The problem was a plugged chimney causing carbon monoxide to back up and snuff out the pilot light. The chimney was full of soot, pieces of mortar and a bird’s nest. In addition, the chimney had to be cleaned and opened up in order to get the customer heat.  An old burlap sack was found, filled with rocks, and a rope was tied to one end. This started the first of literally thousands of chimney sweepings.

1976 was the beginning of the first energy crisis. Heating oil had climbed from 13 cents a gallon to 50 cents a gallon. Oil heating customers were screaming for relief. Then in the mid ’70s and early ‘80s the beginning of the wood heating revival began.

Wood stove shops started popping up in garages, and welding shops started fabricating wood stoves. Wood stoves from this era were big, heavy steel boxes. Their claim to fame was that you could fill it up with wood on Friday and burn until Sunday. Although this claim was a bit of a stretch, long burn times were still incredible with many of these first generation wood stoves.

With the resurgence of wood heat came the need for maintenance. Wood stoves in this era would form an abundance of creosote due to their air tight design. The word got out that a local furnace man was sweeping chimneys, installing woodstoves, prefab chimneys, and adding on wood-coal furnaces at night and on weekends.

From 1976 through 1978 homemade brushes, vacuums, and by today’s standards crude equipment was used to clean and open up plugged chimneys. In 1978 an ad in Mother Earth News offering chimney sweeping equipment changed everything. $2,000 dollars was borrowed and new state of the art equipment was purchased.

1978 also brought a need for a name. The local heating company I was working for told me he owned me and I could no longer tell customers my name or offer chimney sweeping services to his customers.

Since I was sweeping chimneys at night, getting really black from chimneys that had never been cleaned, the name Black Knight came about.

From 1978 through 1981 work continued with installing furnaces, air conditioners and servicing HVAC equipment while sweeping chimneys, installing woodstoves and add-on wood furnaces at night. By 1981 the 18 hour days, seven days a week had taken its toll and the decision was made to go it alone.

A front page picture in a local newspaper with my three year old son titled,  “Reviving an Old Tradition” had a tremendous effect, not only for chimney sweeping but it also brought more than 400 customers requesting furnace and air conditioning services.

Today’s services include: Heating and Air Conditioning sales, installation, and service. A full service sheet metal shop with design build fabrication capabilities for custom duct systems and specialty items. Chimney sweeping, chimney relining with stainless steel and poured in place liners, wood stove sales and installation, chimney caps, video scans, chimney inspections, damper replacements, masonry repairs are all among the many services we have.

With our Golden Flue poured in place chimney lining division for historic restorations will surely add life to old brick chimneys. Air duct cleaning, both truck mount and portable to handle residential, commercial and industrial applications. Oil tank removal and installations with our own in-house excavator, dump trucks and skid steer equipment. Outdoor wood furnace-boiler sales, service and installation using our own crane truck.

From the humble beginning of sweeping that first chimney with a sack of rocks, Black Knight Energy, Inc. has consistently grown and matured into a self sufficient, highly modified service company. We are large enough to handle all your heating, cooling, chimney, air duct cleaning needs with 17 trucks and 12 employees, yet small enough to care and provide an honest, professional service for you.