Gonna try sweeping....update....not happy

It's really quite easy. But let me offer these words of wisdom: test fit the brush before you commit! When I got my first poly brush to sweep my 6" inner diameter Class A, it fit so snugly that after going only about 1' inside the first section of Class A, it was nearly impossible to pull on the rod and reverse the brush! If I had gone any further, I would have been disassembling chimney sections. So insert the brush and then make sure you can reverse it. As long as you can do that with relative ease, you should be in good shape. A pair of tin snips fixed the problem quickly, and the brush fit properly after that. Good luck. You can do it.

I tighten extensions and brush together with pliers! I had the same fear;-)

If you get into trouble and can't pull the brush back up, keep pushing until it gets to the clean-out (assuming you have one?), remove the brush, and pull your rods back out the top.

Not sure what your chimney is like but most chimney's I've done have been easy. Some from bottom and some from top. I had only one that really gave me fits and I really wondered for a time if I could get that brush out! But I'll second the notion of making sure the connectors are good and tight. I've also seen folks tie a rope onto the bottom of the brush and know of one instance where that turned out to be an excellent idea! Most times though you'll be amazed at how fast it goes. I usually push all the way down and then back up. Then back down again, using a short scrubbing motion and then back up doing the same thing. Usually that is all that is needed except for the final clean up.

I'll be doing this for my first time in the next couple of weeks. When I had a professional (WETT Canada) sweep by in the summer, I let him know I wanted to watch and talk to him about it while he did the job. He agreed and didn't charge extra (I would have)! I think I'm good to go using his tips below. Top down for my configuration (easy access flat roof, no cleanout, 2 x 30deg stovepipe bends).

He said to keep two things in mind when you are brushing (remove your baffle and probe thermo first), put pressure in a clockwise direction to be sure the rods don't get loose, and when you disconnect the rods hold the lower one tight and only rotate the rod you are removing. He pushed the brush straight through to the stove from the top and brushed as he went up, twice. Only a cup from last year's burning, but I only put a cord through.

I'm at almost a cord for this year, and I want to see how I'm doing. I was up there for a visual (and to test-fit my new brush) about 3 weeks ago, and had less than 1/16in of sooty stuff (if that) with some flakes here and there at the top. My cap is getting pretty ugly last time I had it off, I'll have to brush that out too.

I'll try to remember to document and post my results.

Get up there! I recommend a Phillips #2 and a 1/4 inch nut driver as pocket tools. When I did mine for the first time after just a few months of burning the cap had accumulated quite a bit of stuff so I cleaned it up ground-side with a putty knife. Safety or sunglasses wouldn't hurt either :coolhmm:

waltdog said:

Get up there! I recommend a Phillips #2 and a 1/4 inch nut driver as pocket tools. When I did mine for the first time after just a few months of burning the cap had accumulated quite a bit of stuff so I cleaned it up ground-side with a putty knife. Safety or sunglasses wouldn't hurt either :coolhmm:

Click to expand...

Good to know what you need up there. An inspection tour helps.

I take an extra nut & bolt for my cap clamp, I have dropped a few. Philips & flat screw driver & needle nose.
Card board box to put & clean the cap in, saves creosote all over the roof.
I have 2 rod section screwed to the brush to start, (anti-seize on the threads) then add sections as needed.
Ladder up a few trips to the eve & lay everything on the roof then go up on the roof.

BE safe

Another thing I've found useful is to close the primary air control on the stove before I begin sweeping. If the wind is calm, this seems to help the soot particles from rising so quickly due to the draft and thus cuts down on the number I eat. Of course you could just wear a cheap dust mask, which I always forget.

Usually the hardest thing about top cleaning a chimney, for most people, is dealing with the heights. My chimney is tough to get at being in the middle of a steep metal roof, so I built and installed some metal brackets on my roof to hold a couple planks and a couple hooks for holding a ladder on the roof to get up to the planks. Now the job is a piece of cake.

Here's a video of the proccess.

LOL, that time lapse makes it look like a squirrel on crack, Carbon! But actually, that's a pretty damned ingenious setup you have there. Well done, sir!

Carbon_Liberator said:

Usually the hardest thing about top cleaning a chimney, for most people, is dealing with the heights. My chimney is tough to get at being in the middle of a steep metal roof, so I built and installed some metal brackets on my roof to hold a couple planks and a couple hooks for holding a ladder on the roof to get up to the planks. Now the job is a piece of cake.

Here's a video of the proccess.

Click to expand...

That vid is the best!
My next accomplishment is to do the next cleaning myself. I am not a fan of heights either but I want to learn how to do it. We will see how that goes. :smirk: Maybes Mr Gamma will vid me doing it....maybe not a good thing, since I am prone to mishaps. :shut:
Beerbelly...you can do it! We are all pulling for ya!

On your setup, I don't know where the exit point is for the brush and soot, but if its inside, don't forget to hang a sheet or have some sort of plan for all of the fine particles.
They will get everywhere.

Carbon_Liberator said:

Usually the hardest thing about top cleaning a chimney, for most people, is dealing with the heights. My chimney is tough to get at being in the middle of a steep metal roof, so I built and installed some metal brackets on my roof to hold a couple planks and a couple hooks for holding a ladder on the roof to get up to the planks. Now the job is a piece of cake.

Here's a video of the proccess.

Click to expand...

How many Red Bulls does it take to get the job done that fast? :lol:

Borrowed the doin's and did mine today, great day for it high of 6 deg. C. First experience has led me on a quest for a sooteater...but where in Canada do I find one without getting a blank stare and a "a what?" reply? Hope your venture went as well as mine.

Somebody is ripping somebody else off, if those rods are 35 bucks a piece. I can find 'em around here for $5-7 all day.

I bought mine from Lowes a few years ago and if memory serves me correctly they were roughly ten bucks per rod.