Little confused on what to buy to sweep chimney myself?

I bought the Rutland Brush and poles from Lowes, and have been using that the last couple years.....seems to do the job. I've heard great things about Sooteater , but I'll stick with what I've got. If you go with the Rutland and poles, remember while scrubbing the Chimney, rotate the poles to the right to keep the Brush tight onto the poles, and keep the poles together.....go left, and you're unscrewing everything and may lose the bush and pole(s) in the Chimney

redspeed said:

For the Rutland brush and pole set, they attach to the drill right? Do you go through the wood stove at an angle to guide the brush up the chimney or through the roof? If I went through the roof, would I just attach one pole at a time to clean the sections of the chimney?

Thanks

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I go top down, no drill, all by hand, one section at a time, just add another pole. I have it maked with tape on the last pole how far down I need to go.

Beer Belly said:

I go top down, no drill, all by hand, one section at a time, just add another pole. I have it maked with tape on the last pole how far down I need to go.

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I'm with beerbelly - top down by hand one fiberglass length at a time,also using a rutland brush (synthetic bristles) with fiberglass rods; it doesn't take very long and I have a 20ft chimney. Just remember if you have a metal liner or chimney to using synthetic bristles, metal will poke holes in a liner.

Random thoughts . . .

Powders and Logs: These may be good at converting the really bad creosote (think sticky, tarry, oozing gunk) to a not-so-bad creosote that is dryer and easier to sweep . . . but the general consensus is that by itself it will not magically keep the chimney clean or (contrary to the cool graphics shown in the ads on TV) gently fall down to the stove's clean out.

Professionals: If you've got a wicked steep roof, really challenging flue or need to have a professional check things over it may be worth hiring a sweep. Some folks hire a sweep for the first time, watch them closely and then decide if it's something they feel comfortable tackling themselves. Honestly, in most cases, it can be done pretty easily with the right equipment.

Me: I bought a poly chimney brush from Northline Express (they were a sponsor of hearth.com . . . not sure if they are still). Since I have an outside Class A chimney with a T-connector I can quite easily remove three screws and a cap will come out . . . at which point I can clean my chimney from the ground . . . I consider myself pretty fortunate since this means no ladders, no balancing percariously on my 12-12 metal roof, etc. and I can sweep the chimney whenever I want . . . or inspect it whenever I want. For me, this is maybe a 10-15 minute project. It can be a bit messy as I just let the creosote drop out on to the ground rather than collect it and invariably some will get on me, my clothes or the house siding . . . but it comes off the house pretty easily and I can do my own laundry.

Some tips: As mentioned, if you brush a vigorous up and down motion is good along witha twist . . . just be sure to twist in the right direction so that you are not loosening the rods and brush. Make sure you buy the right size brush -- some folks end up cutting the bristles a tad to make sure they fit better (but cut too much and you defeat the purpose of the brush). Finally, there is a big metal vs. poly brush debate. Last I knew folks with liners were pretty much sold on the idea of poly . . . and quite honestly . . . even with my Class A pipe I like the poly . . . if you're burning seasoned wood at the right temp the dry creosote should come out pretty easily with either type.

Gardus Sooteater: Never have used this . . . but there are a lot of folks here who have used it and love it . . . maybe they will chime in at some point with their experiences.

The sooteater does a great job and for a very low cost. My only complaint is the rods are hard to unsnap when I'm in an awkward position under the Tee of my fireplace installation. Having a bad back does not help .

What you need depends how many bends and how you can do it. Mine is a straight chimney. I can get on the roof and use 6' fiberglass rods that screw together. I push down a 6" poly brush down to the stove.

I bought the sooteater after many on this site gave good recommendations. I like it to clean both of my wood stove chimneys but works great on my oil furnace chimney which is clay tile lined and has a 90 degree bend at the bottom. Great buy considering it cleans 3 chimneys of different sizes with one tool.

Cheap guy over here bought standard pipe fittings to connect the brush to 1/2" pvc pipe sections. Much cheaper than the fiberglass.

I don't see how 1/2" PVC would make the sharp bend cleaning up from the cleanout Tee.
I do see it would work cleaning from the top of the flue.

redspeed said:

For the Rutland brush and pole set, they attach to the drill right? Do you go through the wood stove at an angle to guide the brush up the chimney or through the roof? If I went through the roof, would I just attach one pole at a time to clean the sections of the chimney?

Thanks

Click to expand...

I have the Rutland poly brush and fiberglass poles. Pretty sure I got them at Tractor Supply off the shelf. I really don't see how you would use a drill. The brush I have has a loop so you could use a rope to pull it up (or down) thru 30º and maybe 45º bends. I use the poles as I have a straight shot ( down he chimney ) from above. Except I have T at the bottom of the chimney and the short horizontal section of black pipe chimney is where I'll have the most loose stuff piled up. Gotta take that apart every time. The bottom of my T is removable so I put a plastic bag on i with a rubber band to collect the "soot".

I also have the brushes with the poles, got them from lowes. When cleaning I always remove the telescoping portion in the house and take it outside to sweep. I then put a bag on the pipe coming through the ceiling, go up on the roof, and sweep it all out. I remove the inside pipe because I don't want all the gunk coming back into the top chamber of the stove.

I'm with (most) of the rest of the crew here-both my current and last setup were straight-shot chimneys, so I just got up on the roof, took the cap off and swept down with the fibreglas poles & non-metallic brush. Seems to work quite well, cleans very effectively, and pretty cheap

+1 on Sooteater. My roof is too steep and slippery to tackle from the top.

I have the soot eater and it works good for me. I do a top down cleaning because I don't want to risk making a huge mess in the house. Plus my roof is pretty easy to work on.

I have two sets.

My stove dealer sold me a set of 5' fiberglass poles and the right sized brush, works great for top down sweeping when I am willing to climb up there. Just flip the lever to bypass to protect the cat, brush it out real good, wait a few days for the dust to settle, lift the pipe off the collar, vacuum out the top of the stove. 2nd floor roof, 4:12 pitch with 22" of snow on it at -20dF, I am not going up there.

I also bought a Rutland set from Lowes-Depot, but I got the 3' flexible poles and matching brush. For mid season cleanings I go bottom up with a trashbag on the base of the pipe to collect sweepings.

As above, always twist to the right so the poles don't come apart in the pipe. I have not yet felt the need to try a drill powered rotary product, nor have I yet felt the need to try a chemical soot eater type product.

My goal is to monitor stove output, keep good draft and minimize ash/creosote buildup. Just a good brushing thanks.

I don't need the pipe clean enough to lick. I am not gonna perform surgery in there. If I have a thin layer of grey/brown dust particles on the inside surface of the pipe I don't care.

One exception, if I think I have had a chimney fire, sure, hire a pro with a rotary product, let the pro get it spotless and then have the pro drop a video camera to look for fire damage.

Just don't buy a Carbon Steel brush for a Stainless Steel liner. I don't know if it actually causes a problem in chimneys, but in my line of work (Pharma equipment), there are rules against allowing Carbon Steel to even touch Stainless, never mind scrub up and down along it. It causes pitting of the SS which accelerates corrosion.

TE

I bought 2 Sooteaters (for the extra rods) this past summer for at least $50 less than it cost to have my chimney cleaned. Figured I would try it myself this year. My roof is way too steep and too high for me, so I fed the Sooteater up thru my stove. It was easier than I thought it would be. I recommend it.