Cleaning and Sweeping your own stove and chimney

I got a wire brush and fiberglass rods at Lowes, Home Depot probably carries them too.

I just remove the baffle first and then sweep from the top, then clean out the box. Really simple as long as your roof pitch isn't too scary :bug:

Because of snow on the roof, I always sweep from
the bottom up.

I use the Sooteater system. A simple flex rod that is power drill
driven and available from NorthlineExpress.com or others.
The super (ultra) flexible rods work really great. In just over
an hour, I have the flue and stove fully cleaned,
and in absolute safety and any weather. All from inside.

Safety first!

Metal roofs can be slippery if they are even slightly wet or frosty, other than that cleaning the chimney (especially a straight run) is as easy as pie. In most instances the majority of the creosote build-up is on the top feet feet of the chimney. Unless you are burning really wet wood the rest of the chimney will generally have only a light deposit.
No need to take your flue apart if you are cleaning from the top, just remove your baffle as PNW suggests and let it fall in the stove. When you light your next fire it will burn up and disappear, in fact you'll recover some lost BTUs.

I clean my PE T5 with a fiberglass rod and composite brush ( so as not to scratch the stainlews pipe) I have a telescoping section if pipe jus above the stove, the manual suggests disconnecting the pipe there for cleaning and to leave the baffle alone, which I recently discovered is a good idea after myy air inlet gasket vaporized. I have an offset about 6 feet above the stove that can be difficult to pass the brush through. How flexible is the rod on the sootbuster system? Might sound dumb, but do you pull the baffle out and clean from the stove up?

I got the brush and fiberglass poles at a local stove shop, but are also available at Slowes, Home Despot, etc. Have only done it 3 times, going up on the roof as late as Nov. Takes a little muscle, go all the way down then pull it out. My present set-up is a hearth stove, with a tee behind the stove. This makes popping off the bottom of the tee and putting a bucket there to catch crap very easy. Last stove was an insert, so had to remove baffles and take the crud out of the stove (close the door before sweeping). Once you've figure it out its very easy, maybe 1/2 hour tops. The heaviest accumulation is at the very top of the flue.

sooteater is really flexible.

dispatcher101 said:

I clean my PE T5 with a fiberglass rod and composite brush ( so as not to scratch the stainlews pipe) I have a telescoping section if pipe jus above the stove, the manual suggests disconnecting the pipe there for cleaning and to leave the baffle alone, which I recently discovered is a good idea after myy air inlet gasket vaporized. I have an offset about 6 feet above the stove that can be difficult to pass the brush through. How flexible is the rod on the sootbuster system? Might sound dumb, but do you pull the baffle out and clean from the stove up?

Click to expand...

Dispatcher101,

The Sooteater rods are very flexible, more than other usual rods. Bending to 90 degrees is possible.
In the Jotul Oslo, I clean all from within the stove. I just carefully R&R the upper baffle assembly.
I no longer have to disassemble the flue pipe. A simple offset should also be easily negotiated.
It helps me clean more often and without risk. A good design!

As soon as I finish this coffee, I'm heading up on the roof to clean mine - 1st time since Oct. - it's probably time...

Rob

I just bought a house with two wood stoves (basement & main level). The chimney pip is stainless (assuming double wall, but haven't read all the info yet). There is a small room (maybe 4x6) at the base of the chimney I can stand in. Both flue pipes are terminated in this room and have a removable cap.

Would I be able to sweep both pipes from this room instead of the roof? I'm assuming it would be dirty, since I would be standing in the line of fire, however I have respiratory protection and goggles.

Do you folks have any advice?

Valhalla said:

Because of snow on the roof, I always sweep from
the bottom up.

I use the Sooteater system. A simple powerdrill driven method that is available from NorthlineExpress.com or others.

Click to expand...

Do they make a version for square tile-lined flues? ;-P

Guess I'm SOL on that one.

Kenster said:

I have a VC Vigilant (1977) wood burner. Someone said to "remove the baffle." I'm not sure what the baffle is or how to remove it. I assume it's not the same as what I consider a "damper" that is controlled by the handle on the side of the stove. It looks like I can easily access the creosote that falls from the flue and piles up at the back/top of the stove just to the back side of the damper. I can reach it with my hand or a small shovel/dust pan, etc. When the flue is cool, I can slap it a few times with my hand and crystalized creosote will fall down.

Click to expand...

I just got the same stove this season. Yes, leave the damper open and all of the creosote will land on the exposed surface. Otherwise, it will fall onto the smoke shelf at the top of your secondary burn chamber. You will then have to access that by unbolting the flue collar.

I have a clay-lined masonry chimney, and I clean it myself top-down from a ladder. Square wire brush and fiberglass rods. I had installed a cleanout door low on the chimney, below the thimble leading into the house. Before brushing the chimney, I plug the thimble with a 6" thick foam rubber plug I made that fits tightly into the pipe inside the thimble, so zero dust into the house. From the cleanout door, I brush the where the thimble meets the chimney with an ordinary wire brush, but there's usually nothing there anyway. I remove the short stovepipe assembly all in one piece (from where it exits the stove to the back of the thimble), take it outside and brush it out with an ordinary wire brush, but there's usually not much in there but a thin layer of light gray dust. Been doing that once per year for 23 years. Inside wall of the chimney always comes out reasonably clean after running the brush down and up 3 times. I remove the creosote from the bottom of the chimney through the cleanout door with a shop vac. With my old VC, I used to get 0.5 to 2 gallons of creosote, depending on the health of the stove (highly variable) and dryness of the wood (somewhat variable). It will be interesting to see how much I get with the new Oslo. Judging by the clarity of the gases exiting the chimney, I'm expecting less.

For the stove itself, I always make sure my last fire of the season is a hot, small fire that never gets shut down, so that if there are any unburned deposits in the nooks and crannies from the previous overnight burn, they get converted to gray ash. After burning season is over, I shovel out all the ash I can from all the nooks and crannies, vacuum off the outside of the stove. I don't usually vacuum the stove inside, as even a HEPA vacuum cleaner might let a bit of ash dust through into the house, and it's just not worth it. With the old VC, I'd remove the cat element and vacuum it out very gently, and inspect the (usually somewhat deteriorated) refractory housing in the back of the stove, gently vacuuming out any loose fragments or ash that fell to the bottom. With the new Oslo, none of that applies, but I imagine I'll remove either the oval cover in the top or maybe the entire top of the stove, and gently clean the insulating blanket on top of the baffle, if needed.

I clean my PE Summit from the bottom up. There is a link in my signature....

Battenkiller said:

Valhalla said:

Because of snow on the roof, I always sweep from
the bottom up.

I use the Sooteater system. A simple powerdrill driven method that is available from NorthlineExpress.com or others.

Click to expand...

Do they make a version for square tile-lined flues? ;-P

Guess I'm SOL on that one.

Click to expand...

Hey Battenkiller,

The Sooteater system uses a rotary head, not so different than
a string trimmer/weedwacker. Only with multiple lines. Yes, it is
good for square flues up to 12X12. They recommend cutting the
lines to approx. flue size; I did not. It worked great on all of
the three size flues I have. There is a Sooteater website, check
it out. Let me know if you can't find it.

Win-win-win for me! A clean flue, safe burning and this old
firefighter has one less snowcovered roof to climb on!

Let me know if there are any questions.

grommal said:

I have a clay-lined masonry chimney, and I clean it myself top-down from a ladder. Square wire brush and fiberglass rods... With the new Oslo, none of that applies, but I imagine I'll remove either the oval cover in the top or maybe the entire top of the stove, and gently clean the insulating blanket on top of the baffle, if needed.

Click to expand...

Grommal,

I remove the upper tubes, liner and blanket before I clean all from below. Do not need to remove the
griddle oval or top. If you are interested, PM me and I will give you the full
procedure on cleaning from below and the R&R procedure.
It is not hard at all. I'll be glad to help.

Valhalla would you recommend the Sooteater for a Majestic insert with the 6" stainless liner? I have about 27' of liner and a 12 pitch on the front and a 5 on the back (roof) but it is covered in snow and ice and I would really like to not fall off trying to clean my chimney. In the spring summer I could care less but I do not feel comfortable with ice and snow up there.

Luv2burn,

Flexibility of the rods is the major advantage of the Sooteater system.
The design of the head and rod connection is unique, but not critical to
it's functionality. If a conventional set of fiberglass rods were pinned at the
threaded connections and used with a plastic brush, it would be a close
race. It is not, because of the ultra flexibility of the Sooteater rods.

That said, I would reccomend it, except I do not know what is in the upper
areas of your Majestic firebox near the flue connection. If you have access
to the flue for the rotary head, it may be your solution. Considering the
total length of your flue, additional rods will be necessary. They are offered
in sets of 2. I used those in the system, plus 2.

Overall, it is an inexpensive solution. It can be a problem solver tool to
clean many difficult access chimney flues, also the usual simple runs.
In review, I am glad that I found it. I hope it is also your cleaning
solution.

Try and find other reviews on it. Good luck.