Chimney cleaning - how clean is clean enough?

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szumbrun

Member
Oct 25, 2010
61
Middletown, MD
My dad just had a chimney sweep clean his chimney for a special home-show $99 rate.
This was his first cleaning since having the chimney installed 2 yrs ago along with a hampton
insert. They used a chimney brush and removed about 1-2qts of buildup. They mentioned that
for $399 additional, they'd used a liquid chemical to remove additional buildup. My dad turned
this down. Is this necessary?
 
dont forget, any type of liquid chemical they use, they buy in bulk, and costs less than $100.

the danger in chimney fires, is when you have ALOT of buildup and then a hot fire...
 
Doesn't sound as if his chimney was all that bad and the chemical would not help much. Good decision.
 
The stuff that comes out with the brush is what causes the chimney fires -At least the 2 fires I've had over 30 years of burning.

I'ver also heard that one needs to remove the shiny black glazed stuff. I have trouble believing that a thin glaze that's already baked on is going to catch fire and even if it could there is really not much there to burn.

Sounds like profit builder for the sweeps. Kind of like "Rusty Jones" was for car dealers.

I agree with your Dad.
 
Hmmm? Special price of $99 for the sweeping + $399 for the liquid gunk= $498
Almost getting to the price where it might be cheaper to replace your chimney???
 
Yeah that sounds expensive. I had my chimney swept for $35 off season. And the guy took time to show me how to properly do it so I can do it myself next time. That sounds pretty expensive. Sounds like your dad made a good decision to opt out of the extra service.
 
Smart man your Dad is . . . wise in the ways of the Force is he.
 
You can likely buy everything you need to sweep your own chimney for under $50, unless you need a ladder also, then it'll be more. I'd look into getting your own brush and doing it yourself. I did mine this last weekend and it only took me about 10 minutes start to finish.
 
I don't know if I just don't fully understand everything that goes into sweeping/cleaning a chimney or what. Don't take this the wrong way but why would you pay someone to do this? Unless you just physically can't get up on the roof yourself or just don't want to. I sweep mine in about 5 minutes total. Maybe once a month during burning season, really just to see what kind of shape it's getting in. I always have very little come out into the stove but I always worry about chimney fires. Can someone tell me if I should be doing something other than running a brush up and down the chimeny several times from the top?
 
Ash, yes there is something else. You have to take care of the tools when finished and also dump the soot somewhere.

Can you just look into the chimney to determine if it needs cleaning? No sense in getting the brush and rods if it doesn't need the cleaning. But, better more cleaning than creating a mess.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Ash, yes there is something else. You have to take care of the tools when finished and also dump the soot somewhere.

Can you just look into the chimney to determine if it needs cleaning? No sense in getting the brush and rods if it doesn't need the cleaning. But, better more cleaning than creating a mess.
Ah yes, cleaning up and putting things away. For some reason that always seems like the hardest part of any job. :mad:
 
Yeah, kinda like after you eat you have to do something with the dishes...I hate that!

Yes, I usually take a bright flashlight and shine down the chimeny before getting the tools. And as far as the soot goes, I let it fall into the stove and just burn it up next time I fire up.
 
I found this oldish post while I was looking around...

Sounds like I can sweep my own chimney but...when the sweep came
in Sept (the first/only time so far)...he also took apart the INSIDE
pipe and swept it.

Our set up is: pipe out the top of the stove, 90* angle out through the
wall to the 90* T (where the clean out cap is)
then up the outside of the house. (sorry--I'm a computer idiot
not a computer literate--still haven't figured out how to post pics).

I'm reading through this post and it sounds like younz are sweeping the
outside chimney only....is that correct? Is cleaning the inside pipe required?
(just curious).

One of you mentioned that you allow some of the soot to fall into the stove
and you just burn it up the next time---will that work if my woodstove has
those baffles/tubes inside the top?

thanks!
 
Do you have to bend over for this special $399 lube job ?
 
ispinwool said:
I found this oldish post while I was looking around...

Sounds like I can sweep my own chimney but...when the sweep came
in Sept (the first/only time so far)...he also took apart the INSIDE
pipe and swept it.

Our set up is: pipe out the top of the stove, 90* angle out through the
wall to the 90* T (where the clean out cap is)
then up the outside of the house. (sorry--I'm a computer idiot
not a computer literate--still haven't figured out how to post pics).

I'm reading through this post and it sounds like younz are sweeping the
outside chimney only....is that correct? Is cleaning the inside pipe required?
(just curious).

One of you mentioned that you allow some of the soot to fall into the stove
and you just burn it up the next time---will that work if my woodstove has
those baffles/tubes inside the top?

thanks!

I can only speak to my own cleaning habits . . . but yes . . . I mostly clean just the exterior chimney . . . the Class A chimney . . . this is the most likely place where the hot gases will start to cool down and form creosote . . . but once a year I do clean the inside flue pipe of any fly ash, fine soot, etc.

Many woodstoves are designed so you can access the space above the baffle and burn tubes . . . some stoves may need to have the burn tubes taken out . . . some stoves can be accessed by removing the stove pipe . . . some stoves have a center plate that can be removed.
 
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