Chimney Brushing question

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baspinall

Member
Oct 16, 2010
48
S. E. PA
I am letting my stove burn down right now to remove some ash. Is there any reason I can not brush the chimney will it is still warm? Is it better to brush while it is cool? Lots of questions I know :) My first batch of wood this season was a little green so I would like to clean it before i fire up my dry stuff.

Brian
 
I rarely brush my chimney while it is totally cool to the touch . . . of course I also have an outside chimney with a T so it's an easy process to just remove the cap, brush and let whatever has built up fall to the ground . . . no messing around with warm-hot parts.
 
I m envious of the T. i have and insert and had asked abit ago on if I had to disconnect and move the whole thing out of the way to clean. Someone mentioned to remove the baffle, how difficult is that? simple burn tubes and the ceramic plate? I'm guessing there more to it then that.
Im thinking I need to at least give it an o' look see before the real cold weather hits. would hate to get on the roof in snow.
 
Brian, we have never let the stove go out just to clean the chimney. We usually wait until it is down to coals or nearly so but that is all.

Congratulations to you in recognizing the need for proper cleaning and that you need good dry wood. You are well on your way to becoming an expert at this.
 
Just brushed the pipe. Mainly to get the feel of it. Was pretty clean. Loving the T. Although I will have to go up sooner or later for the cap. First load of dry in and good so far. Hey, have any of you used the little galvanized trash cans for ash/coals? I know they are not double lined but I figure if I put the lid on and leave it on a cement walkway till it dies I'd be OK.
 
Brian, we too love the tee for cleaning and so far we've not cleaned our cap that went up in 2007. But then, we've only cleaned the chimney once in that time too. Gotta love good dry wood and a clean burning stove!

The galvanized can will work great for ashes. Putting it on the cement is also what we do and they stay there for at least 4 days before emptying into another container. Then in April, I spread them very thinly on the vegetable garden.
 
"Then in April, I spread them very thinly on the vegetable garden. "

Yep doing that already as well :)
 
Just make sure it is "cool enough". A hot chimney makes a dripping mess out of a poly chimney brush.
 
ploy is the only way you can clean ss chimney i believe. i think the metal ones would be to hard on it.
 
greythorn3 said:
ploy is the only way you can clean ss chimney i believe. i think the metal ones would be to hard on it.

Mine is SS. On the outside anyway? I used a 6" round wire brush. Seemed to work fine. Am I messing up a SS inside using this brush?
 
A stiff poly brush is best for stainless, though I have used wire brushes in extreme cases (never on flex though). Make sure the chimney is plenty cool when using the poly brush.

I keep a fiberglass set of rods on the truck in case a customer forgets and I have to sweep a warm chimney. It's actually a bit cleaner I find because there's a lot more natural draft to pull the soot dust up and out of the house area.
 
The metal brush I have says it's for stainless pipe or clay liner. When I asked on here was told metal brush was fine.
 
I m envious of the T. i have and insert and had asked abit ago on if I had to disconnect and move the whole thing out of the way to clean. Someone mentioned to remove the baffle, how difficult is that? simple burn tubes and the ceramic plate? I’m guessing there more to it then that.

SB.

I have a stove, not an insert.
For my first cleaning, I removed the two air tubes and two baffles.
It wasn't hard, 1 bolt per tube, then carefully slide the baffles out.

I can easily slide the flue pipe up, move the stove, and put a trash can under the pipe, but wanted to know what the top side of the baffles looked like.
Turned out there was only a very fine layer of dusty ash.

If my stove was too hard to move, etc, it really wouldn't be a big deal to pull the baffles out.
It would add maybe 10-15 minutes to the sweeping job, and probably less since I know how to do it next time.

Rob
 
baspinall said:
Just brushed the pipe. Mainly to get the feel of it. Was pretty clean. Loving the T. Although I will have to go up sooner or later for the cap. First load of dry in and good so far. Hey, have any of you used the little galvanized trash cans for ash/coals? I know they are not double lined but I figure if I put the lid on and leave it on a cement walkway till it dies I'd be OK.

Well you are doing our young padawan learner . . . cleaning the chimney and using the covered metal pail to store the ash/coals . . . and leaving them outside away from combustibles on a non-combustible surface . . . it's almost as if you don't want your house to burn down. ;)
 
48rob said:
I m envious of the T. i have and insert and had asked abit ago on if I had to disconnect and move the whole thing out of the way to clean. Someone mentioned to remove the baffle, how difficult is that? simple burn tubes and the ceramic plate? I’m guessing there more to it then that.

SB.

I have a stove, not an insert.
For my first cleaning, I removed the two air tubes and two baffles.
It wasn't hard, 1 bolt per tube, then carefully slide the baffles out.

I can easily slide the flue pipe up, move the stove, and put a trash can under the pipe, but wanted to know what the top side of the baffles looked like.
Turned out there was only a very fine layer of dusty ash.

If my stove was too hard to move, etc, it really wouldn't be a big deal to pull the baffles out.
It would add maybe 10-15 minutes to the sweeping job, and probably less since I know how to do it next time.

Rob

Thanks Rob, I am not looking forward to having a cold stove, nor doing the work, but a have to type job any how. between Fixing the house, working etc. I run out of time in a day.
 
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