Chimney sweeping suggestion

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maverick06

Minister of Fire
Sep 27, 2008
827
media, pa
I just cleaned out the fireplace and swept the chimney. I also have a suggestion that I would like to share.

Once I have cleaned out the ash in the fireplace, I setup a cardboard baffle and fan. This is blowing air up the chimney.

When I am sweeping the chimney, it is blowing an awful lot of stuff up the chimney at me. So I wear coveralls , respirator, hat, safety glasses, and face shield (yes, its pretty silly looking). While sweeping it looks like the smoke monster from Lost. The light material gets blown out and the heavy stuff falls back down. This keeps the house nice and clean. I have done this for 4 years (5 sweeps) and have had no problems with material finding its way back inside.

Before and after pictures should be pretty self evident. Once on top of the roof the whole process took 10 min to do.
 

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more pictures, including one from the winter
 

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Great idea. Thanks for sharing and the good pictures.
 
Excellent! I like the fancy rigging for the fan too. :)
 
thanks for sharing. You would think that pipe would be hard to clean.
Is it a liner inside an existing tube.

sorry for the question I am going to be doing my first sweep here real soon.

How do you like that xtrordinair.. Do you burn it hot, hot, hot, or let it smolder sometimes..

thanks
 
maverick06 you did well. I'm glad you wore that respirator and goggles too. Too bad your wife didn't snap a picture of you all dressed up!
 
No offence intended maverick, and maybe it's just me, but I can't say I'm crazy about that suggestion. Sorry :red:


First of all; when I clean my chimney I find it easiest just to let all the creosote fall back down the chimney into my stove (no respiratory gear required). From there I can just clean it out with the ashes, or often I just burn it up with the next fire. Of course some very light dust drifts up the chimney if it's at all warm.

Second; all that creosote on the roof is kind of a mess! I try to minimize the amount of ash and creosote that finds it's way onto the roof, it's very corrosive and that much would destroy my metal roof in no time at all.

Why do you want to blow it up anyway???

edit:Ok I just reread your post and you say it keeps the house clean.
Thing is, I've never had any noticeable amount of dust escape my stove when cleaning the chimney. I'm surprised that's a problem for you, do you shut the stove doors and vents when you clean the chimney?
 
No offense taken at all! I never had a problem doing it without the fan, but i have never done it without the fan, this just seemed logical. I have seen videos of profesionals that block off the fireplace and connect it to their vacuum. Since I didnt have a fancy fireplace hepa vacuum, this seemed like a easy alternative. So I have no idea if it is needed or anything, just how i do it. Well, I do this for 3 reasons
1) I know when the air control is shut, some air can still get by, not much, but some. I dont want any of the fine particulate back in my house. I also dont bother removing the baffle plate, so I really only want the heavy stuff that wont blow around coming back. (I removed the baffle plate once, after 2 years of burning and sweeping this way, and there wasnt anything to speak of on top, so I was happy.
2) When cleaning the remaining creosote that fell back into the house, it is pretty chunky and doesn't cause much dust, all the light particulate is up and out the stack.
3) I figure if I didnt do it this way, then the fine particulate would have to settle back somewhere, fireplace, or the ridges in the stack, the less I have the better.

That being said, this is all likely extra that isnt needed. I am sure just about no one bothers with this, they just close the air and have at it. But I figured why not, there was no cost in it and the setup for the fan takes 60 seconds. No harm done even if it doesnt help any. And the stuff on the roof is light and fluffy, it should blow away in a day or wash off at the next rain... at least that is my suspicion.

I like the xtrordinair a lot! Its a great insert. We do probably 80% of our heating with it. When it is down in the low teens I have to run it pretty hard, but I do fully admit that for overnights I have just about no air going to it, effectively a smolder, or darn close. But with the lack of terrible creosote, I am pretty pleased with the efficiency of it burning up that stuff. Its got a decent firebox, and I have the blower on high all the time. The only complaint was that the thermostat for the blower took almost 1-2 hours to let it turn on (even forcing it to burn really hot!)... So I bypassed the thermostat and life is great! I think I have had t for 4 years now, and it works great. If you get one, do plan on using the blower, this is true for just about all inserts.
 
Well, carry on then. :cheese:
The respirator is a good idea in any case, nasty stuff that creosote dust. I cleaned my workshop chimney once when the roof was covered in snow except for a small path along the peak of the roof. I had to straddled the peak to get to the chimney and had to stand right beside the chimney while I cleaned it. The creosote was very dry and dusty and the chimney was still pretty warm, and the wind was blowing directly at me. I got a face full of the stuff on that occasion. The chimney didn't really need cleaning at all anyway, but it was my mid season routine maintenance cleaning and I had the brush out to do the house chimney anyway. I do have a respirator, but didn't think I'd need it. Next time I'll just wait till the end of the season to clean it when the chimney is cooled right down and and I can stand up wind. ;-P
 
The before and after pictures are quite impressive, you have not only done a good job, you took care of yourself too with the mask and respirator, what you breathe in is all too easy to overlook when up a ladder :)
 
I clean on a day the wind is blowing away from where I stand on the roof. Using the sooteater, I have to stand away from the flue a few feet. I only go near it when the rod is fed down and time to add another. The draft takes all the fines up and the heavies fall down into the "T" drop. Shop vac and I'm done.

Nice job on the cleaning. Looks like mine, heavier buildup at the top going through the cap.
 
Yep, its a stainless steel liner inside a old terracotta stack. No insulation between the two, didnt know any better at the time. But the buildup levels I have gotten havent been anything to be worried about. I had the fireplace store install it with the new stove, it looked very easy for the guys to install.

Respirators are cheap and something I think is very important for cleaning anything from the chimney to the filter on the shopvac. Spend the $20 or $30 at home depot and save your lungs!

What gave me the idea for the fan was seeing these for sale:
media.nl
 
maverick06 said:
Yep, its a stainless steel liner inside a old terracotta stack. No insulation between the two, didnt know any better at the time. But the buildup levels I have gotten havent been anything to be worried about. I had the fireplace store install it with the new stove, it looked very easy for the guys to install.

Respirators are cheap and something I think is very important for cleaning anything from the chimney to the filter on the shopvac. Spend the $20 or $30 at home depot and save your lungs!

What gave me the idea for the fan was seeing these for sale:
media.nl

If you ran a hose outside the house connected to a shop vac (which is outside the house) you wouldn't have anything coming inside. That's what I do - but - to each his own.

PS I've got a new roof. The less that lands on my roof the better.
 
I clean from top down, wit baffle removed. Not sure what kind of baffle you have, but it is kind of hard to believe not much gets on top of the baffle after cleaning.
I have more regular air born dust come through my window screen than could possibly come out of the insert with the doors shut. Which I find hard to believe is much if any at all.
As Shari says, to each their own. Whatever works for ya. Good cleaning job.
 
OK, only one question . . . if I opt to do this what is the title of the cookbook that I need to purchase to make this work correctly? ;) :)
 
If the fan works for you that's great. I'm not sure I'd want all that ash being blown at me while I'm balancing on the peak of my roof, though, even with all the gear. I just latch the door of my stove and harly any ash escapes. I love the Fireplace Xtrordinair! Great stove.
 
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