Bottom-up flue cleaning sytems

[Wet1]

I have 35'-37' 6" flue and I haven't made up my mind as to which system I want to buy... A Viper or a Soot Eater system. The Viper system is expensive and will likely cost close to $500 with everything. If I go with the Soot Eater, I will likely have to buy 2 or possibly even 3 kits because of the length of my flue. I also have the concern that the Soot Eater system might not work all that well at these distances (I've never used the system). Anyone know how well it would work at 35'+?

Does anyone have any feedback on these systems? I hate to spend so much for the Viper system, but I'd also hate to drop a couple hundred on a Soot Eater system and find that it doesn't work past 30'...



BTW, cleaning from the top is pretty dangerous with this flue and there's often some slight roofing damage as well from doing it this way, so I'd really like to do bottom up from this point on.

 

[firefighterjake]

First I've heard of the Viper . . . but I've read many reviews from happy SootEater users.

 

[Dieselbreath]

I bought two sooteater kits to clean my 27' chimney and am very happy with the performance. I could've bought one and a few more rods but it wasn't much more to just buy two kits. Now I have extra parts if I need them. I have to do a top down cleaning due to an offset box on my insert but the rods are flexible enough to easily do it from the bottom.
I bought them through Amazon.com and I think I paid a little over $100.

 

[Treacherous]

I got my Sooteater today but have nowhere near the length of pipe you need to clean. I am at only 17 feet so only one kit was needed.

Best deal seems to be here:

http://www.smarthome.com/92311/Sooteater-RCH205-Rotary-Chimney-Cleaning-System/p.aspx

 

[puller738]

Just used my new sooteater for the first time tonight. Worked great. I'm just a few feet short so it looks like I'll have to order another kit for the extra rods and parts. I got mine off of amazon. I think they are around $56.

 

[Treacherous]

Just used my new sooteater for the first time tonight. Worked great. I'm just a few feet short so it looks like I'll have to order another kit for the extra rods and parts. I got mine off of amazon. I think they are around $56.

How much time do you think you spent on the cleaning?

 

[raiderfan]

My brother-in-law's company uses the Viper at times, when they don't use regular rods and brushes from the top. He uses the Viper on my chimney every year.

 

[jharkin]

I bought the sooteater + a second head and 2 extra rods from northline and just used it for the first time this week. I cleaned the stove flue (18ft of 6 in liner) and 2 fireplace flues (each ~20ft of terracotta tiles).

The entire operation took an afternoon. Now that I have the hang of it I bet I could do that in a couple hours. Maybe only 20min for the stove. It worked great and for the fireplaces I even managed the clean out the smoke chamber with it (better job than the sweep used to do for $200 !). The directions to plastic over the hearth and run the rods through a small hole in the tarp sound awkward at first but actually works very well and the result is zero mess in your room.

-Jeremy

 

[ChillyGator]

Just used my new sooteater for the first time tonight. Worked great. I'm just a few feet short so it looks like I'll have to order another kit for the extra rods and parts. I got mine off of amazon. I think they are around $56.

How much time do you think you spent on the cleaning?

took me about 10-15 minutes to clean my stove....bottom up thru a clean out tee

 

[Treacherous]

Just used my new sooteater for the first time tonight. Worked great. I'm just a few feet short so it looks like I'll have to order another kit for the extra rods and parts. I got mine off of amazon. I think they are around $56.

How much time do you think you spent on the cleaning?

took me about 10-15 minutes to clean my stove....bottom up thru a clean out tee

It sounds like setup might take longer than actual cleaning.

 

[Later]

Bottom up with the Soot Eater. Roof pitch is too steep. I have a straight shot from the stove 16' to the cap. I just disconnect the stove pipe and fit a 1 gal. plastic jug, with the bottom cut off over the pipe adapter and feed the Soot Eater rods up through the opening of the bottle. Wife holds the vacuum near the neck and we capture about 95% of the soot. About 1/2 hour total.

 

[Treacherous]

I think I will be able to go straight up through the bypass damper on my Lopi. We shall see though.