Chimney cleaning question

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njdrt-rdr

Member
Nov 18, 2007
23
NJ
I'm trying to clean my chimney for the first time. It's been burned for 2 winters since being installed.
Question is, what's the best way to clean it.
Here is what I am dealing with. Hearthstone heritage. Single wall pipe from stove to living room ceiling (that I will remove to clean) From the living room ceiling up....Running through the attic in my ranch house.
stainless double wall 6 inch pipe. It's 4 feet, then 30 degree elbow, 1 foot, 30 degree elbow. then 4 feet or so to the cap(don't remember exactly).

I tried going into the attic and separating the top pipe from the top elbow but couldn't seem to twist it off, I don't recall if these were made to separate or not.
I was thinking of just getting a flexible rod and jamb the brush as far as I could get into the bottom elbow from living room ceiling and into the top elbow from the roof.
Figuring on putting the rod inside a garbage bag and trying to hold it while I run the brush up. Trying to keep crap from falling in the house.
I wasn't sure if the brush on a flex rod would make the bend or if it would get stuck.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Nick
 
Well what i would do is hire a professional for about $130.00 and rest easy. Not that I don't think one should not clean his own pipes, but if you are having problems and want peace of mind why not let someone else get dirty.

Good luck
 
Cudos said:
Well what i would do is hire a professional for about $130.00 and rest easy. Not that I don't think one should not clean his own pipes, but if you are having problems and want peace of mind why not let someone else get dirty.

Good luck
Unfortunately that doesn't answer my question.
I've had enough experience with other people working on my stuff that I'd rather just do it myself. I've had more than my fair share of things done wrong by so called professionals. I could write pages.
I used to have the chimney of my old insert cleaned professionally the few years after I moved in(that was a straight chimney and I was new to the wood burning world. They were over $150 to clean it, I forget the exact cost. Took them 15 minutes and my wife needed to take a day off work so they could do it.
Now I'm onto a wood stove I researched everything I needed to know about the install and it's been fine. I installed it myself and I've rested easy since, especially after finding the insert that was here when we moved in was improperly installed. But was good according to the chimney sweep.

I just came here looking for the best practice of people who have already cleaned an offset chimney.
I'd prefer to clean it a couple times a year myself and pocket the $300, and keep from using a vacation day waiting on someone to work on my house.
 
Nick,
Absolutely, figure out how to clean it yourself, and you will know it was done correctly and save a few bucks. If you can get on the roof, a top down works well keeping the soot out of the house. If you have any kind of screen on the cap you will need get up there to someday to clean it. My screen was removed year 2. My pipes and cap come apart with about 2 inch turn. The problem is holding one section and turning section above. I was going to use large strap wrenches, but figured out how to wrap my legs around the bottom section while turning the top with my arms. My chimney is straight, so I use 6ft fiber glass rods and a 6 inch round poly brush. For bends, I have scene very flexible rods, something like a plumbers snake, and a flat brush. A friend who has bends, attaches a rope to a water bottle drops it down the chimney. He ties the ropes to poly brush both ends. He's on the roof and with his wife inside. They pull the brush up and down.

I'm sure there are many here that can explain how they clean there chimney with bends.

Tom
 
My experience with a PROFESSIONAL didn't go that well. When he started handing me EXTRA parts I had to explain that not the way I operate. I can't answer your questions on the bends in the pipe. I do plan on doing the next cleaing myself. I watched my PROFESSIONAL and saw what he did (he managed to get the parts back where the belong). However, if someone has a video of cleaning a Heritage or pointers... I'm all ears. I will use my drywall vaccum. I think that should work as well as his did.

AWK
 
I had mine cleaned professionally ten times in ten years. The tenth time I was told my setup was unsafe. Of course, nothing had actually changed in my setup (just became much more obvious when we actually disconnected the chimney pipe where it entered the wall). Although frustrated by this, I'm also rather philosophical about it. Better to have found out before I had a fire, even if it did take a while. Not planning on doing it myself anytime soon.
 
do it yourself, feel beeter, and would be better at knowing what you need.

side note, i was wondering if i have to disconnect my inset from the liner when i scrub? i certainly dont want all of that junk going in the back of the stove/on top of the baffle.
 
Here's your answer: www.sooteater.com


side note, i was wondering if i have to disconnect my inset from the liner when i scrub? i certainly dont want all of that junk going in the back of the stove/on top of the baffle.

Just remove the baffle, let it fall into stove, scoop it out.
 
I have 6' fibergalss rods and they make the bend through my 30 deg bends with no problem. I do the bottom up method for my install via the cleanout elbow at thebottom of the riser portion after it comes thru the wall. Reading ur first post i would disconnect the single wall pipe right above the stove, connect the plastic bag and do a top down from on the roof. Is the pitch really steep? do you not want to go out there? If that's the case, then disconnect the single wall pipe and (do what u said) connect a plastic bag with the rod from the brush through it, and clean it.

Pitch of my roof isn't real steep, but i can't get to the top of the chimney easily for a top down cleaning cause i am not tall enough to reach; I took down the top sections of the chimney off with the screen and screwed the screen to the top section with sheet metal screws. Now i just bang the brush into the screen, hard enough to knock off the ash but not hard enough to damage it when i do a bottom up cleaning.

Sounds to me like you are set on doing it yourself. That's cool, you really can't break anything. Just try it and it'll work out.
 
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