Chimney sweeping: can I do it myself?

[Swedishchef]

Hey guys

my local sweep can only come to my house in a month or so (he is the only certified guy around and is very busy). Is it easy to sweep your own chimney? Can I remove the cap at the bottom of the class A to let the ash fall down out the bottom? It's a Security class A chimney that is alongside the house. Do I need to sweep the double wall stove pipe?

The sweep has a cherry picker which would have been easier than me on a ladder on the roof. I'll see if I am feeling brave next month!

Andrew

 

[SKIN052]

Yes, you can do it. No more to it than getting the right gear and being safe. I climb to the roof a couple times a year but once a month I will just go from the bottom up like you are thinking of. And yes, do the double wall stove pie as well.

You can buy rods and a brush that fits a drill, remove the bottom cap, clean up and then clean in towards your stove from the same bottom access.

 

[velvetfoot]

I sweep from the bottom with poly rods and a shop vac up the chimney, exausted out window in case filter doesn't get everything.

 

[firefighterjake]

Hey guys

my local sweep can only come to my house in a month or so (he is the only certified guy around and is very busy). Is it easy to sweep your own chimney? Yes . . . in most cases . . . really depends on the set up . . . in my own case I have a T with a cap and it's an exterior Class A chimney so I remove three screws, pull out the plug and then run my chimney brush up to the top, tap on the cap a few times and then pull things down -- at most this is a 15 minute job. Can I remove the cap at the bottom of the class A to let the ash fall down out the bottom? Yes . . . and then either vacuum or bag up the fine ash and creosote or if your set up is like mine you just let it fall to the ground where it will soon work its way into the soil. It's a Security class A chimney that is alongside the house. Do I need to sweep the double wall stove pipe? I sweep my double wall pipe once a year . . . I find that there really isn't much build up in the pipes . . . honestly I could probably even get by doing it every other year.

The sweep has a cherry picker which would have been easier than me on a ladder on the roof. I'll see if I am feeling brave next month!

Andrew

 

[Backwoods Savage]

My neighbor came over a week or so ago and asked pretty much the same questions. Of course he did not have a brush but I did. I was busy so just told him what to do and loaned him the brush and poles. I told him it would take 10 minutes maximum. When he finished, he said it was 5 minutes and he was done. No, it is not too difficult in most situations but I've seen some that have to be a nightmare.

 

[joecool85]

If you don't want to be on a ladder, you could rent some staging or scaffolding. A place in town here rents it for $7 per 6ft section, they stack on top of each other. I'll be renting 3 sections for this weekend to install my chimney and for the price, I may rent them again come time to clean if I want to do a top down clean. My chimney will be almost 10' of pipe from where it comes out of the roof due to the roof line and where it comes out etc, so cleaning top down without staging/scaffolding would be a bad idea.

 

[leeave96]

Hey guys

my local sweep can only come to my house in a month or so (he is the only certified guy around and is very busy). Is it easy to sweep your own chimney? Yes . . . in most cases . . . really depends on the set up . . . in my own case I have a T with a cap and it's an exterior Class A chimney so I remove three screws, pull out the plug and then run my chimney brush up to the top, tap on the cap a few times and then pull things down -- at most this is a 15 minute job. Can I remove the cap at the bottom of the class A to let the ash fall down out the bottom? Yes . . . and then either vacuum or bag up the fine ash and creosote or if your set up is like mine you just let it fall to the ground where it will soon work its way into the soil. It's a Security class A chimney that is alongside the house. Do I need to sweep the double wall stove pipe? I sweep my double wall pipe once a year . . . I find that there really isn't much build up in the pipes . . . honestly I could probably even get by doing it every other year.

The sweep has a cherry picker which would have been easier than me on a ladder on the roof. I'll see if I am feeling brave next month!

Andrew

+1

I would only add that you ought to use a poly (read non-steel) brush on your chimney. Clean everything, including your stove pipe.

If you go up on the roof - be careful.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[BrowningBAR]

Hey guys

my local sweep can only come to my house in a month or so (he is the only certified guy around and is very busy). Is it easy to sweep your own chimney? Yes . . . in most cases . . . really depends on the set up . . . in my own case I have a T with a cap and it's an exterior Class A chimney so I remove three screws, pull out the plug and then run my chimney brush up to the top, tap on the cap a few times and then pull things down -- at most this is a 15 minute job. Can I remove the cap at the bottom of the class A to let the ash fall down out the bottom? Yes . . . and then either vacuum or bag up the fine ash and creosote or if your set up is like mine you just let it fall to the ground where it will soon work its way into the soil. It's a Security class A chimney that is alongside the house. Do I need to sweep the double wall stove pipe? I sweep my double wall pipe once a year . . . I find that there really isn't much build up in the pipes . . . honestly I could probably even get by doing it every other year.

The sweep has a cherry picker which would have been easier than me on a ladder on the roof. I'll see if I am feeling brave next month!

Andrew

+1

I would only add that you ought to use a poly (read non-steel) brush on your chimney. Clean everything, including your stove pipe.

If you go up on the roof - be careful.

Good luck,
Bill

I could have sworn I read a lengthy thread here debating poly vs. metal brushes with the end results being that the metal brushes weren't harmful to the liners.

 

[leeave96]

I could have sworn I read a lengthy thread here debating poly vs. metal brushes with the end results being that the metal brushes weren't harmful to the liners.

Carbon steel and stainless don't mix in my opinion - but that mixture on a SS chimney could be debated like Ford vs Chevy. I kind of like the poly brush because regardless of the steel vs poly brush debate, the poly brush absoultely won't harm your SS liner.

I have always used a steel brush - but on clay liners. When I bought my poly brush, I was a bit skeptical it would do the job of the steel brush - but it does a great job. So my vote would be to use the poly brush and never have to worry if you harm your SS liner.

Of course if your chimney is toasty hot when you go to brush, you might have plastic sticking to your chimney along side the creosote...

Bill

 

[firefighterjake]

I could have sworn I read a lengthy thread here debating poly vs. metal brushes with the end results being that the metal brushes weren't harmful to the liners.

Carbon steel and stainless don't mix in my opinion - but that mixture on a SS chimney could be debated like Ford vs Chevy. I kind of like the poly brush because regardless of the steel vs poly brush debate, the poly brush absoultely won't harm your SS liner.

I have always used a steel brush - but on clay liners. When I bought my poly brush, I was a bit skeptical it would do the job of the steel brush - but it does a great job. So my vote would be to use the poly brush and never have to worry if you harm your SS liner.

Of course if your chimney is toasty hot when you go to brush, you might have plastic sticking to your chimney along side the creosote...

Bill

I kind of went along the same line of reasoning . . . figured there are not too many folks who say poly brushes are no good and will damage a liner, Class A, etc. . . . and since the poly brush has always done a great job on the chimney I figure it was a good decision. Of course, burning seasoned wood at the proper temp helps things out a lot in terms of very little creosote in the chimney.

No issues with melted brushes . . . typically I sweep first thing in the morning before doing a reload.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I could have sworn I read a lengthy thread here debating poly vs. metal brushes with the end results being that the metal brushes weren't harmful to the liners.

Carbon steel and stainless don't mix in my opinion - but that mixture on a SS chimney could be debated like Ford vs Chevy. I kind of like the poly brush because regardless of the steel vs poly brush debate, the poly brush absoultely won't harm your SS liner.

I have always used a steel brush - but on clay liners. When I bought my poly brush, I was a bit skeptical it would do the job of the steel brush - but it does a great job. So my vote would be to use the poly brush and never have to worry if you harm your SS liner.

Of course if your chimney is toasty hot when you go to brush, you might have plastic sticking to your chimney along side the creosote...

Bill

I think I'm giving the sooteater a try next year. I have two chimneys that I could clean myself if I did bottom up, but the stiff rods I use for the top down cleaning will not fit.

 

[egclassic]

Hey guys

my local sweep can only come to my house in a month or so (he is the only certified guy around and is very busy). Is it easy to sweep your own chimney? Can I remove the cap at the bottom of the class A to let the ash fall down out the bottom? It's a Security class A chimney that is alongside the house. Do I need to sweep the double wall stove pipe?

The sweep has a cherry picker which would have been easier than me on a ladder on the roof. I'll see if I am feeling brave next month!

Andrew

It is easy to do, but the warranty on my liner says I have to have it professionally swept at least once every 18 months to keep the warranty in effect.
Am I going to pay somebody $50-$100 to do something that takes at most 1/2hr - 45 mins? No.
Hopefully I won't be on here whining someday about my liner being broke and them not honoring my warranty, but I figure as long as I clean it myself often enough, the liner will last. And the money I've saved on a sweep will more than pay for a new liner someday.

 

[Swedishchef]

Thanks for the encouragement!

I wish I could go from the ground up, life would be easier that way! However, the bottom of my T is only 12-18 inches off of the ground. So I have to go from the top down. I have 6 feet of chimney above the edge of the roof (so it meets the 10-2 standard since my roof is a 5/12 pitch) but that makes for a tricky positioning of the chimney.

I may just go borrow a set of rods and a brush from a buddy of mine and give it a shot.....I will take pics if I try it! Just gotta find the time to get it done....

ANdrew

 

[velvetfoot]

You still might be able to brush from below.
My poly tube bend pretty well through my insert.

 

[Swedishchef]

What is the advantage to brush bottom up? Is it simply the fact that it saves you from going on the roof? I will eat my shirt if you can get a 4 foot rod to bend and go up a 12 inch ground clearance!

Andrew

 

[BrowningBAR]

What is the advantage to brush bottom up? Is it simply the fact that it saves you from going on the roof? I will eat my shirt if you can get a 4 foot rod to bend and go up a 12 inch ground clearance!

Andrew

For me the advantage is not getting on a steep ass roof via a really long ladder that I am not fond of.

 

[leeave96]

Bottom up to keep you off the ladder and roof - yippie!

The only danger I can see in bottom up is that you bump your chimney cap to hard, knock it off the top of the chimney and it falls down and bangs your head...

A sooteater might make bottom up in your situation easier.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[jharkin]

The 12 inch clearance is not necessarily a problem. There are brush kits with very flexible rods - for example the sooteater mentioned above. I have that and clean out my pipe from below where I have about the same amount of clearance you do below the T. You can practically make a U turn with those rods.

 

[velvetfoot]

I'm not sure that the flexy pellet stove rods would have the necessary ooomp to get the brush through, if you were thinking of using that.

 

[firefighterjake]

What is the advantage to brush bottom up? Is it simply the fact that it saves you from going on the roof? I will eat my shirt if you can get a 4 foot rod to bend and go up a 12 inch ground clearance!

Andrew

Advantage #1: I don't have to climb on to my very steep roof in middle of the winter when it is covered with snow and ice . . . well truthfully I could not even stand on my roof without a roof ladder.

Advantage #2: I can clean my chimney in 15-20 minutes . . . which is about the time it would take me just to get my ladder and wade through the snow to set it up on the roof.

On another front . . . I'm really hoping we can get someone to post a pic of a four foot rod bending and going up a chimney with a 12 inch ground clearance . . . because I want to see Swedishchef actually eating his shirt.

 

[joecool85]

. . . because I want to see Swedishchef actually eating his shirt.

I was thinking the same thing. Hope it's cotton, I can't imagine polyester would go down well.