chimney sweeping damage

Is there any damage that can be done by sweeping your chimney?

If you push the brush too far and bust up you baffle.....mine has a bracket welded on to the collar so you can't and baffle is made of ceramic fiber.

Aggressively using too stiff of a steel brush in a flexible stainless liner can cause rips or the seams to open. Maybe not the first or second time but eventually. Especially if the brush is too large for the liner.

I use a nylon brush on my SS liners...

KaptJaq

Yes you can cause some damage. Both the things mentioned above are probably the biggest concerns. We have a local chimney sweep we jokingly call Baffle Busters Chimney Service. I have had to replace a few, a few in Hearthstones and at least one Jotul.

uh oh....while cleaning mine this fall, I noticed about half way down my brush seemed to be a loose fit, and then tightened back up when I went down another foot or so.....I was thinking there may be a seperation somewhere in the middle, but thought ..."nah, how could that be"....and never shined a light down there to look due to all the ash filling the flue

I have a ~15ft SS flex liner run down an exterior chimney. My main concern is separating the junctions within the SS liner.

poly brush - I also (now) make sure I remove the temp probe in the stove pipe first (don't laugh...)...

Read this thread:

http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/is-this-safe.95134/

Sorry, couldn't help. Sounds like something I would do.