Cleaning my open chimney in preperation for the insert. Pictures

[mhrischuk]

I guess I should just bring in a pro for this one time cleaning? The top half of this 17 foot flue is very clean. The lower half is dirty. How do they do the large tapered area? Just brush it?

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah. Just a long handled brush for the smoke chamber.

 

[cmonSTART]

Ya, that's usually how it is. Just try to find a long brush like BB said. A small household broom might even work.

 

[BrotherBart]

Mine was so caked usually from my old insert I used a garden hoe.

 

[mhrischuk]

So just clean it up as far as I can get with a long handled brush and call it a day?
Also I guess a bunch of crap falls on that back ledge. Vacuum that out I suppose.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah. Get that "smoke shelf" ledge good and clean. Many people and some sweeps don't do that and it is dangerous because it can hold a lot of creosote. There was five gallons in mine the last time I did it when I put the liner in. A lot had come from the cleaning I had just done. A guy I used to work with had a nasty chimney fire because his sweep never cleaned that thing out and it lit off.

 

[cmonSTART]

Mine was so caked usually from my old insert I used a garden hoe.

Ha! Wow.

Do get the smoke shelf as clean as possible. It's not fun, but it is necessary.

 

[mhrischuk]

What's a good way to deal with the dirt falling down and the dust?

 

[Benchwrench]

best way is to run a dual filtered shop vac, this will create a draw of the "smoke" or soot particles towards the nozzle. Always use a NIOSH (n-95) respirator.
I purchased a box of 3M disposable N-95 rated masks some time ago that help with various dusty home projects that always seem to occur.
Another method for limiting dust in the house is to run the shop vac outside if you have a long enough hose and can run it through the window.