Confused about heatilator damper....

[Jean]

I'm trying to clean out our chimney, and was hoping to remove the damper first, but I can't figure out how to do that. It's unlike any other damper I've seen before. We have an old heatilator fireplace, and the damper is not at all accessible. It's up too high and I can't see how a person is even supposed to go about getting to it. Even if I could figure out how to get it down, there's no way I'd be able to get it back up there again :/. How can I clean the chimney without removing the damper? The way the damper is situated, I think the dust and ash will just get stuck up on/behind it if I try to clean the chimney with the damper in there. What can I do?

 

[bholler]

does it have the heat exchange tubes below the damper? if so they are a pain in the but to clean

 

[Jean]

does it have the heat exchange tubes below the damper? if so they are a pain in the but to clean

Yes! The damper is behind the heat exchange tubes, and is on the far side of the chimney, so I don't even know how a person could get to it for removal :/.

 

[Heatsource]

you could remove it with a sawzall...

but seriously- it isn't made to be removed.
all the debris lands on the smoke shelf, and yes it is hard to clean. long vac hose and get messy

 

[bholler]

they don't come out we use a 1" metal hose that we thread up and over the damper. It is hard to do and definatly doesn't get as clean as we normally get the smoke shelf. One guy is normally up top looking down and directing the other one as to how to move to get everything. They are really a pain in the ass.

 

[Jean]

you could remove it with a sawzall...

but seriously- it isn't made to be removed.
all the debris lands on the smoke shelf, and yes it is hard to clean. long vac hose and get messy

Ok. Well as long as it's not supposed to be removed then I feel better about it. We just wanted to make sure we were able to get it clean enough so we can continue using it safely. We tried sticking a chimney brush up there just now, and DID seem to be able to get most of it. We're just going to try to use our shopvac now and see if that doesn't finish the job. Thanks!

 

[Jean]

they don't come out we use a 1" metal hose that we thread up and over the damper. It is hard to do and definatly doesn't
get as clean as we normally get the smoke shelf. One guy is normally up top looking down and directing the other one as to how to move to get everything. They are really a pain in the ass.

Ok. Thanks, that's good to know.