First time chimney cleaning for wood stove.

We are going to clean our chimney and double wall stove pipe for first time. Got stove in Jan, 2006, want to be on safe side. Have the poly brush and rods. I have posted before about how to clean with this type of stove. Still a little unsure. It is Supervent stainless chimney. About 13 1/2 feet total with stove pipe. Straight up thru cathedral ceiling. When we look inside top of fire box of stove there is what I believe is the secondary burn unit, kind of like a burner on a gas grill, with holes in it. not to be removed for cleaning according to manual, on top of that is a ceramic fiber baffle. I know we remove top rows of firebrick, and remove baffle. So we clean the chimney from the roof, and everything falls down, but will land on top of the metal burn unit, which will be difficult to get to. In other words, its not like the old stoves where everything would fall into firebox. The stove is a new Napoleon. We would like to avoid having to disassemble any stove pipe, or is this going to have to be done? Any suggestions, anyone?

Mary do you have a tee in your chimney run? then just open the bottom cover and catch all the debris there. Then again, It could be easier to dis connect the pipe,if stove dissesembly is not an option

Can you manuver a flexible shop vac hose in there?

I know you don't want to disconnect your pipe, but I like to disconnect mine just to inspect the inside and check for corrosion.

When I called napoleon, they suggested using a flexible end on a shop vac. Its too bad they don't design these stoves for easier cleaning. I guess we'll try it this way.

I just cleaned my 6 inch liner yesterday, nothing to it. Removed the firebrick and ceramic blankets from the insert and let'er rip. Only took about 20 min total. No sticky or tar like creosote only fly ash looking stuff. I almost didn't even need to brush it. I have a 23 foot liner with no insulation, because of clearance problems. I was wondering how the creosote issue wold be. I feel much better after seeing what I did when I cleaned the liner. My liner is a direct connect to my insert.