How many people sweep their own chimney?

[privatejoker75]

My wife does it because i'm afraid of heights and accident prone. This fall while she was doing it, I stepped backwards while watching her and fell off of my deck. She almost fell off of the roof while laughing at me.

 

[DougA]

lol, a match made in heaven.

 

[Woodman37]

I clean mine a few times a winter with a poly brush and fiberglass poles screwed together. As I have read in others comments and agree with taking the black pipe off does suck. With mine no matter how well I match mark the pipe sections before I remove them they never want to go back on as easily as they came off. Of course.

 

[bob95065]

I bought my brush and fiberglass rods from a lol hardware store hnthey were on so bout 10 years ago. I have always swept my own flue. I usually get about one cup or st most 1 1/2 cups of soot. We just moved this past August and I will continue sweeping the flue of the stove I installed in our new home. Since I spent every Saturday for about 8 weekends fixing the screwed up concrete tile roof I am not afraid of climbing up there to sweep the chimney.

 

[Fred Wright]

I have always cleaned the flue myself. It's easy to do and takes less than an hour if I don't take breaks. DuraPlus chimney through the wall, tee is 5 feet above the ground. Really easy.

The smoke pipe ain't bad either. 2 vertical sections and a 90 out of the stove collar then a 2' horizontal length to the thimble. I remove the screws holding the 90 to the horizontal section and pull the entire vertical/elbow section out in one piece. Carry it outside, away from the house and brush it.

Lay an old towel or rag over the horizontal pipe opening, push the brush through to the tee. Pull brush out and into the towel. Easy peasy, no muss, no fuss. Refit pipe into stove collar and horizontal, reinstall screws and she's done.

 

[RustyShackleford]

... did that stove shop hire a professional for the busy season OR somebody he just trained?

It doesn't really seem all that complicated. I suppose with something other than a simple metal chimney there may be some skill in knowing what defects to look for.