How to Clean Wood Stove Chimney - Up and Out?

[BurnIt13]

First off let me say that I've never had to clean a chimney before. We will be getting our first wood stove soon and I'd like to know the answer to the question before things get underway. Being a DYI type of person, I'd rather not hire a pro. Anyways....here goes.

We will be purchasing a Napoleon 1400 stove and will be running about 6 feet of double wall stove pipe and about 18 feet of double wall chimney pipe. Due to the constraints of the house, this will be an "up and out" installation, in other words there wont be a single bend in the pipe. It will go straight up out of the top of theh stove, through the ceiling, through the second floor bedroom, and out the roof.

I will not be able to clean the chimney from the top down due to the height of the chimney and steep pitch of the roof unless I rent a crane. The only way to access the pipe will be though a telescoping stovepipe section right about the stove.

So here is the question.....how the heck would you clean it without filling your house up with soot? Thanks!

 

[ClydesdaleBurner]

Hi,

My chimney sweep uses a large vaccum with an air filter of some sort to keep the soot from blowing out and just leaves it running in my stove as he cleans from the bottom up. I've watched him do this 3 years in a row and now I think its time for me to buy my own tools and clean it myself. Doesn't seem like rocket science, however it might not hurt to hire a sweep just once and take note of how they do it and go from there.

Good luck!