SootEater. First time user

[mecreature]

I didn't get on top for a look see but this is the results.
Guess I will do it again at the end of the season and compare.

BtW this is the first cleaning this system has had.
Just wanted to know where I stood.

 

[fossil]

Looks OK to me...but since you had the ShopVac stuck in there (and presumably running) during the cleaning, the amount of accumulated soot on the floor of the appliance is a pretty meaningless indicator of what you actually swept. Rick

 

[mecreature]

the hose from the vac was up high and in the back.
I was just giving a negative pressure inside the fire box, minimal if any went into the vac during the sweep.

Now how much is left in the pipe is anyones guess.

 

[fossil]

I use a SootEater bottom-up in both of my stove installations, but I haven't yet set the ShopVac up like you did. I just let everything fall into the stove, then clean it up out of there after the rods & brush head are back down & out. Since I go slowly with the drill at medium speeds all the way up into the cap and back down, I doubt there's much of anything left in the flue when I'm done. I like the SootEater, and I'm confident that it does a good job. Rick

 

[mecreature]

thanks fossil

I like it too, pretty easy. I bought 2 kits I needed all but 1 rod. I might have went too fast. I will slow down a bit next time.

I used the vac mainly because I didn't know what to expect. I wanted to keep all the dust to a minimum. But the soot just fell
straight down. everything was about the size of coffee grounds or smaller and hard. so no mess really.

But it does make the wife think I am going the extra mile to keep things clean.. bonus points.


good thing about the 2 kits is I have an extra head. I am thinking next time about running it all the way to the cap with the full
length strands on it to clean it real good before running up the trimmed head.

thanks again for the input.

 

[wannabegreener]

I think that if you run it up with the full length whips, then the trimmed whips won't do anything because the full length will clean everything. If you do it, let us know if anything comes down the second time up. I know with mine, nothing falls as I am bringing my soot eater back down the chimney liner.

 

[mecreature]

I think that if you run it up with the full length whips, then the trimmed whips won't do anything because the full length will clean everything. If you do it, let us know if anything comes down the second time up. I know with mine, nothing falls as I am bringing my soot eater back down the chimney liner.

I will use the full lengths to clean the cap. the shorter ones will work better in the pipe. IMO

I will really need to get up there and take the cap off and check it out. and clean it while I am up there.
this is only a test.

 

[Burning Questions]

Thanks for this review! I'm definitely going to try one of these. My roof has a fairly steep pitch, and I have balance issues, so doing it myself the conventional way is out of the question. The last time I had a chimney sweep out it was $150 due to how far away I am from anything. I'd love to be able to clean out the chimney more frequently, I have friends who lost their house to a chimney fire.

 

[BrotherBart]

I have a Sooteater and it works fine. Well, except for smoking a new drill of mine on the 33 foot liner with the 90 degree bend.

But folks don't go just using it for years and not ever having you or somebody up top to inspect the whole system. Creosote ain't the only problem you can have with a chimney.

 

[maple1]

How long is a kit? How much do these things cost?

I had to bail last weekend for the first time ever on a top down cleaning of my 30ft. chimney - new steel roof + scattered drops of water on it = very bad idea. Luckily I came to a sliding stop when I hit the valley.

I managed to feed my brush & rods up from the bottom, but it wasn't pleasant - a very tight fit and messy as hell. And my cap is still dirty.

 

[Kenster]

How long is a kit? How much do these things cost?

I had to bail last weekend for the first time ever on a top down cleaning of my 30ft. chimney - new steel roof + scattered drops of water on it = very bad idea. Luckily I came to a sliding stop when I hit the valley.

I managed to feed my brush & rods up from the bottom, but it wasn't pleasant - a very tight fit and messy as hell. And my cap is still dirty.

Maple. If you make the purchase, Go with two complete kits. It'll be as cheap as one kit plus the extra extensions and then you'll have a spare head. This has been suggested by several people here. If I ever get around to ordering, that's what I'm going to do.

 

[mecreature]

I did what Kenster suggests. I used all but one rod to get to the top of cap.

I ordered from smarthome.com. I bought a bunch of stuff. got free shipping on all.