After reading a recent thread on this device it has me thinking of cleaning my own chimney instead of paying a chimney sweep. I have a few questions though. I was looking at the pics on the recent thread and it seemed a lot of people have a round flue. I have an open fireplace and it has a square flue, I'm thinking maybe 9 by 9 or 10 by 10. Will this work on a square flue or is it designed to be used strictly on a round pipe. I am interested in this because I'm afraid to get on top of my chimney and it looks like I could do this from the inside. For those of you who have them are you pleased with the results your getting? Is there any other options or similar devices out there to consider? Or just pay a chimney sweep and forget it. I just want to make sure I'm getting a clean chimney as I don't like surprises. Thanks for your help
Sooteater questions
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I moved your thread over to the gear room where it's a better fit and should have the best chance at the best response.
I can't think of an example off hand of someone using this product on a square chimney of that size so I'm sorry that I can't comment there.
I'm guessing the damper plate area is small enough that you can't get a standard brush in there to sweep the chimney from the bottom up?
I can't think of an example off hand of someone using this product on a square chimney of that size so I'm sorry that I can't comment there.
I'm guessing the damper plate area is small enough that you can't get a standard brush in there to sweep the chimney from the bottom up?
brant2000
Feeling the Heat
It definitely works for square and even rectangular flues. You are actually supposed to trim it to fit your specific flue size. It obviously isn't going to maintain consistent contact throughout the sides/corners, but I think it will still get the job done. I got one a few months ago and just tried it out once on my 8" x 8" flue. It seemed to work fine, but I didn't have a means to look up through the chimney to see how clean it was. I was just ecstatic that I didn't have to climb up on the roof.
jlightning
Burning Hunk
jlightning
Burning Hunk
The funny/scary thing was the amount of debris that came out of his chimney compared to mine. He has an old farm house w/ an original wood/coal kitchen stove that created close to a 5 gallon bucket of debris while my new jotul wood stove only produces a cup or two of debris when I clean it. He does burn full time while I only burn part time but even still It is pretty obvious that the newer stoves burn much cleaner.
pma1123
Burning Hunk
I hired a local sweep around new years, and he brought out a sooteater, cordless drill, and a high dollar ash vac to do a bottom-up cleaning for $145.
As one guy ran the drill, another held the ash vac wand near the baffle to control the dust.
Following this, I bought a power smith ash vac for $70 on sale, and sooteater on amazon for under $50 shipped.
I now have a nice vac for cleaning up the hearth and stove and the flexibility to clean the chimney whenever I want.
Its a win-win IMO.
As one guy ran the drill, another held the ash vac wand near the baffle to control the dust.
Following this, I bought a power smith ash vac for $70 on sale, and sooteater on amazon for under $50 shipped.
I now have a nice vac for cleaning up the hearth and stove and the flexibility to clean the chimney whenever I want.
Its a win-win IMO.
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