Sweeping my chimney / liner - need some advice

[tamure]

Greetings all,

I have a Lopi Declaration wood stove insert in my masonry fireplace. It has a 6" rigid stainless steel pipe all the way up the chimney. It's a one-story house, so I'm guesstimating about 30' of chimney.

First, which is the proper brush? My local stove place carries wire brushes and poly brushes. They say the poly brushes are better for stainless steel. Cost is about the same.

Second, rods. They recommend flexible cleaning rods. The rods are 6' long, and about $22 a piece. So that's going to run me probably $110 - $130 in rods. Does that sound like a normal price?

Third, do I have to do anything to the stove, other than just open the bypass?

Is sweeping just as simple as getting up on the roof, and scrubbing the pipe with the brush? Anything else I need to know?

Thanks!
tam

 

[southbalto]

If you have decent access to the top of the chimney, and someone to help you with the job, you might consider using a rope instead of rods. It would save you a few bucks.

tie to the top and bottom of the poly brush and alternate pulls........

 

[PapaDave]

tamure,
price for rods seems a little steep. We bought rods locally for 7-8 bucks apiece, but they're only about 4'.
What's the pitch on your roof? 30' of flue seems like a lot for a single story home, unless your fireplace is in a basement or something. Time for a tape measure.

 

[firefighterjake]

Greetings all,

I have a Lopi Declaration wood stove insert in my masonry fireplace. It has a 6" rigid stainless steel pipe all the way up the chimney. It's a one-story house, so I'm guesstimating about 30' of chimney. Are you sure about the height? I have a two story Cape with a steep pitched roof and I only have 25 feet of Class A pipe to sweep. Before you start ordering stuff you may want to get a more accurate figure on how many rods you need.

First, which is the proper brush? My local stove place carries wire brushes and poly brushes. They say the poly brushes are better for stainless steel. Cost is about the same. For a long time there was quite the debate here on steel vs. poly brushes . . . and while there are still some folks who refuse to part with their steel brushes, I would guess that the majority here recommend the poly brush for liners and Class A pipe.

Second, rods. They recommend flexible cleaning rods. The rods are 6' long, and about $22 a piece. So that's going to run me probably $110 - $130 in rods. Does that sound like a normal price? I think it's a bit high . . . but these are for 6 foot rods. Once you know exactly how many you need you may be better off going with 4-foot rods. Also, I'll give these guys a plug since I've used them in the past . . . and they are/were advertisers here. http://www.northlineexpress.com/searchresult.asp You may be able save some money by ordering what you need on line.

Third, do I have to do anything to the stove, other than just open the bypass? Can't help you here . . . I have a free standing stove and an outside chimney with a T so cleaning for me is wicked easy.

Is sweeping just as simple as getting up on the roof, and scrubbing the pipe with the brush? Anything else I need to know? If in doubt you may want to hire a sweep to do this the first time and watch and take notes . . . but the basics are just that . . . you attach the brush to the rods, insert into the chimney liner and start scrubbing up and down . . . and then you clean out the creosote/fly ash afterwards.
Thanks!
tam

 

[tamure]

Thanks everyone. Yes, my guesstimation was wildly off. It looks like it's only 15' from the ground to the peak of the roof, and the chimney sticks up maybe 3' above that. Since I'm not going to be brushing all the way down to ground level, 18' of rod ought to do the trick. That will make it much more affordable!

From what little I have gleaned so far, it sounds like you just have to open the bypass on a Lopi... don't have to remove airtubes, baffle, etc. But I'll try to confirm that first.

Local chimney place charges $125 to sweep. How does that sound price-wise?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

tamure, we have 4' rods and I think they might have less a tendency to bend, but still will a little. As for cleaning top down or bottom up. The nice thing about top down is someone can be at the bottom placing a bag over the bottom tee catching all the bad stuff which makes it less messy.

On cleaning from on top or bottom, I got all the way up (or down) then all the way back. Then on the next pass I do the scrubbing motion but usually by that time there is not much left.

I used to use a wire brush and now have switched to a poly brush for the SS chimney.