Vent pipe brush...

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strangemainer

strangemainer

New Member
Sep 2, 2008
204
Waterboro, Maine
That's fine if you have less than 10 ft. of 3 in. pipe. I prefer the type that comes in screw on extensions, like paint handles, so if you're dealing with less pipe you're not screwing around with 10 feet of brush.
 
That is the same brush that I have and have used. I then follow it up with my shop vac hose. The only problem I had was it can be a little tough sometimes getting it to snake around the 90 degree elbows, but it works great to loosen up the ash from the pipe.
 
strangemainer said:
Hey everyone. I need to clean the pipe soon, i have burned more than a ton and its looking a little
dirty.

What do you guys this of this one? Any thoughts?

Thanks

http://heating-and-cooling.hardwarestore.com/98-582-chimney-brushes/pellet-stove-brush-118503.aspx
Click to expand...

I did mine yesterday with the same brush but with the screw on extensions. Was amazed but the amount of ash collected from the vent. Have 20 feet to the top. Please let me know how much ashes came out of the vent. I had the T cup filled 5-6 times.
 
You can use any brush you feel you can afford as long as you CLEAN YOUR STOVE AND PIPE. I have used broom handles with a rag and they came out looking new.

Eric
 
I thought the length of pellet vent pipe only needed to be cleaned once a season, not once every ton. My stove is running great and clean it thoroughly every week. Please advise. Thanks
 
sydney1963 said:
I thought the length of pellet vent pipe only needed to be cleaned once a season, not once every ton. My stove is running great and clean it thoroughly every week. Please advise. Thanks
Click to expand...

Never hurts to clean it when you can. I would not wait for once a season.

Eric
 
I'm with Eric on this one. Once a season may not be enough.
Some pellets produce far more ash than others, and some people
run their stoves more often than others. This is why a cleanout T
makes things simple. If you have a T then it's no big deal to
pop the cap off and check it out. More likely to keep things clean
if it's easier to do.
 
That's nice but I can't get my clean out tee cap off.
 
i bought one of these at lowes http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=37653-59625-RLE202&lpage=none

hook it to your cordless drill, works on dryer vents , but also is good for pellet vents , brush is 4 inch but soft enough to easily work with 3 inch vents , i used it yesterday and was really happy with how easy it was to use and how well it cleaned my vent pipes, comes with 2 brushes one is about a inch and a half diameter and the 4 inch. and 12 ft of flexable rod sections. lowes online lists at 37 bucks , but i think it was about 32 in the store.

just be sure you do not have your drill reversed , it unscrews the brush which could be a PITA
 
CZARCAR:

turn stove on, cold, stick an adapted leafblower on the bottom of the tee
Click to expand...

I would just like to add to your statement... only do this if your cleanout 'T' and vertical is on the outside of your house.

(You never know...lol)
 
stoveguy2esw said:
i bought one of these at lowes http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=37653-59625-RLE202&lpage=none

hook it to your cordless drill, works on dryer vents , but also is good for pellet vents , brush is 4 inch but soft enough to easily work with 3 inch vents , i used it yesterday and was really happy with how easy it was to use and how well it cleaned my vent pipes, comes with 2 brushes one is about a inch and a half diameter and the 4 inch. and 12 ft of flexable rod sections. lowes online lists at 37 bucks , but i think it was about 32 in the store.

just be sure you do not have your drill reversed , it unscrews the brush which could be a PITA
Click to expand...

That's a neat deal Mike......I'm going to check that out next time I'm in Lowes.....I would think that spinning the brush would do a better job at cleaning than just pushing it through the pipe.....thanks!
 
I need a 4" brush with about 25 feet of rod (extensions) , any ideas where i can find one of these?
 
I saw a 4 inch brush with 20 feet of flexible rod with it at our Menards the other day. The flexible rod sections screw together so you could add another piece. It's for cleaning out dryer vents so its by the dryer vent stuff. It was about $15 if I remember correctly.
 
I used the ole electric leaf blower yesterday--with a small modification---my stove, and cleanout are too close to the wall for me to get the blower into the cleanout hole, so I took my 2.5" shopvac hose and stuck it up the 3" vent pipe, past the stove outlet and up to the first 45 degree bend. This effectively prevented blowback into the stove when the blower was turned on. I then stuck the blower nozzle into the other end of the vac hose, got my wife to go out and observe the top of the chimney, and then let her go full blast. I let it blow for a good minute and then asked my wife what she saw. She reported that it was a good thing the wind was blowing because there was a lot of black stuff coming out of the chimney cap--an aweful lot, she said. So I guess that the blower does the trick. Now I need to boroscope the vent to see if all the ash is gone. Stove seems to be working better, so guess it didn't hurt any. Wish there was a way to get the back of the stove plenum cleaned without tearing it all apart.
 
sydney1963 said:
That's nice but I can't get my clean out tee cap off.
Click to expand...

I use an oil filter wrench. Works well for the pipe connections also.
 
Biglumber said:
sydney1963 said:
That's nice but I can't get my clean out tee cap off.
Click to expand...

I use an oil filter wrench. Works well for the pipe connections also.
Click to expand...

or a fabric strap wrench


I have the same 3" Rutland vent cleaner, and it is tough to manuever thru 90 degree elbows.
 
My local Ace Hardware has 3in and 4in pellet vent brushes. They also have the flexible rod sections.

They carry the simpson 3" and 4" pellet vent pipe and connectors too.
 
macman said:
stoveguy2esw said:
i bought one of these at lowes http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=37653-59625-RLE202&lpage=none

hook it to your cordless drill, works on dryer vents , but also is good for pellet vents , brush is 4 inch but soft enough to easily work with 3 inch vents , i used it yesterday and was really happy with how easy it was to use and how well it cleaned my vent pipes, comes with 2 brushes one is about a inch and a half diameter and the 4 inch. and 12 ft of flexable rod sections. lowes online lists at 37 bucks , but i think it was about 32 in the store.

just be sure you do not have your drill reversed , it unscrews the brush which could be a PITA
Click to expand...

That's a neat deal Mike......I'm going to check that out next time I'm in Lowes.....I would think that spinning the brush would do a better job at cleaning than just pushing it through the pipe.....thanks!
Click to expand...

it really does do a nice job, cleaned out my pipe in less time than it took to get it out of the box. there are also "extender" kits available for it as well for about 28 bucks you get an additional 12 ft
 
Our manual says every 2 ton for cleaning- but a friend who has the same stove-bought at the same time- has been doing his since the beginning and told me how much ash he's pulling out of the pipes-so we're doing ours this morning and will now do it on regular basis.will also pull off the side panel and check the blower etc. other than that it gets a decent inside cleaning everywhere & anywhere we can reach every 2 days.We just know that the bugger ash is lurking in those pipes....
 
I bought a 4 inch brush w/ a twelve foot flexible rod that i tie to a clothesline and a large steel nut, drop the line down from the top after removing the cap and pull the brush down through the tee. I also then stuff a towel up the stack, sealing off the vertical, put my shopvac in the open bottom of the outside tee, stuff rags around the hose to seal it, and go in and gently blow using a small vac (on blow) from inside the stove all the nooks and crannies, and the negative pressure from the shop vac running outside pulls stuff out of places I can't even see.
 
I also just used the Lowes kit to clean mine. It was so easy I thought there was no way I'd done it right, but the stove has been running great for the four days since. We've been through about 1.5 tons of LG in a Lopi Leyden. (Our manual recommends a thorough cleaning once a year OR every ton of pellets.)
 
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