OK, BK people- who has tried cleaning the flue from inside the stove?

[Beetle-Kill]

What did you use to clean the flue from the stove- up?
Pretty sure I just had a flue fire in the first 4' of pipe, an area I cannot get to from the top.
I need to clean this from inside the stove.
Hints?

 

[rdust]

I've ran my sooteater up the pipe from the inside before. I have to pull my pipe apart to sweep the chimney so I typically clean the pipe outside.

When was the last time to pipe was cleaned? I assume this happened with the bypass open? I watch mine like a hawk while the bypass is open. On a windy day in the past I had the pipe cooking pretty good, the flame was being sucked up the pipe and I didn't notice until I smelled the paint on the pipe burning. Good thing the pipe/chimney didn't have anything that could light off in it!

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Yup, bypass was open. Have a full load going E/W tonight, it took a bit to get it going and then...whoosh- flue probe took off like a rocket. I got it controlled fairly quickly, nothing shooting out the cap, but lots of snap-crackle-pop in the first 5' or so. This section needs cleaning, the rest of the pipe above it is good.

 

[Highbeam]

It's probably pretty clean now.

The obvious question is why don't you just take that section of pipe off of the stove outside to clean it?

Shoving the brush up through the bypass will be tough and risky. There is an important rope gasket right there around that opening and messing that up could be ugly. There is also no room for a full size brush since that bar runs across the opening. You might have three inches to fit a six inch brush.
I swept my vertical pipe chimney on Friday. Top down into my princess. Ran the brush all the way into the stove from the roof without removing any pipe, piece of cake. I was very careful to not damage that important rope gasket when being sure all the creosote junk was removed from the cat chamber. Oh and I actually found that the section of stove pipe near the stove, the bottom 5 feet, had the majority of the creo. Above that was dang clean.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Highbeam- I haven't removed and cleaned that section 'cause I'm lazy, and it's gonna be a PITA. I was going to look for, or make a cleaning rod set-up in 1' sections, sorta like a gun cleaning kit. Use a small brush and see what I could get done, but I have to clean it tomorrow regardless, so out it comes.
My flue is far from ideal, imagine this- just think stove-wall-ceiling in a elevation view.
Stove- pipe goes vert. for approx. 36", then (2) 45's to provide an off-set. These kick in closer to the wall so the stack is now about 7"closer to the wall on a verticle measurement. Verticle from there about 18" to a 30deg. elbow, 5'-6' and another 30deg. elbow straight up. 17'8" total rise. Oh yeah, that first 30deg. elbow is 180deg. from the off-set 45's. So the gasses go up-back-up-and forward, before going up and out. As I said, ugly.

 

[Highbeam]

Wow, quite a snake you have slithering up to the ceiling. That length of pipe will get heavy too. Were you not able to shove the brush down through the 45s from the roof or did you run out of rod length? I thought you could shove the brush through 45s.

Is the bottom of the flue equipped with a slip joint or did everything work out perfectly? If a slip joint, you could compress it and get a brush in from just above the stove. It will be messy but be ready with a vacuum.

 

[rdust]

I really think a sooteater will work, since it's not a full on brush the chance of damaging the bypass gasket is minimal.(unless you spin it before it's in the pipe!)

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Looks like a Sooteater is in my near future. If that thing is truly as flexible as it looks, it should snake the bottom and catch the rest from the top.
Stove still too hot to consider cleaning, gonna be a few hours.

 

[rdust]

Looks like a Sooteater is in my near future. If that thing is truly as flexible as it looks, it should snake the bottom and catch the rest from the top.
Stove still too hot to consider cleaning, gonna be a few hours.

I go through on 90* and up 27', it seems to works good, not sure how it handles multiple bends.

 

[jeff_t]

I've ran my sooteater up the pipe from the inside before. I have to pull my pipe apart to sweep the chimney so I typically clean the pipe outside.

From inside the house or inside the stove?

Let us know how this works , Jon. There is no way my sister's pipe is getting brushed from the top. If this works from inside the stove, it will save a lot of mess.

 

[Highbeam]

You'll have to have the door of the stove open and the junk will be raining down into the firebox and maybe dusting out the room?

 

[rdust]

From inside the house or inside the stove?

Let us know how this works , Jon. There is no way my sister's pipe is getting brushed from the top. If this works from inside the stove, it will save a lot of mess.

From inside the stove but not up the full liner. I have a 90 going into a wall and another 90 where the liner goes up. From inside the stove I've cleaned the pipe up to where the liner starts, I've never pushed past the second 90.

If I was straight up like your sisters install I think a sooteater would work pretty good for cleaning the pipe(not sure on the cap).

 

[rdust]

You'll have to have the door of the stove open and the junk will be raining down into the firebox and maybe dusting out the room?

Shop vac running will suck up a lot of the soot/dust as it falls.

 

[Heatsource]

i've cleaned plenty of BKI stoves from the inside, using a handy viper....very soft flexible brush, wont touch baked on tar like soot
http://www.amazon.com/Wohler-diameter-Professional-Cleaning-chimneys/dp/B009HCYJ36

i really like double walled interior pipe for blazekings to help keep the chimney cleaner

 

[rdust]

i've cleaned plenty of BKI stoves from the inside, using a handy viper....very soft flexible brush, wont touch baked on tar like soot
http://www.amazon.com/Wohler-diameter-Professional-Cleaning-chimneys/dp/B009HCYJ36

i really like double walled interior pipe for blazekings to help keep the chimney cleaner

I've looked at the viper but that's big money for the DIY crowd.

 

[Heatsource]

^ yeah crazy expensive for a homeowner, but we couldn't do our job w/o one

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Cleaned stove and stuck a mag-lite in the open bypass. Used a hand mirror to inspect the flue and.....damn.......hardly anything in there except for maybe 1/4" of black fluff on the walls. Had to shove my arm up as far as it would go to confirm that. Don't know what happened last night, just one of those things.
I do believe the Sooteater will work, will let everyone know when I get it done.

 

[jeff_t]

I do believe the Sooteater will work, will let everyone know when I get it done.

Did you get it done? I was looking at one the other day. I didn't realize the head was so small. I don't see why it wouldn't work.

 

[webby3650]

1/4" of black fluff on the walls.

That's enough to be considered dangerous, and that's after the mini flue fire..
Keep in mind that even if you clean it from inside, creosote is falling into the flue collar are, above the bypass. There is an area around the bypass where creosote will collect as well as fly ash. It needs to be vacuumed out. So the pipe really needs to be pulled off periodically.

 

[claybe]

I have a soot eater and haven't cleaned the pipe yet. But I can tell you that I recently broke three poles because I thought they were indestructible. Apparently they don't work well at a 90 degree angle. I will buy more rods because they work great. Just don't over bend them

 

[dentman4411]

I got my sooteater in the mail a few weeks ago. My first sweep from inside the house was about the easiest thing Ive ever done regarding the stove. Finished in under 5 minutes, i accumulated about 4-5 oz of creosote. I tucked newspaper behind my collar and taped off the door opening to the defiant and the creosote slid right down into the floor of the stove; no dust no fuss. I swept it again friday morning (2 weeks after first sweep) and couldnt get any creosote that i could contain and measure. The BIG question, and as has been suggested here is how well does the sooteater product clean the walls. Ill have the chimney professionally cleaned in the spring and see how well it did. I think though this would be an evolving circumstance, as different qualities of wood and burning conditions seem to provide different chimney buildup. MC, ambient temps, flue temp, burn time all seem to be ingredients here.