Best brush for an oval metal liner ?

[CarpenterAnt]

What's the best brush for an 6" x 10" stainless steel insulated chimney flue liner?

A friend lent me his square metal brush and though I was concerned about scratching the liner I used it anyway. I could tell it was not reaching the inner bends in the oval. I saw a chimney sweep with what looked like a giant feather duster on flexible rods turned by a drill. But I can't find anything like that on the chimney supply websites only the plastic whips, weed wacker style.

 

[Supersurvey]

I use a Rutland sweepsall poly brush either the PFT-8 or PFT-12 with a TLC connector.

 

[Hogwildz]

(broken link removed)
A Sooteater may work also

 

[claydogg84]

I use a Sooteater on my 8" oval pipe and love it.

 

[TheRambler]

+1 sooteater. Works like a champ

 

[CarpenterAnt]

Anyone know which spinning poly-brush (connected to a poly-rod and an electric drill) is shown here @1:40?

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[CarpenterAnt]

I ordered the Sooteater by Gardus rather than the Sweepsall by Rutland: reason? The Sooteater attaches to a drill and spins on flexible rods, downside is you need an allen wrench to disconnect the head and the rods. the Sweepsall rods are button lock/unlock but they don't bend and they don't attach to a drill so they don't spin. They can only be used to clean in one direction which means (in my and most cases) from the chimney top down. With the Sweepsall, I can clean the liner from behind the stove and never have to fall off a ladder (or the roof) in the ice and snow - probably the number one excuse for not cleaning.

After seven years of fall and spring burning - never over wintered here - I cleaned the liner which was new in 2007 for the first time this week with a friend's metal bristle chimney brush. The liner looked clean but the clean-out was full to over flowing and the clean-out is two feet deep - that's a lot of creosote. My liner is stainless steel, double if not triple walled and wrapped in an insulation blanket - must be working. My wood has been decent, dry and hard but my fires are frequently smoldering.

I'm afraid I may have scratched the liner when I cleaned it with the metal brush and that this may reduce the creosote repelling properties of the liner's interior finish or cause rusting. I didn't know then about the poly brushes for stainless liners.

My stove is a Vermont Castings 1977 Vigilant. Speaking of which, does anyone know how to access the back of this stove for cleaning? Someone told me the fifty-five inches of secondary-burn flame path which consists of two offset plates one above the other is accessible - if you know how.

Thanks for your suggestions. The Gardus Sooteater cost $48.95 at DIYControls.com. That was the best price I could find. I went ahead and bought additional extension rods, a replacement head and a dryer vent cleaning kit for the benefit of free shipping after $100.00. Otherwise It was $28 for UPS ground shipping. My total bill, $101.23.

 

[claydogg84]

Good choice. My old Defiant had a similar setup as your Vigilant, I believe. To clean behind the fire back I removed the top oval plate (which I'm not sure your Vigilant has?) and then used a smaller sized tube held onto my shop vac. You could also do the same thing through the pipe outlet.

 

[CarpenterAnt]

Good choice. My old Defiant had a similar setup as your Vigilant, I believe. To clean behind the fire back I removed the top oval plate (which I'm not sure your Vigilant has?) and then used a smaller sized tube held onto my shop vac. You could also do the same thing through the pipe outlet.

Yes, that would work. I don't have a smaller tube though, just my two inch shop-vac and a 1-1/2" Hoover upright. I could try the dryer vent cleaner in there when it arrives.

 

[claydogg84]

Yes, that would work. I don't have a smaller tube though, just my two inch shop-vac and a 1-1/2" Hoover upright. I could try the dryer vent cleaner in there when it arrives.

I just use the clear plastic/rubber hose that you can pick up at a hardware store.

 

[EJL923]

A large round or rectangular poly brush can be trimmed easily. I also like soot eaters, but i feel a brush does the job just a tad better. I actually use both. A brush at the beginning of the season, then use the soot eater mid winter as touch up when there's snow on the roof.