Check out this one i cleaned today

[Ludlow]

Now that I can understand. In my youth we had to clean out decades of soot from the breach or live coal boilers at Wingdale, NY. The duct connecting to the huge brick chimney was big enough for a semi to drive thru. We put in a temporary huge blower, cut thru the roof and tied into the breach. Then we had to weld in plates to block the the breech so that it could be vacuumed and repaired. Want to know what it's like to have to go into 20' of soot? It took days to wash that stuff out.

My skin was black from that oil soot for a long time. I think it came off when I shed enough skin.

 

[bholler]

My skin was black from that oil soot for a long time. I think it came off when I shed enough skin.

Yeah oil soot does that there have been quite a few oil liners we did where i came home completly covered. Nothing beats when i was doing general construction and we rebuilt a building where the top floor burnt off. I came home completly black head to toe for 2 weeks while we demoed. That stuff washed off pretty easily though

 

[jetsam]

And we do work for people whose chimneys are like that. Some of them are even using old pre epa stoves. Most now have somewhere between a gallon or 2.

I have seen my flue horribly crudded up, but I've never got a gallon out of it. Two gallons? 30??? Jeez!

A gallon is 231 cubic inches. A 6" cylinder does that every 8.17 inches. So 30 gallons of crud could completely fill 20.4 feet of 6" flue... not sure how the sweeping affects crud volume. I guess it might even reduce it since it's being broken up into smaller particles.

65 gallons is 25 feet of 8" pipe, or 44 feet of 6" pipe! What kind of flue does that guy have?

 

[Ludlow]

My guess is an unlined brick chimney.

 

[jetsam]

My guess is an unlined brick chimney.

Oh yeah, that'd explain the high volume and the low temperature!

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Allot but even with modern stoves this website really is not an accurate representation of how most woodburners run their stoves.

Truth right there..I know a couple dozen people who heat full time with a wood stove, some newer, some.. not.. Some of them have a sweep out a couple times a season, 7-9 gallons out of a 30 foot flue.. and they accept that as normal.. I get a cup or two if I really try, 24 feet of 6".. a couple of them have told me "that's simply not possible".. then I tell them I only sweep every other year... LOL

 

[bholler]

I have seen my flue horribly crudded up, but I've never got a gallon out of it. Two gallons? 30??? Jeez!

A gallon is 231 cubic inches. A 6" cylinder does that every 8.17 inches. So 30 gallons of crud could completely fill 20.4 feet of 6" flue... not sure how the sweeping affects crud volume. I guess it might even reduce it since it's being broken up into smaller particles.

65 gallons is 25 feet of 8" pipe, or 44 feet of 6" pipe! What kind of flue does that guy have?

My guess is an unlined brick chimney.

It is an almost 50' tall 12x12 liner with an old industrail coal boiler running into it with a 12" vent. It is way to much stove for the house and never runs hard.

I am telling you that what is considered horribly crudded up here is actually pretty good compared to most chimney out there. And things are way better than they used to be.

 

[firefighterjake]

I would love to see the pictures of the woodstove that everyone is talking about . . . but I have been blinded by the color of the wall.

 

[begreen]

I would love to see the pictures of the woodstove that everyone is talking about . . . but I have been blinded by the color of the wall.

You'd like their car.

 

[toddnic]

20 gallons of creosote!! They better be glad that they did not burn the house down. 20 gallons of creosote would burn hot for a long while!

 

[jetsam]

20 gallons of creosote!! They better be glad that they did not burn the house down. 20 gallons of creosote would burn hot for a long while!

Scroll back up, there's a 65 gallon story up there somewhere.

 

[MaintenanceMan]

Looks like your could cremate a body in that thing...

 

[maple1]

I used to routinely fill a 5 gallon pail when we had our old boiler. Did that 2-3 times a year.

 

[Trey1979]

Yeah oil soot does that there have been quite a few oil liners we did where i came home completly covered. Nothing beats when i was doing general construction and we rebuilt a building where the top floor burnt off. I came home completly black head to toe for 2 weeks while we demoed. That stuff washed off pretty easily though

Been there done several burnt houses

2018 drolet ht2000

 

[bholler]

Been there done several burnt houses

2018 drolet ht2000

I think its fun but dirty as hell

 

[Trey1979]

I think its fun but dirty as hell

One time I was spraying the chared attic with primer before I knew it I was chirping like a bird and fell through the crawl space

2018 drolet ht2000

 

[ispinwool]

I just made a chimney sweep appointment...they now charge $189...how do I find
a place to learn how to do it myself?
(I honestly don't begrudge them their pay; everyone has bills to pay...I just can't afford it due
to recent cut-backs at hubby's work...)

 

[bholler]

I just made a chimney sweep appointment...they now charge $189...how do I find
a place to learn how to do it myself?
(I honestly don't begrudge them their pay; everyone has bills to pay...I just can't afford it due
to recent cut-backs at hubby's work...)

A little research here can help

 

[begreen]

.how do I find
a place to learn how to do it myself?

Look up threads on the sooteater.

 

[Manly]

I just made a chimney sweep appointment...they now charge $189...how do I find
a place to learn how to do it myself?
(I honestly don't begrudge them their pay; everyone has bills to pay...I just can't afford it due
to recent cut-backs at hubby's work...)

If your serious about the trade, l highly recommend a video entitled Mary Poppins. It covers many of the basics of chimney sweeping; tools, techniques, and PPE. An easy study and entertaining as well.

 

[bholler]

If your serious about the trade, l highly recommend a video entitled Mary Poppins. It covers many of the basics of chimney sweeping; tools, techniques, and PPE. An easy study and entertaining as well.

Your posts are always so helpful. Lol

 

[jetsam]

I just bought a brush and started doing it. I have a very simple setup though, and I can see all the way to the bottom with a flashlight.

Just running a brush through it is pretty easy on my flue, but sweeps would not go out of business if everyone had a brush. They are trained to do a lot more than running a brush through it.

Check out this thread with some good discussion from DIYers.

There are lots more threads on the subject!

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

I just bought a brush and started doing it. I have a very simple setup though, and I can see all the way to the bottom with a flashlight.

Just running a brush through it is pretty easy on my flue, but sweeps would not go out of business if everyone had a brush. They are trained to do a lot more than running a brush through it.

Check out this thread with some good discussion from DIYers.

There are lots more threads on the subject!

Should you be on the roof considering your age?

 

[ispinwool]

A little research here can help

..I did...but I'm not sure how to narrow down 66 pages of 30 results/page to "chimney sweeping"...
and 67 pages of results for "how to sweep a chimney". I tried to check through the "media" section
but couldn't see what I was looking for...I might have used the wrong parameters?...

Honestly, I did several google searches (which only gave me tons of ads of companies that will come
and clean it for me plus one book-to-buy) and watched several youtube how-tos. Is it really that un-complicated?

...I only want to clean my stovepipe and save a few dollars; not anyone else's.

and Thank you Manly, but I don't need to research Mary Poppins--after 5 children watched it a combined
total of 4,578 times, I can quote it verbatim, sing all the songs (off-key!) and dance along as well! :D :D

begreen: I'll look up the sooteater. thank you!

 

[ispinwool]

I just bought a brush and started doing it. I have a very simple setup though, and I can see all the way to the bottom with a flashlight.

Just running a brush through it is pretty easy on my flue, but sweeps would not go out of business if everyone had a brush. They are trained to do a lot more than running a brush through it.

Check out this thread with some good discussion from DIYers.

There are lots more threads on the subject!

Thanks a bunch for the link! I've bookmarked it.