Chimney cleaning question

[GrantC]

I'm going to clean my chimney for the first time this year. (Not the first time it's been cleaned, the first time that I've done it myself!)

Stove is a Lopi Endeavor. 6" Pipe from stove goes up a couple of feet to a 45 deg elbow, then another 45, which connects to an adaptor which takes it from 6" to the 8" insulated pipe, which is a straight run out the roof. The elbows are to allow the stove to sit back on the hearth relative to the chimney pipe.

In the past I've called the most reputable local sweep, who simply brushed the soot down the large pipe and let it fall into the firebox, where he vacuumed it out. However, I note that a lot of the folks here on hearth.com disconnect the elbows so that they have simple straight run of pipe.

Should I be disconnecting the pipe, or is the way the sweep did it acceptable?

 

[LLigetfa]

Did the sweep use two sizes of brush, a large one for the straight section and a smaller one for the 6 inch pipe? My guess is that he probably didn't clean the 6 inch pipe. The 45 degree section could hold some creosote.

I would probably do a top down cleaning with stiff rods and an 8 inch brush and then use a SootEater on a drill to do a bottom up cleaning of the 6 inch pipe. I would take apart the 6 inch less frequently to clean and inspect it.

 

[fbelec]

ll what is a soot eater?

 

[LLigetfa]

It's like a whipper snipper.

http://www.sooteater.com/

 

[fbelec]

It's like a whipper snipper.

http://www.sooteater.com/

this looks great. how much did you pay? and where did you get it?

 

[LLigetfa]

I don't use a SootEater. My flue is the same dia all the way. I do top down and my brush goes around the bends into the firebox.

 

[polaris]

I purchased mine from Amazon.com. It's a great tool if you don't have easy access to the chimney. You can go through a rear exit stove, through the 45 degree bend and all the way to the top cleaning the cap and screen in the process.

 

[GrantC]

Thanks for the tip. Couldn't find a SootEater locally, so I got one from Amazon.

I cleaned from the top down, and instead of using my brush for the first part, I just let the SootEater do the whole thing. Worked perfectly, and cleaned the elbows very thoroughly.

The chimney wasn't all that dirty - I got roughly a pint of very light, fluffy soot. Not bad for a full season of heating between cleanings (roughly 6 cords), I thought.

-=[ Grant ]=-

 

[pastera]

I purchased mine from Amazon.com. It's a great tool if you don't have easy access to the chimney. You can go through a rear exit stove, through the 45 degree bend and all the way to the top cleaning the cap and screen in the process.

If you are confirming that the soot eater will clean the screen in the cap, that's great - My chimney ( air cooled heatalator sl300) exits about 2' from the peak of a 12-12 pitch roof on a 2 1/2 story home so there is no way I am getting up there to clean. I get nervous when the sweep comes in to do it.

Aaron

 

[paulie]

I have a sooteater, and it works great ! I too have a 12/12 roof so I clean from bottom up. remove"T" cap and strait up to the cap....