Well, this is my second full season of burning wood. I NEVER CLEANED MY CHIMNEY LAST YEAR!! I do not know why I didnt, I grew up with a woodstove! I ahve a SS exterios chimney with bend in it..I ahve been noticing some puff-backs lately and knew that it had to be the chimney not drawing..So I bought myself some flexiable rods and a 6" steel round nosed brush..I started brushing from the bottom up..It was hard to move the brush so I kept moving back and forth and gaining ground..There was alot of black crusty ash coming down that is for sure..When I got up to the 45 degree bend I couldnt get it to go anymore without really yarning on it..Finally I got it through and even more stuff came down..Next I went up on the roof and took off the cap that was pretty bad too, wire brushed it all etc..Took one of the 4' sections with the brush up and brushed from the top down..this was the worse part obviously being the furtherst and coolest point..Reinstalled the cap. next I stuck my hand up the bottom of the chimney and into the T where it goes to the stove.There was about 3/4" of ash laying on the bottom of the horizontal pipe..Since it was cool, I grabbed the shop vac and stuck the hose up and in and worked it around and vac'd all that ash out..Worked like a charm..All clean now..Had a fire last night and it draws like it did last year when new! Gotta remember each spring to do a thourough cleaning..
