Cleaning Chimney from the inside

[daveswoodhauler]

Just looking for some advice on the flexible rods to clean the chimney from the inside. I have a small bend (appx 20 degrees or so) I am looking at the flexible rods,and am wondering if its worth the money to spend on the ones that click/lock together vs screwing them into each other. My run is appx 26 feet from the top of the insert to the top...too long a run to clean from the inside?
Thanks.

 

[savageactor7]

Our clean out is 4' above the floor in the cellar the chimney cleaners told us we should easily do it ourselves from there as well. They recommended bendable rods and said you could get them at lowes or TSC. If I was going to do it I think I would go to that place the chimney sweeper here recommended cause I've read of some people that got a brush stuck in there.

 

[johnsopi]

Two years ago I got a brush stuckin the chimney, and then broke the rod off at the base of the clean out.
Had to have the sweep get it out for me. There's is a ring on the top brushes the he hooked on to then pulled it out.

 

[pistonslap]

My only bottom access to my 6" chimney is a tee with a 9" depth. Do they make a rod that is flexible enough to make that bend?

 

[woodconvert]

Just looking for some advice on the flexible rods to clean the chimney from the inside. I have a small bend (appx 20 degrees or so) I am looking at the flexible rods,and am wondering if its worth the money to spend on the ones that click/lock together vs screwing them into each other. My run is appx 26 feet from the top of the insert to the top...too long a run to clean from the inside?
Thanks.

Other than the mess...which I don't know how you could do it without a lot of mess....I don't know why you couldn't do it from the inside. Screw the rods though. Pull it through with a good strong rope. That's what I do with mine and it works like a charm...but I have an exterior cleanout and don't have to worry about any mess/dust inside the house.

 

[allhandsworking]

I have a rutland 25' screw with 6" brush It is not riged enough to clean properly

 

[Gooserider]

Two suggestions...

1. PUT A SAFETY LINE ON THE BRUSH! Tie a good strong line (about a 1/4" poly line is fine) to the ring on the brush, I then bring it down through the bristles and tie a couple of hitches around the base of the brush. This will let you get the brush and rods out if anything comes unscrewed or breaks. (It has happened to me, and because I had the line, didn't cause any problems....)

2. Don't waste money on those fancy over priced flexible rods... Go to your favorite big box store and buy as many 10 foot lengths of 3/4" grey PVC electrical conduit as you need for your chimney, and make a quick stop in plumbing for a can of PVC cement, and the appropriate adapters to go from your conduit's small end to the threads on the brush (I got a 3/4 PVC to 1/2" NPT poly adapter, and a 1/2" to 1/4" NPT steel reducer as thats what they had..) and in hardware for a few (one less than the number of conduit sections) #10-32 or 1/4-20 bolts and nuts, about 1.5" - total bill should be less than ONE section of that fancy rod...

Glue the adapter onto the small end of one of the conduit sections. Sand the small end of the others a bit so they slide easily in and out of the big "bell" ends. With a sharpie, mark which ends go together, and number the sections. Slide them together and drill a hole crossways through the conduit at each junction to match the bolts - these hold the joints together, but allow easy assembly / disassembly. Use the sharpie to "key" the ends so you'll know how to put them together so the holes line up. When done, screw the brush onto the end of the 1st section...

You now have a flex rod that cost a fraction of what the official stuff does, and will make a 1-2' radius bend if you have to... It's how I clean my 25' tall chimney from the bottom, going into a "Tee" that ends about 18" off the floor. The hardest part will be getting the brush started. Also you need to add each section of conduit BEFORE you make the bend to go up the chimney, while the bell section is still running along the floor - easier that way.

Gooserider

 

[knockbill]

been doing it that way for years,with 1/2" pvc,, but with out the fittings ,, just drilled holes thru teh bells, and bolt em, double nut for saftey & put them together on teh floor,,,, to attach teh brush, i just bent the ring end to an oval tht fits in teh pipe bell and thru bolt it,,, i had the little screw fitting on the brush pull out once,,,, never again!

 

[JustWood]

I bought the brush and flexible rod kit 3 years ago and HATE IT! What a pain in the AZZ.
What I do now is cut up 1/2 of a furnace load of 1x1" kindling and open my ash pan door to get the fire screamin' ( gettin a real hot fire going like this loosens up the creosote). Let it go out. Then I have a ball of chain that I wired together with some 16 gauge wire and tied it to some nylon rope that I drop down the chimney 6-10 times and its clean as a whistle. Don't have to worry about that friggen brush getting stuck. I swear they make the bristles on those brushes 1/2" too long just to piss you off when you try to reverse direction. Yes mine has been stuck and I broke a rod trying to get it out.

 

[velvetfoot]

My chimney is about 30' from my insert. I use the store bought 3' poly rods and clean from below, with a vacuum cleaner stuck up in the flue and exhaust pipe outside the window. Not much comes out anyway (liner in exterior insulated chase.) It works well. I turn the rods so they won't unscrew. Metal brush. A lock would provide some peace of mind.