Cleaning Procedure for a Stove and Venting

[Whitenuckler]

I will be cleaning my 4 inch vent pipe for the first time. Johneh has me set up to buy a brush set at PAuto.
My tee's (2) have cleanouts. Not sure what they are like. I think you take the cover off. So now I can easily clean the
outside as a tee is there. For the inside there will be a tee behind the stove. Should I try and run the brush inside
from the outside? I don't think that is possible unless I disconnect piping. That means I will need to run it up the
pipe from the back of the stove, but not sure if the cleaning poles would make the bend. Worst case I could use rope
and drag the brush. How much crap would be in their anyway?

 

[Whitenuckler]

I will be cleaning my 4 inch vent pipe for the first time. Johneh has me set up to buy a brush set at PAuto.
My tee's (2) have cleanouts. Not sure what they are like. I think you take the cover off. So now I can easily clean the
outside as a tee is there. For the inside there will be a tee behind the stove. Should I try and run the brush inside
from the outside? I don't think that is possible unless I disconnect piping. That means I will need to run it up the
pipe from the back of the stove, but not sure if the cleaning poles would make the bend. Worst case I could use rope
and drag the brush. How much crap would be in their anyway?

 

[Whitenuckler]

I picked up my new brush cleaning system. The rods are somewhat flexable. Do do the inside properly I'd have to unscrew the slip joint portion
which is at the top with the 90. Only other way would be to attach the head with a rope and pull it through. I'm not sure how dirty it is as this was my first year.

 

[johneh]

If your stove burned as it should, there should be nothing but dust clinging to the pipe walls.
My 18 feet of pipe gives me about 2 cups of dust once a year, and the clean-out tee cap
, which is cleaned twice a year, has about 3 cups for the year. If you do the leaf blower trick
from the top of the chimney, you will get little to no dust when you put the brush through it

 

[Whitenuckler]

If your stove burned as it should, there should be nothing but dust clinging to the pipe walls.
My 18 feet of pipe gives me about 2 cups of dust once a year, and the clean-out tee cap
, which is cleaned twice a year, has about 3 cups for the year. If you do the leaf blower trick
from the top of the chimney, you will get little to no dust when you put the brush through it

Thanks for the info. I hadn't planned on the leaf blower trick, but I will try it before cleaning the pipe.
I think I will leave all the joints together to start with, and try removing just the tee caps. I have one of those
inspection camera's which may help. Plus if I pull the cleaning head through and nothing comes out, there can't
be much. I think I remember watching a guy use the drill/brush/rod combination and he went from the outside past his 90 and down to the stove. He was doing it from the side of his house standing so his stove was probably in his basement. I'd have to take my outside tee off
though.

 

[bogieb]

I clean the stove exhaust to the first bend from inside. I use a manual vent cleaner to scrub the sides, slide past the ESP (gently), and thru to the first bend outside the stove.

I have a Sooteater and it is just flexible enough to make corners - you just have to push lightly as it is spinning slowly, aggressive pushing will get you nowhere. Once it is on a straightaway, then you can spin and push at full bore to the next bend. However, a slower and steady approach, with back and forth motions thru small sections of the pipe seems to produce the best results

When doing the outside cleaning, I put the stove in "test", open a door slightly so it will keep the exhaust fan running, and then run the sooteater from the outside. Warning, you don't want to have your face in-line with the vent

Then, once a year, either at the end or the beginning of the season depending on how I closed them up, I do the LBT