Did you brush the chimney yet?

[xman23]

What are you waiting for? Well I did last weekend. I think it's as early as I've ever done it in 17 years. Got all my ladders out. With a ladder on the roof. I remove a top section of the chimney. Then do a top down cleaning. The total job takes me about 3 hours. Stove is now ready to go. Geter done tomorrow.

No fire tonight, but the weather report for Saturday night says here in the mountains of North East PA, it could be in the 30's. So maybe the first fire of the season tomorrow.

 

[Woody5506]

dang, 3 hours. Do you have a lot of chimney? I use a soot eater on mine and it takes about 10 mins. Never tried a brush, as I am still a rookie.

 

[beatlefan]

Chimney sweep is coming Monday...

 

[redktmrider]

Waiting on the second soot-eater to arrive, it was a better deal to buy a second one than the separate extension rods. Menards had them for $42 a set after the rebate.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

I brushed my flue back in July. I hadn't done it for three years. I use a 6" flue brush with very stiff bristles. I work up quite a sweat working it up and down because it's so tight. I burn about 3 cords/year. Got about 1 or 2 cubic inches of fine black dust in the corner of the plastic bag I had affixed at the bottom. Maybe it only needs it every 8-10 years?

 

[RobbieB]

I popped the cap when I did the pour down insulation a couple weeks ago and no cleaning was needed.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Cleaned a couple weeks ago. Surprisingly clean. Life is Good! I use a soot eater also.

I don't worry as much about creosote accumulation as much as a large wasp nest clogging the chimney. I had yellow jackets fall out the bottom while cleaning once! Luckily they were all groggy from the whipping strings beating them to a pulp.

 

[xman23]

dang, 3 hours. Do you have a lot of chimney? I use a soot eater on mine and it takes about 10 mins. Never tried a brush, as I am still a rookie.

Thats what it takes me from start to a clean stove to do my 24' chimney. It's an involved setup. I put a ladder on the roof and remove the top section.

Question to the soot eater guys. Are you using it bottom up through the stove? How do you control the soot coming down the chimney as your cleaning?

 

[firefighterjake]

Did it this morning.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

Did it this morning.

No job security for you!

 

[Enplater]

Mines not really dirty but I've been wondering how I'm going to brush it later this season. Is there a setup where you can tie a rope to the brush and pull it down through the pipe? Like a bore snake for a rifle barrel. My roof is high, steep and scary ( and I'm not scared of heights) so when I'm up there so I figure the less time I'm up there the better. I have 24' of supervent chimney.

 

[begreen]

Mines not really dirty but I've been wondering how I'm going to brush it later this season. Is there a setup where you can tie a rope to the brush and pull it down through the pipe? Like a bore snake for a rifle barrel. My roof is high, steep and scary ( and I'm not scared of heights) so when I'm up there so I figure the less time I'm up there the better. I have 24' of supervent chimney.

Get a sooteater with an extra rod set and you can clean from down below.

 

[Enplater]

Never seen one but I like it, would it work with only 14" of clearance?

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Just did one of the two. Used sooteater for the SS chimney. Got about 2 cups of dust out of it. The liner in the masonry chimney next week or so.

 

[Enplater]

I used a CSL at the end of last season and all summer I would check the plug on the bottom of my chimney tee and find more creosote that had fallen off the inner wall. I wish I had measured it but I'd say maybe a cup. I'm not sure if it was the CSL working or the creosote just didn't feel like sticking anymore but the stack is pretty clean looking inside. Do you all think they actually work?

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

I used a CSL at the end of last season and all summer I would check the plug on the bottom of my chimney tee and find more creosote that had fallen off the inner wall. I wish I had measured it but I'd say maybe a cup. I'm not sure if it was the CSL working or the creosote just didn't feel like sticking anymore but the stack is pretty clean looking inside. Do you all think they actually work?

I would brush, no matter what. Safety first. Every year.

 

[firefighterjake]

No job security for you!

Oh I guarantee at some point this winter one of the fire departments I am associated with will respond to a chimney fire . . . where the owner will either admit to not cleaning the chimney for years or will swear up and down that they just swept their chimney a week prior.

Trust me . . . there is plenty of job security . . . I just don't plan to have my brothers and sisters visit me at 1 a.m. in the morning.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

[QUOTE="xman23, post: 2193009, member:

Question to the soot eater guys. Are you using it bottom up through the stove? How do you control the soot coming down the chimney as your cleaning?[/QUOTE]


I've always disconnected the single wall above the stove, when sweeping from the bottom. I'd use painters tape to tape a bag to the chimney and poke the soot eater through the bag. All the soot falls into the bag.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Trust me . . . there is plenty of job security . . . I just don't plan to have my brothers and sisters visit me at 1 a.m. in the morning.

You'd never live it down, either!

 

[firefighterjake]

You'd never live it down, either!

Especially since my main job is Public Education Officer . . . the guy who goes into schools and businesses to talk about fire safety.

So yeah . . . I know I don't have to brush my chimney each month due to the way I burn, the wood, etc. . . . but I do so anyways since you're right . . . I would never live it down. Some of the older guys still remember the time I tried to burn a Christmas tree on live TV . . . and failed.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

I would never live it down. Some of the older guys still remember the time I tried to burn a Christmas tree on live TV . . . and failed.

And the whole point was to demonstrate just how terribly flammable Christmas trees were? Oh! The humility!

 

[Dix]

Swept 2 weeks ago.

Awesome draft

 

[jwfirebird]

have an old house, the old chimney for the basement is about 40ft masonry, i can get to the top but you cant get poles in the bottom and im not carrying all that up the roof. just have a long rope drop down to the wife she pulls and vaccuums from the bottom, still kind of a pain to get her in the basement, she saw a snake 12 years ago that i took care of, still dont want to go. never another you never have pest problems for long if you have cats

so when i wanted to do the backup stove i made the chimney come out the side of the single story part on hooks so i can lift it up from an 8ft ladder and take it all down and clean it by myself, much easier that way. did it a couple weeks ago, just did my last break in fire yesterday and first "real" fire this morning.

 

[Beer Belly]

Just swept ours yesterday.....had a goof though.....was sweeping from the top down, and asked the Wife to check the stove for ashes.....she come out and tells me "nothing there" as I'm pulling the brush back out, still brushing on the way up. So now I'm thinking, "This is not good...some sort of blockage".....then the Wife sez "You forgot to take out the Top Bricks"

 

[toddnic]

Used a SootEater at the end of the season! It is so much easier going from the bottom of the chimney than having to get on the roof. All ready to go for Fall 2017