Got tired of climbing the steep roof to clean chimney.

[Bspring]

I put some bracing on the top of the cap. Added a pulley for a cable and then covered the top with some flashing to keep water out from the holes. The chimney section that I will clean with this set up is 34' with 2 bends in it. The fiberglass rods would not work. At the bottom I connect the brush and pull it up with the other end of the cable and then back down. I had to really yank on it at the 2 bends and was concerned with the amount of force I had to put on it but it finally went up. For what ever reason it was much easier coming back down.

 

[bmblank]

So you leave the cable in there while burning?

 

[Rickb]

hmmmm.... why not just use a sooteater cleaner.

 

[Woody Stover]

Yikes, that is steep! I guess the resistance of the creo stuck to the inside of the chimney, plus pushing up the stuff that was already knocked loose, made it harder to pull up than to pull down. Why the double pulley? Is that just something you had on hand? Seems like the cable would want to rub on the side of the pulley housing since it will tilt when force is applied, but I guess it worked OK.
What are the bends in your chimney? I think my SIL has a pair of 30s, and I can get the rods through OK, even though they are kind of stiff. I saw that they also sold rods that were more flexible and were supposed to make it through easier....up to 90* I thought it said, but don't quote me on that.
So when you clean from the bottom up, how much creo gets pushed out the top onto the shingles? I wonder if that stuff would eat the shingles after a while? I put some roof coating on the shingles around the chimney area back in the day when I had a lot of creo liquid running onto the roof.

So you leave the cable in there while burning?

I wonder if the heat will weaken that cable after a while?

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I got a kick out of the assortment of connectors and whatnot's you have connected to your cable and brush
(brass fittings, twisted wire, carabiner, zip ties, galvanized pipe, etc...) You just need to attach a kitchen sink to one and and you can say you used everything. lol

 

[M1sterM]

So you leave the cable in there while burning?

Curious about this, too. I've heard about a similar system produced that was intended to leave in while burning, but wondered about how effective they were.

 

[CenterTree]

MacGyver would be proud!

I know I wouldn't want to be up there!


Curious...Is your chimney top 2 feet above that roof ridge? Or is it more than 10' away?

 

[razerface]

i would think the creosote will jam that pulley as you burned

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Hmmm.. besides the fact that your outside section is to short, what are you going to do about cleaning the cap and screen? On ours that is where ALL the buildup is.

 

[Heatsource]

home made "Boz mechanical chimney sweep"
(they are horrible about marketing their products!)
i've installed a few over the years!

 

[Bspring]

Bmblank:
I plan to leave the cable in all the time. I will see how it holds up.

Rickb:
This is a wood furnace and when it reaches the temperature set on the thermostat is smolders so I don't think a chemical additive would help enough but I have not tried one.

Woody Stover:
I used stuff that I had laying around. The double pulley had no clearance on the side for the cable to slip past the roller so I used that one. It really does not have to roll, the cable will slide over the roller if it gets gummed up. The bends are no more that 45 but that would be a lot of work to push that almost 40'. It was a lot of work even going from the top down with a big weight helping. (lift up and drop down over and over)
I think all of the creo will fall down when going from the bottom up.

Dakotas Dad:
The chimney is not of the roof above the window it is on the roof line behind that one parallel with the window. I can't say for sure that it is 10' from the ridge but it should have been built to code. They gave me a hard time on my house. I would be very surprised if they missed that. As for the cap I'm not sure on that yet. I guess I will see how it goes.

 

[Rickb]

Bmblank:

Rickb:
This is a wood furnace and when it reaches the temperature set on the thermostat is smolders so I don't think a chemical additive would help enough but I have not tried one..

A sooteater is not a chemical. It is a chimney brush you can run up from the bottom to the top ot the top to the bottom that attaches to your drill. Look it up. Many people have had great success with them. May be a better solution then haveing a cable hanging in there full time.

 

[Bspring]

I just looked up Sooteaters and I like the idea but one review said anything over 28' was a bit too much for that setup. I am around 34' and not a straight shot. If my cable system turns out to not work well do you guys think I might be able to get the sooteater to work?

 

[mol1jb]

I have a T like that on the bottom with my setup as well. I just do it from the bottom with a straight rod at 4ft increments.

 

[Knots]

I have a T like that on the bottom with my setup as well. I just do it from the bottom with a straight rod at 4ft increments.

How do you manage the dust that comes down the chimney when you work from the bottom?

 

[mol1jb]

Well my T is located outside so that helps. If I were in your shoes, I would put a large drop cloth on the floor to catch whatever comes out.

 

[razerface]

Well my T is located outside so that helps. If I were in your shoes, I would put a large drop cloth on the floor to catch whatever comes out.

i remove my bottom pipe from the stove and tie a garbage bag to the bottom. I poke a hole in the bag that the rods go thru. The creosote falls into the bag. 20 minutes total. 34ft chim.

 

[Knots]

Well my T is located outside so that helps. If I were in your shoes, I would put a large drop cloth on the floor to catch whatever comes out.

Ah - OK. I thought there was some other trick. razerface has one solution...

 

[Hoozie]

I think it's the white pellet stove rods that can bend in half, while the larger black wood stove rods have trouble doing 90*