how clean is your stainless chimney when you get done cleaning?

[greythorn3]

you guys ever get your stainless chimneys back to its original shiney luster after a chimney brush cleaning? mine seems to still have a thin coating in it even when i get done sweeping it.

any tips or tricks to bring back the mirror finish on the inside?

 

[Shane]

You'll never get there. Even if you managed to pressure wash all the soot off the flame will have eneeled (probably didn't spell that right) the stainless so it will have a rainbow color. I used to pull out liners and they're almost a non-shiny goldish color after years of use.

 

[greythorn3]

well dang it, isnt there stil a risk of fire if there is a slight film and not the stainless brilliance??

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Maybe I'll have to try taking a picture of ours. It is only been used 4 winters now but the last time I looked it appeared new. We've cleaned it only one time; a testament to good dry wood and a super clean burning stove.

 

[Shane]

Is the film sticky/tarlike or is it more like ash/soot? If it's ash/soot you're good to go. If it's sticky, burn hotter fires and maybe try creaway.

Also... why do you have a picture of me as your avatar?

 

[greythorn3]

its dry and sooty, im using a plastic rutland chimney brush

 

[greythorn3]

any pics of your ss chimney insides after you cleaned it you could post?

 

[BrotherBart]

any pics of your ss chimney insides after you cleaned it you could post?

any pics of your ss chimney insides after you cleaned it you could post?

 

[NH_Wood]

any pics of your ss chimney insides after you cleaned it you could post?

any pics of your ss chimney insides after you cleaned it you could post?

Ditto again! ;-P

 

[BJ64]

any pics of your ss chimney insides after you cleaned it you could post?

any pics of your ss chimney insides after you cleaned it you could post?

Ditto again! ;-P

How did he do that? I brushed the heck out of mine and it still looks like something from Cheech and Chong's garage sale.

 

[JotulOwner]

I have used a Rutland poly brush, but I recently tried an 8" brush(6" flue) with very flexible bristles instead of the rigid ones the Rutland has. What a difference! Here is the after pic when I used the new brush. The old one always cut grooves in the creosote no matter how many times I brushed. This one gets everything.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

One of these days we'll get a picture. Wife did look inside the chimney and said she could see just a little soot at the very top but other than that, it is sparkling clean.

 

[WES999]

Last time I cleaned the chimney I used this method.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/78105/

The chimney looked like the pic in JotulOwner's post, almost brand new. :cheese:

 

[JotulOwner]

It's amazing to me that many of us have to find ways of improving on things that are simple enough that they should work well without modification. That Rutland brush, for example, is built like you were going to be scraping paint off a battleship, but it misses the easily removed stuff. All that is really needed is a flexible brush that contacts the entire surface area of the pipe. If heavy scraping is necessary, a poly brush probably won't work anyway.

 

[greythorn3]

wow now thats how i want mine to look! mine a 8" FLUE THO is there a 10" poly brush you can get from rutland?

guess i could use the 8" on my epa stoves 6" flue.

 

[pen]

wow now thats how i want mine to look! mine a 8" FLUE THO is there a 10" poly brush you can get from rutland?

guess i could use the 8" on my epa stoves 6" flue.

Not following you here. A 6 in liner requires a 6 in brush. You'll hurt things you try and stove an 8 in brush down a 6 inch pipe if those bristles aren't extremely flexible. Even then, I don't know if I like the idea. You'd have a mess if you broke a rod off or got the thing stuck.

pen

 

[leeave96]

I have used a Rutland poly brush, but I recently tried an 8" brush(6" flue) with very flexible bristles instead of the rigid ones the Rutland has. What a difference! Here is the after pic when I used the new brush. The old one always cut grooves in the creosote no matter how many times I brushed. This one gets everything.

I use the same brush - my chimney looks the same.

Bill