How to Clean Your Chimney

[Roadkill]

Springtime chimney cleaning is very important. A through cleaning is recommended after a long winter of burning fires. The initial cost of purchasing a brush and the rods for cleaning your chimney can be in the $100 - $150 range depending on the size of your flue and the height of your chimney. Many times a chimney sweep can charge up to $100 to clean your chimney depending on the height and how dirty it is. Once you’ve purchased the brush and rods the rest of your chimney sweeping only requires some elbow grease instead of paying for a cleaning. If you want to share the cost see if a neighbor might want to split it with you. Cleaning your chimney isn’t difficult; the hardest part of the job is getting out the ladder. Once you’ve dug the ladder out of the garage you’re well on your way. Don’t forget to take a tape measure, pen and paper up there with you, (there’s nothing worse than getting back on the ground and forgetting what the dimensions were). Now that you’re on the roof if you have a chimney cap remove it. Some chimney caps can easily be removed by loosening 4 thumb screws at the base. Some chimney caps are permanently mounted and the screws are on the lid.

Next measure the inside of your flue tiles and write it down. Take a good look at your chimney while you’re up there. Creosote will tend to be the heaviest at the top of the chimney were it starts to cool during the burning process. If there appears to be little or no creosote buildup just black soot a wire brush will work fine. If the creosote is really thick you may want to consider a flat wire brush that will give you more surface contact.

Always use the bush that is the same size and the flue tiles. If the brush is too small you won’t make surface contact or if too large you will jam the brush and bend the bristles. Next determine the total height of your chimney, from smoke chamber to the top. If it is a one story home the chimney would average 15’, two story around 25’. Chimney brush rods are available in 3’ 4’ 5’ and 6’ sections that screw together. Chimney brush rods are made of fiberglass and are very flexible; they can bend 90 degrees or more. This allows for cleaning any bends in
your chimney.

When selecting a chimney brush you will be amazed at the differences and cost. The double spiral brush contains more bristles which will give you more surface contact. This is great for moderately cleaning the soot. A single spiral brush with fewer wires is great for the quick
sweep when there is just a light dusting of soot. The flat wire brush is best for the heavy jobs. If you have a metal chimney or your chimney has been relined a poly brush is recommended for cleaning. A poly brush will not scratch the inside or your pipe. Continue Article How to Clean Your Chimney

 

[keyman512us]

Nice post roadkill...Illustrates a good "how to". Thanks for sharing with the forum. One thing I would caution you about in the future would be to "post a little more info" however. This is a friendly enough site that wording it something like "An excerpt from": http://www.thelograck.com/Chimney_Cleaning.html
gotta be carefull not to "cross the line" boardering on copyrights etc. At any rate...welcome to the forum and thanks for posting...and Thank You for pointing out this link.

 

[wg_bent]

For those of you doing Stainless chimneys or liners, a Poly brush works well. I used a rope to pull the brush up and down the liner. this seemed to work well and I used a shop vac stuck in the stove to keep the dust down. After I was done, the liner was not perfectly clean but I'm not sure I could ever get it perfect. 4 brushes up and down and most of the fly ash was gone.

 

[Corie]

I sweep mine the same way warren does. Rope on either side of a brush, one idiot on the roof (me) and the other significantly more intelligent idiot (dad) on the ground.



Work it up, work it down, work it side to side, push it, push it real good, whatever it takes to get that chimney clean.

 

[JotulOslo]

I use a poly brush from the top of the SS liner, and go right down to the T. After removing the rods and brush, I wait a period of time for the dust in the Jotul Oslo to settle, and remove the oval plate on the top of the stove. Using a shop vac with a vacuum bag insert and fine particle filter, I vacuum whatever has come down the pipe out from the top of the stove. No mess whatsoever!

In some earlier posts I mentioned that my chimney cap would plug up with creosote. I removed the outer rain shield that purported to prevent rain from driving in sideways to the cap, and have had no problems since in the two months following its removal. I would usually get 40 days before I had to clean it prior to removal.

JotulOslo

 

[colsmith]

The initial cost of purchasing a brush and the rods for cleaning your chimney can be in the $100 - $150 range depending on the size of your flue and the height of your chimney. Many times a chimney sweep can charge up to $100 to clean your chimney depending on the height and how dirty it is.

I wonder where they came up with those numbers. We bought the poly brush and 5 rods for less than $50 total at Menards. The cheapest chimney sweep we could find last October was $130, and he really sucked, next lowest price was about $160, prices went up to $249 depending on the company. They mostly said the height of the chimney didn't matter, it was a fixed price. Of course it depends if you already own a ladder or not, ladders are pricey.

We take the stovepipe off when we clean the chimney, it is a straight shot then and we just tape a plastic bag around the thimble opening, and another plastic bag around that as backup. So all the crud goes into the bag, no dust or mess, although we always make a little mess anyway. We clean from the top down, do the stove separately, and clean the stovepipe bits outside.

 

[Scrounger]

I have a Jotul Kennebec insert. There is a 45 degree elbow coming out the top of the insert then my SS liner is hooked to the 45 and runs up to the top of my masonary chimney. If I brush brush out my liner from the top, all of the junk will fall on top of the firebox. Do I have to fish all the junk out from the top of the firebox? Or do I have to disconnect the insert and pull it out of the fireplace opening and put a bag on the bottom of the liner?

Luke Tonneberger
Rockford, Michigan
USA

 

[wg_bent]

I have a Jotul Kennebec insert. There is a 45 degree elbow coming out the top of the insert then my SS liner is hooked to the 45 and runs up to the top of my masonary chimney. If I brush brush out my liner from the top, all of the junk will fall on top of the firebox. Do I have to fish all the junk out from the top of the firebox? Or do I have to disconnect the insert and pull it out of the fireplace opening and put a bag on the bottom of the liner?

Luke Tonneberger
Rockford, Michigan
USA

I pull the secondary burn tubes out (3 cotter pins), clean them, and and pull the baffle out and clean it also. I have to be very careful as the material on top of the baffle is a light weight insulator that appears very brittle. I think it's ceramic wool. I vacuum that all out once the brushing is done. It took me about 2 hours last year, but I'll bet this year will be more like 30 minutes.