lint eater sizing

[briansol]

How flexible are these lint eaters for pipe on the brushes? I have a 3" exhaust port expanded to 4" up the flue. So, i need something that will do mostly 4" pipe, but will also fit through the 3" opening at the beginning. Further, i'd like to go through the trap door if possible, which honestly doesn't open that much.... maybe an inch on the non-hinged side.

Will a 4" work?

 

[chimneylinerjames]

When you mention lint eaters, are you referring to the cleaning kits for dryer vents? They have a very similar product for pellet stoves.

I know the one for pellet stoves will work for 3" and 4" pipe. The rods are very flexible, not sure if they could make a 90 degree turn like at a tee, but they are very flexible. The brush has about a 1" ball on the head of it, all it is is weed whacker string, so it is very easy to replace.

I found the best deal on Amazon, search "sooteater pellet", it comes right up.

 

[briansol]

I was looking at this kit
http://www.amazon.com/Gardus-RLE202-LintEater-10-Piece-Cleaning/dp/B0014CN8Y8/ref=pd_ybh_5

as I also want to do my dryer vent.

I didn't know there were special pellet ones. i'll have to do some more reading.

 

[movemaine]

Most of us on here use the linteater in your link. It is made for dryers, but works wonders on the vent pipe. The 4" should be fine. The brushes are nylon and will bend as needed - however, that might require a bit of muscle and my only concern would be around connections and possibly dislodging a connection as you pushed the 4" through a 3" connection. Hopefully some others will drop in and offer their real-world scenarios.

 

[briansol]

the 3" is only the first couple inches of pipe right at the exhaust port on the stove. I'll be able to see if anything tries o dislodge, and even hold it in place... but the silicone should do that for me.
My biggest concern is going in to the 3" form a square trap door under the 3" so that i don't have to unhook the whole pipe (nightmare) again.

 

[bbfarm]

huh. interesting. we just have the regular metal 3" and 4" brushes on the flex poles. I bet we could attach them to our drill too.

 

[DexterDay]

Yep.. I have two 3" systems and one 4" system and the Lint-Eater works on it all.

The bristles are very flexible and makes cleaning even the 3" vents easy

 

[SXIPro]

If you are using the lint eater doodad on an insert, don't you end up with ash all over the place since it will just freefall into your hearth?

 

[briansol]

Yup. Its messy. What I do is put a drop cloth over the tv (to the right) and an n95 on my face, and another drop cloth like a wizard cape on me with my head and vac in the hearth. I shake the pipe a bit slowly at first and it all starts rushing out. I suck as much of it as i can as it falls with the vac, basically putting the hose right at the fall out point. it's pretty controllable if you get the right touch with the bang and quick shake. I guess that's an advantage of flexible piping. couldn't do that with hard pipe runs. The rest i clean up off the floor of the fireplace afterwards. After 10 or so bangs, it's pretty clean in the pipe.... not a lot of fall out. The occasional bigger clump comes out. I haven't scraped the pipe in the 4 year s i've been burning. I've just been doing the bang out method. By eye and flashlight, last time i was in there after this type of clean out, it actually looked pretty clean as far up as i could see. But i still would like to brush it to get the non fly ash out of it

 

[movemaine]

If you are using the lint eater doodad on an insert, don't you end up with ash all over the place since it will just freefall into your hearth?

the system comes with an attachment to close off the end of the pipe and attach the vacuum while you run the brush.