School me on Soot Eater

[Eman85]

VC Encore and a straight up stove pipe to metal chimney single story home. I've always cleaned from the top down with a brush and fiberglass rods. I keep the bypass damper open and block over it with a piece of aluminum and then vacum the stove out.
How would a soot Eater work in cleaning from below? Will it work going in through the stove past the damper and up the pipe? How do you keep the mess from getting in the room with the stove doors open? I'm guessing like most things the original Gardus is better than any of the knock offs. I see 2 different type rods and I guess I would need the thinner more flexible ones.
Cleaning from the top down has always worked well and I have no problems with going on the roof....for now. Not getting any younger and I don't bounce like I used to.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

I'm following this one. Been wondering the same thing

 

[Kevin Weis]

Don't have the Encore but the Intrepid. I keep the damper closed. If the soot eater hits that gasket it will pull it off in short order.

 

[jatoxico]

I can't speak to how you would access the flue w/ your particular stove but that aside:

I have a set of both the thicker black rods and the thinner white ones. I need both to get the full length of my flue, so I use the whites first otherwise the weight of the whole setup causes the whites to flex too much.

The kit comes with a plastic screen and I have also seen people make a clever container from the top of a plastic jug. Cut off the bottom and push that up to the flue opening and then let the rods pass through the mouth.

All that said I don't any of that. In my case the heavy stuff falls straight down and the fines seem to get carried off by the natural draft so not much if anything gets into the house. I have setup a shop vac with the suction side fitted with rigid pipe pointed at the stove then snake the flex hose to exhaust out the door but even that hasn't been needed.

I do spread a full sized old bed sheet out in front of the stove/hearth because the rods themselves get dirty and you need a place to set them up and break everything down. I have white painted, mantle, trim and shelf around the whole room and I don't see that any of it is getting sooted up at all.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I have a vc stove.. Id do the top down . keep the bypass closed.. pull the cat

 

[Eman85]

Don't have the Encore but the Intrepid. I keep the damper closed. If the soot eater hits that gasket it will pull it off in short order.

How do you get to the stove pipe with the damper closed. On mine the only way to the stove pipe is past the damper. I have an aluminum piece I fabricated that covers the damper when I clean from the top so no problem with the gasket. The gasket isn't hard to replace, I just redid mine before the season.

 

[Eman85]

So is everyone pulling the pipe to clean? Or are they going top down? I thought I'd buy one if I could go through the stove, don't really want to pull pipe

 

[Isaac Carlson]

I'd go through the stove if I had a soot eater. I don't like pulling the pipe.