Soot everywhere, wood insert, flue cleaned

[The Seeker]

I had my chimney cleaned and when I turned on the insert fan soot went everywhere! I had a different company clean it last year and told them about my prior experience only to have a very similar issue. This time I was ready with hvac filter material and the soot didn’t go all over the place. I have a Pacific Energy wood insert that has an offset box to connect to the liner. I’m wondering how this is happening and trying to avoid it this year (2026). My thought is that when they send the brush up it’s pushing the soot out and over the edge of the liner, then it just accumulates in the firebox and gets drawn into circulation with the fan.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Check the top of the insert to make sure that the liner is connected. One other thing, did you have the chimney cleaned before they installed the liner? Cleaning the liner may be knocking old soot down the chimney outside the liner.