Sooteater question

[Kamiobi]

I have a partly clogged chimney cap (non-screen type) with a very steep roof. I have someone coming out with a boom truck and bucket to clean it up. That will solve the problem for the rest of this season, but I need to think about the future.

I clean from the bottom up, but the brush can‘t reach the outer edges of the cap. I would like to hear from any sooteater users. Do you think I can get the cap clean using a sooteater or do I run the risk of knocking the whole thing off?

 

[shoot-straight]

I have The same situation. Leave the strings long. At least some of them if your cap is like mine. I run Mine every time my stove goes cold. Sometimes one month, sometimes 2-3. It's no replacement for a complete clean but it will keep you out of danger I think. at least that's what I think I'm doing.

I'm renting a portable lift for 150$ 4hr, cheaper than a sweep at end of year.

 

[Prof]

I use the soot eater and have never popped a cap off. When I get close to the top I exercise some caution. Have others knocked their cap off?

 

[stoveliker]

I think to answer whether it will work for your cap, we'd need a pic or design visual.

 

[Kamiobi]

I think to answer whether it will work for your cap, we'd need a pic or design visual.

I haven’t been on the roof in over ten years, so the cap hasn’t been cleaned for a long time. I burned some marginal wood early in the season that probably added to the problem.

 

[MR. GLO]

You have a nice steep roof but your at a ridge so someone experienced would walk it from the ridge edge. I would have a new cap ready. No screen. I have cleaned that cap from below with sooteater. I would look at the collar area to seal or replace I see rust. I can't bieve you made it 10 years mpressive. Can't wait to see top of chimney...bring a flashlight and camera when changing cap.

 

[stoveliker]

If it's mounted correctly (screwed in properly) this won't bump off with the soot eater imo.

I second the post above, leave a few longer strands.
First push up the rods to the cap (easier to feel when you're not rotating it), and spin it on the way down.

 

[kennyp2339]

OP when you get the boom truck to clean, pop a couple screws in the cap so the soot eater doesnt pop it off when cleaning.

 

[Kamiobi]

Thanks for all of the feedback. The cap twists on and it does have two straps with screws holding it on. When I used to do a top down cleaning I used a climbing harness with a rope over the ridge tied to my car bumper (doors locked and keys in my pocket) on the other side. I then climbed up the valley pressing against the sides with my feet, but not using the rope to pull myself up. By the time I got up and down my legs were like rubber.

Now another problem is finding the sooteater in Japan. Amazon jp only has some knockoffs. I will stop by a couple of the stove shops in town to see if they have any. If they don’t, I will have to order a set from the States.

 

[stoveliker]

I like the "doors locked and keys in my pocket"
Good safety thinking! (makes me remember my LOTO training...)

 

[Enplater]

When I get to the top of the chimney with the sooteater I make sure it’s spinning the way as to tighten the cap if the spinning forces were to move it, I’ve never had a problem. When I get to the cap I can see small chunks flying off from the soot eater so this might work for you in the future but maybe it’s a better choice to get on the roof and replace the cap this time and soot eater
in the future.
I also like the “doors locked and keys in pocket” safety procedure.

 

[Kamiobi]

The cap was almost totally blocked as you can see from the photos. He did say the chimney itself was fine. It was just the cap. Hopefully, using the sooteater a couple of times a season and being more careful with the wood supply will keep this from happening in the future.

Timing couldn’t be better. It is supposed to get down to -27 C tonight. For the last week it has been difficult to get the stove top over 250 C, but is easily cruising at 350 now.

 

[SteveKG]

That is the worst I've seen. Amazing. You should see major improvement now.

 

[Ashful]

None of the younger "professionals" I've had out to clean my pipes have been willing to go to the top of my tallest chimney, since the original installer retired. They simply do bottom up with a commercial version of the sooteater, and claim that's good enough. Since I rarely feel any desire to pay for something I can easily do as well or better on my own, this is what I've been doing the last 8+ years. When run to the top and allowed to rattle around in the cap for a minute, it seems to do a pretty good job of knocking anything loose that might cause trouble, without doing any harm.

I do wish I could get someone to inspect the crown and seal between liner plate and chimney top, though. If anyone knows a sweep in SE PA who has more fortitude than most, please send them my way. Chimney is more than 40' above grade, protruding from the ridge of a 12:12 pitch raised-seam steel roof, so a very tall ladder or a chicken ladder + brass cahones are recommended.

 

[shoot-straight]

None of the younger "professionals" I've had out to clean my pipes have been willing to go to the top of my tallest chimney, since the original installer retired. They simply do bottom up with a commercial version of the sooteater, and claim that's good enough. Since I rarely feel any desire to pay for something I can easily do as well or better on my own, this is what I've been doing the last 8+ years. When run to the top and allowed to rattle around in the cap for a minute, it seems to do a pretty good job of knocking anything loose that might cause trouble, without doing any harm.

I do wish I could get someone to inspect the crown and seal between liner plate and chimney top, though. If anyone knows a sweep in SE PA who has more fortitude than most, please send them my way. Chimney is more than 40' above grade, protruding from the ridge of a 12:12 pitch raised-seam steel roof, so a very tall ladder or a chicken ladder + brass cahones are recommended.

I had a guy from elkton md, who actually "jumped" from my roof peak to the top of my chimney which sits on the outside wall of my house. I nearly threw up when I saw him do that. I tried to make a ladder out of wood with rubber feet which matched the pitch of my roof so I could just stand it up and remove the cap. It didnt feel safe or work well. Hence the lift.

 

[Ashful]

I had a guy from elkton md, who actually "jumped" from my roof peak to the top of my chimney which sits on the outside wall of my house. I nearly threw up when I saw him do that. I tried to make a ladder out of wood with rubber feet which matched the pitch of my roof so I could just stand it up and remove the cap. It didnt feel safe or work well. Hence the lift.

The guy who did the install here (now retired) told me he lost several nights' sleep leading up to this job, which was a real surprise to hear from a 30+ year veteran chimney sweep, I figured he's seen it all. It's a terrifying roof, as already described.

The tallest stones on this chimney were placed in 1775, an addition on an earlier (ca.1735) structure, according to the date stone we uncovered two years ago. Hauling them that far up on scaffolding is certainly doable, but must have been a sight to see, all the same. They definitely don't build them like they used to, but sometimes that's a good thing.

 

[Sun&Snow]

The cap was almost totally blocked as you can see from the photos. He did say the chimney itself was fine. It was just the cap. Hopefully, using the sooteater a couple of times a season and being more careful with the wood supply will keep this from happening in the future.

View attachment 291187View attachment 291189View attachment 291190

Timing couldn’t be better. It is supposed to get down to -27 C tonight. For the last week it has been difficult to get the stove top over 250 C, but is easily cruising at 350 now.

Wow, is this something you could see from the street? Mine looks clean from a distance, but I wonder...

 

[Kamiobi]

I thought I would give everyone an update to my question. I finally got the sooteater and used it before the burning season started. Very different than when I use my brush. The sooteater really turns the flakes in to dust. It made the clean up a little more difficult because it trickled down the poles and out of the hole in the bag where the sooteater went through. It was difficult to tell if I was able to get the cap cleaned, but I didn’t knock the cap off. I was careful when I got near the top just to be safe.

I just did my mid-season cleaning and this time with snow on the ground it was easy to see that I had knocked soot off the cap because there were flakes on the ground around the house. One thing I didn’t know about the sooteater that it has wires on the top as well to help clean the cap.

 

[1kzwoman]

Wow, is this something you could see from the street? Mine looks clean from a distance, but I wonder...

In other posts other members have suggested the use of binoculars

 

[mdocod]

Wow, is this something you could see from the street? Mine looks clean from a distance, but I wonder...

A telephoto lens on a decent camera might offer a better look...

 

[SteveKG]

It made the clean up a little more difficult because it trickled down the poles and out of the hole in the bag where the sooteater went through.

After a half century of cleaning my stove pipes/chimneys, I still have the occasional hassle of soot escaping the plastic bag through which the rods for the brush or the Sooteater go. I have gotten to where I drape an old sheet around the stove and the area and catch a lot of it, then the sheet is shaken outside and dropped into the washing machine.

 

[begreen]

Wow, is this something you could see from the street? Mine looks clean from a distance, but I wonder...

It depends. Sometimes the view of the cap is obscured by the angle of view where you are looking up at the bottom rim of the cap. If you can get a straighter view then yes, it's easier to spot a clogged cap screen.

 

[Kamiobi]

After a half century of cleaning my stove pipes/chimneys, I still have the occasional hassle of soot escaping the plastic bag through which the rods for the brush or the Sooteater go. I have gotten to where I drape an old sheet around the stove and the area and catch a lot of it, then the sheet is shaken outside and dropped into the washing machine.

This time I had a wet rag to wipe down the rods as I pulled them out. That helped a lot in keeping the dust down. I’m thinking about replacing the plastic bag with an idea I saw in another thread about the sooteater. Instead of a bag they recommended using a plastic jug. Here in Japan there are cheap whiskies that come in a big jug that with the bottom cut off will fit the pipe perfectly. I just need to find someone who drinks that type whiskey and get an empty.

 

[Ashful]

This time I had a wet rag to wipe down the rods as I pulled them out. That helped a lot in keeping the dust down. I’m thinking about replacing the plastic bag with an idea I saw in another thread about the sooteater. Instead of a bag they recommended using a plastic jug. Here in Japan there are cheap whiskies that come in a big jug that with the bottom cut off will fit the pipe perfectly. I just need to find someone who drinks that type whiskey and get an empty.

The classic RubberMaid 1/2-gallon pitcher we all owned as kids is a perfect fit to 6" single-wall pipe. Drill a hole in the bottom the same diameter as the snap collars on your sooteater, slide the pitcher onto the pipe with the sooteater head and first rod section already inside, and you're good to go.

Of course, even easier to just set an ash vac hose nozzle in the back corner of the stove to create net negative pressure at the door, and sweep up thru the bypass damper on a cat stove, without ever disconnecting the pipe.

 

[bholler]

I use the soot eater and have never popped a cap off. When I get close to the top I exercise some caution. Have others knocked their cap off?

I have knocked off a few