Which sooteater?

[garth_2022]

I see someone asked which sooteater to get and it was like politicians answering. No straight answer. I heard people say they had the black rods, but on Amazon the one with black rods says for open chimney. For a wood insert, Regency Hi500, I would need the one that says to clean chimney liners. It has white rods.
I know the Hi500 says sweep from top down, but can I do it from bottom up if I had to?

 

[rudysmallfry]

The ones with white rods are much more flexible, so if you have to clean anything that isn't dead straight, it's the way to go. The ones with black rods are only good for straight runs. The only downside to the white rods are they are shorter than the black in most brands, so they are a bit more labor intensive. You can go in from either direction with either.

 

[BillBurns]

I bought a sweep brush and rods for 30 bucks. It works fine.

 

[garth_2022]

But the question that is not being answered is...what is an "open chimney?" Is that a chimney without a liner? If the black and white can both be used on a wood insert, why is there such a huge price difference? $72 vs $122?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I have the black rods. I was able to make the turn from 6" singlewall into a T with 5.5" liner just fine. Theyll do a 90. I did break 1 rod doing this. I was letting my daughter sweep it and she dropped the drill at full speed. That wasntthe rod's fault,it was mine.

I've also swept from inside my T5 with the black rods.

They may not be as good as the white rods, but they do bend.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

But the question that is not being answered is...what is an "open chimney?" Is that a chimney without a liner? If the black and white can both be used on a wood insert, why is there such a huge price difference? $72 vs $122?

In thinking open chimney means without liner.

 

[NewGuy132]

I bought a knockoff brand with white rods. I don't even have any turns in mine. I go in a cleanout straight up. I have used mine twice so far and haven't had any issues.

 

[kborndale]

I bought the kit with black rods and was two rods short so I bought some white rods. They are the same length as the black rods and the black and white work together without issue. I only have to go through one 90.

 

[begreen]

Black rods were all that were sold when I got the sooteater. They have worked fine for cleaning the T6, bottom-up. I think this should be fairly straight-forward with the HI500 after removing the baffle. By entering low in the door opening, the angle up the flue is softer than 90º, prolly more like 115º.

Check in the Regency forum and ask CI2700 owners how they clean.

Regency

Discussions of Regency

www.hearth.com

 

[garth_2022]

Check in the Regency forum and ask CI2700 owners how they clean.

Regency

Discussions of Regency

www.hearth.com

Will do, thanks.

 

[EJL923]

Black rods were all that were sold when I got the sooteater. They have worked fine for cleaning the T6, bottom-up. I think this should be fairly straight-forward with the HI500 after removing the baffle. By entering low in the door opening, the angle up the flue is softer than 90º, prolly more like 115º.

Check in the Regency forum and ask CI2700 owners how they clean.

Regency

Discussions of Regency

www.hearth.com

same setup for me, remove the baffle with similar angle. a plain 90° angle would be tight. I think doable but would limit the longevity of the rods

 

[colin.p]

I bought the Gardus Sooteater a week or so ago for $127 CAD from Canadian Tire (same price from amazon.ca) for considerably more than the "knock-off" ones on amazon that were substantially less than a hundred bucks. It came with the black rods and I was able to clean my chimney (with a 30 degree offset) with no problems whatsoever. I was never able to use the fiberglass rods with the poly brush as they were darned near impossible to go around the offset without getting hung up. So I went 16 years without cleaning the last 10 feet of pipe. Interestingly, there wasn't much stuff that came out when I was finally able to clean it.

If I were needing to buy another one, I'd probably opt for the cheaper ones. Can't imagine they wouldn't work at least as good as the Gardus.

 

[begreen]

If I were needing to buy another one, I'd probably opt for the cheaper ones. Can't imagine they wouldn't work at least as good as the Gardus.

Caveat emptor. If the rods are not of good quality they may break. If this happens inside the flue, it could be a real pita to remove it. A cheaper rod may also start to splinter and fiberglass splinters are not fun to deal with.

 

[FPX Dude]

I got the sooteater brand, black rods, have to man-handle the bypass but then go straight up. Never felt like they were gonna break, so far so good!

 

[EJL923]

I just cleaned mine today, my once a year is done. From when I decided to start cleaning to putting all the tools away, just under an hour. The soot eater does great on these SS flex chimneys.