Chimney sweep equipment

I know I mentioned in another thread I was looking to get my own chimney sweep equipment, but this needs to be in its own thread to get the best feedback.

I pay about $200-225 each fall for the sweep from my stove shop to come out. He does a bottom up cleaning and takes off and cleans the double wall pipe and also cleans the the upper part of the stove.

For the same money I'd like to invest in a set of tools and do this myself. I could probably get two cleanings in every year if I have my own tools.

So after listening to a few FHC guys with responses and doing some research I have come to this;

The Gardus "sooteater" whip and rotary tool is a great idea and reasonably priced but the website and video says it will not take a 90 deg bend. I have one 90 at the bottom of the run at the cleanout T. Does anyone have experience with the sooteater working with a 90?

The second kit I found is the typical scrub type brush, no rotary action. I'm ok with this as long it won't damage the SS liner. The one I found with good reviews was A kit from Chimney Direct. It has Master Flex rods and a nylon super flex brush. It was a little bit more money but it will handle the 1-90 deg that I have.

Any suggestions are welcome, thanks in advance

 

My stove has the double wall pipe straight off the top into a 90 degree going into the class A so I take off the double wall and fluff out anything in the pipe then the class A I fluff out to the T and then go outside withthe T cap off I clean up to the top cap so no real need to run your rods through a 90....It sounds like a pain but it's not really that bad...Hope this helps...

 

Thanks for the reply milleo , appreciate the interest.

My T is inside the chimney which is about 10' up from the basement. The stove is located on the first floor and the double wall connects approx. 6 ft off the floor through a thimble in the chimney. A few inches inside the chimney is where the T is located, which transitions up, that is my 90. Unless I cleaned from the top down I have to go through the 90 to clean.

I was hoping the soot eater would handle the one bend but the website says it won't. I could go with a traditional scrub type system but I am leaning towards the soot eater for the coast and ease. I order the sooteater today on Amazon and my thoughts are to try and protect the rods at the 90 deg bend when I give this a try. Maybe a sleeve of some sort to keep the fiberglass away from the metal corner.

 

I have actually put mine through the 90 and got away with it but don't know how long it would last, good luck with yours....

 

If you take it slow it might work. These rods are made out of a flexible soft plastic. They are thick and look beefy, but they are not that good. Fast rotation melted two of my rods when I went from the firebox up through the bypass in the top of the stove. It's a 90° bend in from the stove's door and up the bypass and the rod was hitting the metal at the edge of the bypass opening. I had done this before with a cordless drill and the rod survived. That year I used an electric drill and tried high speed cleaning. Well, the rod melted and cut clean in a couple seconds. I tried it with another extension rod and slowed it down, but it happened again. Go slow and feel it out. The Sooteater makes a racket and gets most everything out by brushing and banging around in the pipe. Good luck with it. If it works for you, you will find no other sweeper as quick and efficient.

 

My guy uses this more $$ up front , but if you are paying $200 and want to clean it more often , it will pay for itself after a couple of cleanings .

://www.northlineexpress.com/handy-viper-chimney-cleaning-system-44200-1391.html#yrsc

and no climbing on the roof .

 

Thanks Will

 

Not problem

 

Absolutely correct, Dennis. I've seen all steel brushes being sold for SS flues and not a poly brush in sight in the shop. Steel will rough up SS and I'll bet more creosote will attach itself.

 

Alright, today was the day, and what a perfect day it was...67 deg and low humidity, a clean the flue kind of day.

The sooteater was amazing. I had been worrying about a 90 deg. bend at the "T" and not knowing if the poles would handle
that turn. After hearing a couple fellas having had their poles break from friction and damage from stainless steel edges
I decided to use a towel at the bend on the "T" and removed the sharp edges from the cleaning altogether. It worked great.
I also decided to get all the poles into the flue before cleaning too, that way I could go up and down with each 3' section before
removing it as the brush was coming down.

From setup to cleaning and cleanup I think it took 30 mins. This included cleaning the double wall pipe outdoors too.

For the money it was totally worth it.

 

That's good to hear. Could you take a section of say 2" PVC and heat it into a long sweep as a guide to get through the tee? Maybe flare the ends to let the couplings go through easy.

I'm thinking of doing mine today, getting the baffle back in is no fun. Why not, I'm on it.

 

I thought of a 90 deg pvc sweep t be used as is, but tried the towel method first.

I was going to use the pvc if the towel failed, lucky for me the towel stayed in place and didn't need any
extra attention as the poles worked downwards

 

Glad that Sooteater worked out for ya, IS. I had a feeling you'd get it to work, and like it.

 

mine has out door clean out , push brush down no problem, no rotary but not really needed with your stove and dry wood.. actually stick shop vack flex hose to stove (pull cat first) and done... I have seen pros bust tubes in straight up thru roof hearthstone soapstone!

 

I did mine top down this afternoon with the extension kit. About two cups of light fluffy ash. A few tablespoons of crust at the cap.

 

fishingpol how long since you cleaned

 

Last fall. Under 2 cords here.

 

Dry wood rules...Thanks Dennis...