Blocked Chimney...need advice

Actually Dave it doesn't suck...the chimneys blocked!!!

 

Ya got me there!

 

Got a fire going yet?

 

What did the chimney sweep say

 

Just reading this. Making any headway?

a drop light down from the roof is how we used to inspect chimneys in the old days. Almost as good as a fancy camera. I suspect you’d see a lot of creosote on top of whatever’s plugging the chimney from the cleaning attempt. Not much help.
As someone suggest a phone taking pics from the thimble up. If it’s a broken flue and not creosote you should see it better from the bottom looking up.

Think heavy but small weight tied to a rope and continually pulled up arms length and dropped. Like pounding an old well before they used drill trucks.
Or some type of auger on a long pole.

 

This blockage must be extreme !

 

No much to report. Sweep didn't show up as promised so I have another one scheduled Monday
Supposed to be in the single digits over the weekend...might get extra motivated and try it again myself

 

I'd go to your local box store (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) and get some 3/8" ID threaded schedule 40 steel pipe, and some 3/8" couplings. The pipe can come in different lengths. I'd use 6'ers. Get enough to do your chimney to the cleanout door. Use the connected pipes to bust through the clog, and after you can connect it to your brush head, and sweep it well. I almost guarantee your chimney sweep only swept part way down, stopping right above the thimble, which is where a lot of creosote can accumulate. Lots of lazy "professionals" out there.

 

Or maybe a creosote encrusted bird nest? Could always put a phone on video then lower it down and then raise it back up and view what you have recorded. Might give you a better idea of your situation. But if you do that you’ll want to use either an old phone you don’t use anymore and rely on or make darn sure you have it secure so that it won’t fall off from whatever instrument you attach it to on your pole/rope or whatever you end up using.

 

What he said.⬆️

 

Reminds me of a story of a guy doing jobs for people. Many many decades ago.

He built chimneys for people. It was a sideline for him but he was very good at it.

As it turned out, people stopped paying him for his work......I mean, what is he going to do-take the chimney out?

He kept taking jobs but learned to protect himself for payment. While building the chimney, somewhere in the process he would install a plate of glass between the blocks or bricks (whatever he was using) so that if you looked into the cleanout and up the chimney, you would have an unobstructed view all the way to the top; but in reality, the chimney would not draft as it was blocked off.

Once he got paid, he would drop a rock down the chimney breaking the glass and in effect creating the ability for the chimney to draft!

 

Work smart!

 

Those stories make their way around the campfire. The stuff of legends, kind of like all the guys who claim they saved themselves by slamming their hammer claw through the roof sheathing as they were sliding off the roof

 

That works great, until the rubber grip slides right off the handle, or the handle pulls from the head!

 

Very sneaky, but very smart

 

Dont laugh as my father actually did that. He insisted on us using a straight claw hammer which I still do to this day.

 

This sounds like a pretty good idea. I'm getting tired of hearing the furnace kick on while waiting for my sweep to get here on Monday

 

You may want to upgrade to 1” pipe. You already have something to clean the chimney. Now you need something heavy and strong enough to smash through whatever is blocking it. 3/8” may not go through a piece of clay tile laying at an angle, if that’s what it is.

 

As a Mason I’ve heard of the plate glass in the chimney story many times. Not sure if anyone really has a story of it being done. Most likely just an urban legend.
Here’s another, I read a story once of a guy who smashed out flues to install metal liners. Got himself a good jam of broken flue inside he couldn’t budge. Decide to shoot up from the bottom with a pistol.
Now in my youth I was crazy enough to entertain such an idea. Not sure I’m any wiser these days but maybe more chicken.
I envision a pile of broken flue being dislodged so fast you can’t get your hand and pistol out of the clean out door fast enough. I’m seeing broken wrist and some ugly lacerations