Chimney cleaning

Anyone clean his or her own chimney? I clean my parent’s chimneys every year and need to clean mine. The difference is I can’t clean mine from the top and need to clean from inside the fireplace. I have seen them professionally cleaned from inside with flexible rods and brushes that can get past the damper. I don’t think I can use the same brushes and rods on mine as I do my folks as the rods and brushes are stiff steel. My chimney is dual wall stainless steel. Anyone have suggestions or experience? Where is a good place to get rods and brushes inexpensively? Has anyone used a creosote-sweeping log with success? Are the creosote-sweeping logs a waste of money? What about the spark arrestor screen/ cap on top of my chimney?

I clean my own chimney, on my wood stove. The screen cap thing comes off real easy. Just pull that off and work from the top down. I take a small phillips screwdriver or an ice pick and bust loose all the creosote on the screen when it is off. Why can't you clean it from the top? If you have to clean it from the bottom, I'd try a fish tape or plumber's snake. That creosote busts loose real easy. You don't really need a brush, just something to touch it and it will flake off. I just use whatever I have laying around that's long enough, like a piece of 3/4" 304 round 16ga or whatever's handy. Just rattle it around inside and all the stuff falls down. I got tired of paying someone else to do a half assed job of it.

I tried one of those creosote sweeping logs, following the destructions exactly. I was not impressed. I would not waste my money on another.

Flexible drill bit (super long one like electricians use to run wires) + ball hone + electric drill?

Leave it to GRMers to try a power tool for something that has been done successfully for centuries by hand.

Why can't you clean from the top? That's generally the easiest place to work from.

I clean mine from the top, woodstove chimney. Stove is in the basement so I have a ways to go. I have a square flue so I got a square flue brush, put eye bolts at each end and 75 ft. of rope at each end. I drop a rope from the top of the chimney to the bottom and push the brush into the top of the chimney. I go to the basement retrieve the rope with a chip hook and start pulling. I pull the brush all the way down to the clean out.

I used to go back on top and pull the brush back up, but balancing on a ladder yawing a piece of rope out of a hole scared the heck outta me, so I made an angle iron frame with a boat trailer winch on it. I crank the winch handle and pull the brush up. I might have the wrong size brush because there's quite a bit of resistance even when the chimney's clean.

More resistance + cleaner? Dunno, but it's been working for 20 years.

Dan

SVreX wrote: Leave it to GRMers to try a power tool for something that has been done successfully for centuries by hand.

WINS

GhiaMonster wrote:

SVreX wrote: Leave it to GRMers to try a power tool for something that has been done successfully for centuries by hand.

WINS

And if a Power tool works... MORE Power has to work... more better!

shotgun

SVRex wrote: Leave it to GRMers to try a power tool for something that has been done successfully for centuries by hand.

Yeah? And?

alex wrote: Flexible drill bit (super long one like electricians use to run wires) + ball hone + electric drill?

I neglected to add to my equation: "+ dust mask" I can't imagine the kind of mess that would make. And after demo-ing a plaster/lathe apartment, I know from dusty messes.