Thread: Chimney brush advice wanted

Been waiting for a few weeks and yet to hear back from the 3 contractors that I have rung. Chimney needs doing sooner rather than later.

Used to do the chimney myself back at home, easy to get on the roof. Brush set seemed to go missing when selling g this and sorting the estate out.

Chimney here has to be done from the bottom as roof is a serious obstacle hence getting contractor to do it in the past. Got a butterfly dampener on the flue that's going to get in the way a bit. So I'm after advice on brush types, material for the sections of 'pole' diameter of the brush vrs that of the flue....

Brush size depends on flue size. Mine is 150mm stainless. Others are 200mm I think. Places like Bunnings and Mitre ten sell the brushes. You can make a cheaper-than-made-up system by using the orange conduit from one of the above outlets. Also buy the screw-on thread connectors so lengths of conduit can be joined. Obviously get the right terminal end to mate with brush. Words of caution: If pushing UP the flue, watch that you do not push the chimney sections apart as (I think) they fit together from the top down and it's easy to pop them apart. Second, if you have a firebox door open, soot will billow into room. Tape plastic across open door with an 'X' cut in centre and this will stop most soot falling out of firebox.

Be very careful doing it from below as you can pop the cowl off if you go up to far.
Another issue is most of the soot is in the last 1M of flue near the top so very hard to do a good from the bottom.

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Im assuming you got 45Deg roof pitch being where you are ? . Without seeing your chimney and your heating appliance , my advice is to make a roof crawler and clean from above . Remove baffles (the bit on the roof of the inside of the fire box) .Then remove the cowl . I got a commercial brush and rods you can borrow from ChCh if you want (runs on 6 heineken per week negotiable ). Easy as gently push brush down the flue adding extensions as you go . As said above most soot is at top of the flue . You can use a chain ( ball it up aprox size of the flue 150mm . use wire to hold its rough shape . Attach balled chain to a rope and drop and raise , works well enough . Be careful if there are offsets (bends) as brush or chain can get stuck and damage flue or seperate it . Take some photos if you want it may help with advice given .

Baffle is in the flue and can't get it out (think pot belly with dampener above it), can take the top plate out of the firebox easy enough.

Would like to do it from the top but it just isn't feasible, would make a roof crawler as Munsey suggests roof is a 45 pitch but then he top of the chimney sticks up 3m where it pokes through the roof.... Need 4 ladders to do the damn thing.

Heres an idea make sure the fire is cold then catch a whole bunch of sparrows. Remove the baffle or open the damper so you can see light at the top. Put sparrows in the fire and close the door, the fluttering of their little wings as they fly to freedom up the chimney will leave it spotless. Or at least thats the theory.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Heres an idea make sure the fire is cold then catch a whole bunch of sparrows. Remove the baffle or open the damper so you can see light at the top. Put sparrows in the fire and close the door, the fluttering of their little wings as they fly to freedom up the chimney will leave it spotless. Or at least thats the theory.

I think that theory is from the old days of big brick chimmneys?
Sparrows would be doing bloody well to fly virticaly up 6m of 5-6inch flue?

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Heres an idea make sure the fire is cold then catch a whole bunch of sparrows. Remove the baffle or open the damper so you can see light at the top. Put sparrows in the fire and close the door, the fluttering of their little wings as they fly to freedom up the chimney will leave it spotless. Or at least thats the theory.

thats how you turn a sparrow into a blackbird

Originally Posted by berg243

have seen similar to what you describe.the way to do them is remove bottom section if it can be raised out of firebox socket if that is the one with baffle in notch a piece of timber to hold flue up then you will need a large piece of plastic underneath then you can clean it.use rivet holes to screw a screw into the wood prop to keep it secure.

No no Pease don't lift the flue as 1 you break the air tight seal between the fire and flue which creates draw issues. You can also dislodge the cowl off the top of the flue. We used to see this a lot when we were running our woodfire business and can create all sorts of issues.
You really need to get on the roof there is always a way.

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get 2 feet of chain, fold over into quarters, attach to heavy cord long enough to reach the fire from the roof . . . . can you see where this is going

lower chain slowly down the flu using a flicking motion . . . result clean flu . . . old school stuff and no animals were hurt

R

We used to pull a bushy Manuka branch up through our old farm house chimney to clean it.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

I think that theory is from the old days of big brick chimmneys?
Sparrows would be doing bloody well to fly virticaly up 6m of 5-6inch flue?

We had starlings build in the flue in our new place, the odd one would fall down into the fire box,normally theyd be dead but they scared the crap out of cook when she opened the door, two flew out. One made it out the door the other smacked into the window.

We clean our flues from the bottom for the same reason. Standard 150mm brush attached to a length of HDPE water pipe. Bends around into the flue ,works well. Only other option here is a cherry picker but $180 a time.

Hmmm looking like I will have to build a ladder to hang off the ridgeline and do the chain and rope trick.... Will waiter the rain to stop then get onto it

When you do wrap the entire fire in an old sheet or drop cloth as that fine soot hoes everywhere one good thing is potbelly's don't get very dirty as they burn hot.
Also check the flue seam around the rear of the flue as they split quite often.

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You can also get 'Soot Remover'; a chemical with(from memory) a salt base. Na3PO4 springs to mind. Chuck a handful on a fire and it breaks down the creosote buildup. Might work and stop you being medivac'd after a roof fall.