Chimney sweeping

[metalspinner]

Never done it.  Should I buy a brush or get out the Yellow Pages.  We have lived here three years and burned each winter.  I don't know if the previous owner cleaned it out or not.  So I guess it needs to be cleaned. :-\  Any tips for a DIY'er??

[pineywoods]

I just did mine from the top down.  Popped the top off the stovepipe. Big wire brush on the end of a long pole. Then took the shop vac to the stove.

[Warbird]

Buy the brush.  It's easy to do, just takes some time.  If you have catalytic type stove, the creosote will not drop down into the stove, so I recommend you disconnect the pipe at the ceiling (where it is usually supported) and disconnect it at the stove top.  Take that small portion outside and sweep it out there.  Tape a heavy duty garbage bag around the pipe at the ceiling.  Get up on the roof and sweep the pipe. 

Go back inside, carefully remove the bag and discard of it outside.  Vacuum up any mess, reattach the pipe, clean out the wood stove, light up a fire and enjoy. 

[Dan_Shade]

I did mine today.  get a brush and some fiberglass rods.  you can also use a rope from the top and bottom to pull the brush through.

Actually, it's quite easy, a mirror up on top will allow you to reflect sunlight down the chimney to see how good it is. 

I have a zero clearance fireplace insert.  I have to pull out the firebrick at the top of the firebox and the brush will go all the way into the firebox.

[sawdust]

I use a rope weights and a plasitic brush. I have stainless chimney and was told not want to scratch it inside. Using weights I can do it all from the top. Dodge the dust, chimney sweeps in Europe often died of testicular cancer.

sawdust

[metalspinner]

Allright! So I'm off to find a brush.  Need to measure the pipe going up first, I suppose.  The weight on the brush sounds interesting.  Probably 2-3 lbs should do it?

Thanks for the tips, everyone.  Any thing to watch out for as far as damage?  This is just a regular fireplace.  Not sure of any other type of specs on it. :-\   Once I open the flew, the stuff should just fall out into the fireplace, right?  Maybe I should seal off the fierplace opening into the room.

[beenthere]

If fireplace, there may be a smoke shelf and damper in there...at least is in mine. Debris falls onto the smoke shelf, and behind the damper. Have to get the shop vac hose up and over the damper to suck up the debris. With damper closed, nothing falls into the opening of the fireplace. 

With some inserts, the damper may have been removed.

I use the brush with fiberglass rods to connect together. I don't think 2-3 pounds will do it, but it may. 

[metalspinner]

I just did a quick Google search and found the brush I will need.  I have a 12" masonry pipe.  The brush looks pretty stiff, so I think I will go with the poles.  The top of the chimney is covered with a 1/4" steel mesh only.  No rain cap.  I should probably make up a little cover for that. ???

[thecfarm]

Probaly a cover would be a good idea.I live in ME and have never had trouble with birds,weather or anything,yet.I have never cleaned my fireplace flue.It is still is nice and clean.The stove is another thing.When I had my wood furnace in my other house,I would clean it the beggining of every month.Would do my parents too the same time.Was just easy to keep up on it.Would be real easy to do.Wait for 2 months and it was alot harder to do.

[Warbird]

You might want to wear a dust mask, too.  That fine creosote dust can really aggravate your lungs.

[rebocardo]

> This is just a regular fireplace

After you brush it, check carefully for missing tiles or cement. Especially on the sides that connect to the house.

[Weekend_Sawyer]

I clean mine every September. That's just how I remember to do it.
I have clay flue pipe, I tie a brick to the bottom and use a rope to lower down the brush and scrub up and down. There is just enough weight to drag the brush down.

I had to put a cap on the woodstove flue pipe, woodpeckers and squirrels kept winding up in my woodstove! Not when it was lit tho. Then they couldn't get back up the pipe so I would open the outside cleanout and eventually they would find their way out. The woodpeckers would take off in a cloud of black soot :D

Jon

[SwampDonkey]

I clean my main flu, pipes and furnace at the beginning of the season and clean my pipes every month. I have wire brushes. The flu brush has a long flexible steel handle and the stove pipe brush is on a fibre glass rod. My pipes have hardly anything in them for soot build up each month since I use seasoned wood. The top of my flu is 40 feet up and on a steep four way sloped roof, so I ain't climbing up there. She'd be a 3 story drop to the ground.  :

[cantcutter]

Three years without cleaning? Sweeping is easy but you probably need to have it done and inspected by a pro this time. If the liner is cracked you can burn a house down in a hurry. My in-laws just had theirs rebuilt after a chimney fire this past winter; they have been living in an old FEMA trailer all summer while the work was being done. They saved the shell which was good because that house was built in 1817 and has been in the family since.

[Handy Andy]

  Cantcutter, I was concerned about the flue tiles cracking when I built my house, so I filled between the liners and the outside with sand.  Clear to the top, then it was easy to pour the cap. 

[cantcutter]

Sounds like a good idea in theory, but the point of that airspace is to give the tiles room to expand. If you fill it with sand there may be enough give for the expansion, but once you capped it where will the sand expand too? I don't think you will have to worry about the sand turning to glass anyway..you have bigger problems if the chimney gets that hot ;D
Worse case you can always have a ss liner put in.