# Best chimney brushes for 6" flex liner? Poly, right? heavy duty?



## tickbitty (Jan 13, 2011)

I have a 6" stainless steel flex liner, magnaflex insulflex.
It's about 16' tall.

If I get chimney brushes, I assume I should get 6" poly?  Or should I get it slightly bigger?  Looks like the Poly brushes come in medium duty or heavy duty. Any tips etc on selecting these or is it as straightforward as it seems?


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## firefighterjake (Jan 13, 2011)

I bought a 6 inch poly brush for my 6 inch Class A pipe . . . it does a nice job . . . sometimes you hear of folks who have to trim them down a bit if the fit is too snug.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 13, 2011)

No, don't buy larger. Buy the best though.


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## tickbitty (Jan 13, 2011)

Backwoods Savage said:
			
		

> No, don't buy larger. Buy the best though.


What's the best though?  Looking at Northline (they sent me an ad today) and they have a medium duty and a heavy duty in the poly, they are each around $20, maybe it's best to get both? Or are there better types and brands I should be looking into?

Medium duty poly






Heavy duty poly


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## firefighterjake (Jan 13, 2011)

Well if you're asking us guys of course we're going to say go with the heavy duty model if they're the same price since guys always figure bigger is better and heavy duty is always better than light duty . . . as my wife says . . . guys almost always think if a little of something is good, a lot more of something must be better . . . of course this isn't always true . . . discovered this fact when I put in a lot of garlic powder into the spaghetti sauce . . . on the flip side we now have no vampire infestations in Unity, Maine.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 13, 2011)

Not sure on the various brands but definitely get the heavy duty. It won't hurt a thing. We bought our first poly brush when we put up a new chimney in 2007 and have used it only once. I'm not really happy with it but it was one of those things I could not return so we are stuck with it. However, we have not needed more of a brush so it is a non-issue. But if we were back in our old situation with the older stove, I would have to purchase a better brush for sure. Then we used the steel wire brush which worked great. Some folks still use the older steel wire brushes and they say all is fine but I talked with someone who installs chimneys and stoves and what he told me made me buy the poly. He just stated that if they used a steel brush the chimneys usually needed replacing within 20 years whereas the people who used the poly on the SS chimneys did not have to replace. So $20 is cheap in that situation. 

But if you don't have a SS chimney, then don't get poly. Get steel.


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## Stump_Branch (Jan 13, 2011)

yep, poly for SS.

a carbon steel brush will leave deposits for corrosion to take hold. the poly is there to eliminate that contamination. Wish someone made a SS brush....


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## ddddddden (Jan 13, 2011)

I got the impression from your cap thread that y'all aren't too eager to climb up on the roof. The Gardus Sooteater reportedly works very well from the bottom and costs about the same as brush + rods (comes with 18' of rods.)             p.s. I didn't mean to ignore your location query in another thread. . .just seemed odd to bump the thread with that info after a few days, and no PM function from my phone. Doh!  Anyhow, I'm just west of Richmond.


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## tickbitty (Jan 13, 2011)

Den said:
			
		

> I got the impression from your cap thread that y'all aren't too eager to climb up on the roof. The Gardus Sooteater reportedly works very well from the bottom and costs about the same as brush + rods (comes with 18' of rods.)             p.s. I didn't mean to ignore your location query in another thread. . .just seemed odd to bump the thread with that info after a few days, and no PM function from my phone. Doh!  Anyhow, I'm just west of Richmond.



We just didn't want to go on the roof when there was a foot of snow on it, which was the case the week that it was clogged... it's only one story.  I do want to get an adjustable aluminum ladder though to aid with reaching everything once up there.  Will check into the sooteater too though.  Thanks!


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## atvdave (Jan 14, 2011)

+2 on the Gardus Sooteater


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## midwestcoast (Jan 14, 2011)

I got a 6" round heavy duty Poly brush from Menards (I think) and it seems to work fine. Bristles are very stiff & I've had to trim it a bit to get through my ovalized liner.


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## gpcollen1 (Jan 14, 2011)

I don't see any need to get a poly brush over metal.


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## tickbitty (Jan 14, 2011)

Thanks, All!

To those who recommend the soot eater gadget, can that be done from inside the stove up?  I don't have a cleanout, and my stove is an insert.  So I suppose if I tried that I would just open the bypass damper and go on up, but not sure.  Think we might want traditional brushes since the issue with us (needing it cleaned) was primarily because the screened cap clogged up first.  We cleaned it off and noticed that we needed it swept too, so we had a professional sweeping done, but $219 seemed kinda steep for a one story totally lined chimney.


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## joefrompa (Jan 14, 2011)

Tick - Good timing. I'm wondering the same thing - I'm guessing I just sweep from the top down towards the insert with the bypass damper open to let the soot/sote fall down into the stove (with the door shut!).

Can anyone else advise how you access a chimney in my situation? I have an external chimney off one side of my house where the masonry extends from the roof peak about 4-5' and then the cap extends another foot on top of that. Roughly. So I need to "raise" myself up t to the level of the cap.

Further, the other side of the chimney is a flat driveway, so not ideal surface for a ladder.


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## btuser (Jan 15, 2011)

CTwoodburner said:
			
		

> I don't see any need to get a poly brush over metal.



The poly brush won't scratch the heck out of a SS liner.  The steel brushes will scratch a stainless liner, and that increase in surface area will cause the liner to corrode much faster.  The little grooves/etches are a breeding ground for condensation and creasote.  At least that's what I've read when it comes to liners for corn/oil/nat gas.


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## Hogwildz (Jan 15, 2011)

Poly or Steel, both work fine.
I have used both, and found for my liner, the steel does a much better and easier job of cleaning.
Don't let the Poly pushers tell you the steel will damage or cause your liner to corrode. They are full of crap, and most never even used a steel brush.
They base their opinions on that, and no fact.
Pure BS!


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## tickbitty (Jan 15, 2011)

Joe, I was thinking to get one of those multi position ladders, they are pretty lightweight and can change position.  But I have not tried this yet!
http://www.lowes.com/pd_251378-287-...tURL;=/pl__0__s?Ntt=werner+telescoping+ladder


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## MrLouie (Jan 15, 2011)

I have the 22' version of that ladder and while it's very nice for most things, the last thing I'd call it is lightweight. It's pretty cumbersome putting into the extension ladder mode from the step ladder mode by yourself. I do like the ladder a lot though other than those 2 issues.


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## btuser (Jan 15, 2011)

I had one of those ladders but for the cost/functionality of them I'd suggest just buying a step and small extension/straight ladder.  Mine was fiberglass however and it was very heavy.  If you only have room for one ladder (small service van) I can see it making sense.  I never trusted it as staging. 


I started with a steel brush but felt it was too rough on the liner.  If you have rigid pipe or a smooth-walled flex liner then it may not be so bad, but the poly brush is much gentler and I still get down to bare metal.   They're also pretty cheap @ about $10 delivered.  

When I re-lined the flue for my oil boiler I made sure I picked up a 5" poly brush, because the exaust is very corrosive.  If you use corn or fossil fuels rscratches DO make a big difference.


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