Chimney cleaning

[Jan Pijpelink]

I did a mid season cleaning on January 2.
Kept burning till mid March.
Cleaned again today; both stoves and chimneys.

12 feet Class A chimney: 1 cup of black dust, no flakes.
22 feet liner: 2 cups black dust, no flakes.

I think I did okay.

 

[HisTreeNut]

That is better than ok...that is pretty darn good.
Which reminds me, I have to clean mine yet...probably this weekend.

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Just having dust is good.

 

[beatlefan]

I’m pretty handy, but have never done it myself. My sweep charges $150 and uses a soot eater.

Any advice for a guy that wants to try this for the first time?

 

[barnaclebob]

I’m pretty handy, but have never done it myself. My sweep charges $150 and uses a soot eater.

Any advice for a guy that wants to try this for the first time?

Would you be cleaning bottoms up or tops down? Tops down is pretty easy just don't drop the soot eater into the chimney. Run the thing down the chimney, and scoop or vacuum out the dust from the stove when you are done.

Bottoms up is a little more difficult and messy. You need to figure out a way to capture the soot as it falls. I run my soot eater through a bucket that I tape to the bottom of the chimney. I drilled a hole the diameter of the shaft and then cut slits out from that so the joints can be pushed through. Only a little bit falls out as i feed more sections through. I've seen pictures of people who also hook up a shop vac to the bucket which should really reduce dust spillage. I'm happy with a tarp to capture what escapes.

EDIT: I forgot that many people can do bottoms up though the stove, I cannot and have to remove the stove pipe.

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

I’m pretty handy, but have never done it myself. My sweep charges $150 and uses a soot eater.

Any advice for a guy that wants to try this for the first time?

I use the Soot Eater. Bottom up both chimneys. It is a 15 minutes job per chimney.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I’m pretty handy, but have never done it myself. My sweep charges $150 and uses a soot eater.

Any advice for a guy that wants to try this for the first time?

Do you run a wood stove or open fireplace?

 

[PaulOinMA]

I did bottom up, and it was pretty easy. Longest time was prepping the insert: removing the liner bricks and secondary air tubes.

I taped a piece of clear plastic over the front and bought a fine particulate filter for my Shop-Vac. I had the vacuum hose in the insert to pull negative pressure compared to the room so nothing got past the plastic.

 

[Highbeam]

Bottom up with the sooteater. After you remove any ceiling baffle that might be in the way you just shove the sooteater head right through the loading door and up the flue. Since your chimney should be drafting at least a little, the dust goes right up the stack. I have found no need for a vacuum.

If you have bends in your chimney system then I suppose you need to work around that too.