Chimney Cleaning

[Henz]

I have a SS metal chimney that goes up the outside of my house. IT does have a cleanout on the very bottom where I can unscrew and look straight up the pipe..What should I get to clean this pipe? Also, for the inside pipe above the stove, do most of you disconnect the sections and wire brush them out and then reconect? Anything else?

 

[senorFrog]

I think your supposed to use a poly brush on stainless chimney pipe and stove pipe. The wire brush can cause rusting.

I'd put a bucket or something under the cleanout and use the poly brush with flexible rods to clean from the top down.

Re the stove pipe, I'd unscrew the top and bottom and bring the entire piece outside, then clean using the same poly brush with a section of rod into a bucket.

 

[Corie]

You need to run a brush up and down the chimney. You can use a steel brush or a poly brush; usually people with corrugated stainless steel liners are told to use poly only, but it won't (or shouldn't) affect your chimney. If you have room from the bottom, simply insert the bursh and continue screwing sections of the pipe onto the brush until it reaches the top. Rinse, lather and repeat. Then get up on the roof and clean the cap.


If you can't get the brush and rods up from the bottom (I can't), you'll have to go to the roof and use ropes to pull the brush up and down the chimney (That's what I do).

Hope that helps!

 

[Henz]

oh man..wouldnt have thought about cleaning the cap..Thats high!

 

[jtp10181]

Caps are also known as the creosote catcher. If not cleaned, it could plug up. Then you have the joyous task of climbing up there in the winter.

 

[Todd]

I have found that the top 1/3 of my chimney including the cap has the worse build up of creosote or flaky black stuff, the lower chimney only has some brown powdered stuff or nothing at all. Usually my stove pipe is pretty clean but I like to take it apart and inspect anyway for piece of mind. I clean it mid way through the burning season and once at the end of the season. Also have heard that wire brushes can scratch and induce rusting in stainless chimneys. Don't know if that is true but I use a poly brush and it works fine.

 

[Corie]

As a reference for the that statement Todd and I am by no means at all saying that you aren't right, BUT!



My grandfather swept his chimney once a month for 25 years with a steel brush and it never had a noticeable impact on the performance of the chimney. Of course that doesn't mean it won't ever cause a problem, but I'm just saying I've seen long term a situation where it has no effect at all.


That's all

 

[stoveguy2esw]

I have found that the top 1/3 of my chimney including the cap has the worse build up of creosote or flaky black stuff, the lower chimney only has some brown powdered stuff or nothing at all. Usually my stove pipe is pretty clean but I like to take it apart and inspect anyway for piece of mind. I clean it mid way through the burning season and once at the end of the season. Also have heard that wire brushes can scratch and induce rusting in stainless chimneys. Don't know if that is true but I use a poly brush and it works fine.

as your flue gasses cool rising in the chimney the residue becomes darker and flakier and more easily adheres to the flue pipe, as long as the temps stay above 240F all the way to the cap you should be ok,(assuming that regular cleaning is performed) but if they do not creosote formations become wet creo, thats the really bad stuff.

 

[Gooserider]

I just had a thread (I think it's in the Gear section) on cleaning my setup which is a much nastier sounding deal than yours... Inside w/ a very tight bend to get into the liner, 25' chimney, can't be reached from the top, etc.

I ended up, thanks to much helpful advice from the folks here, with a 6" poly brush (Ace Hardware), three 10' sections of 1/2" plastic electrical conduit, a couple plumbing fittings to adapt the brush onto the conduit, and a couple of bolts to fasten the conduit sections together. I also tied a rope to the brush as "insurance" to make sure I could get it out if anything broke...

Worked great and cost me less for the entire rod setup than ONE 4' length of "official chimney cleaning rod"

Gooserider