@Woodsplitter67 and I both clean from the top down, not from the bottom up. I use a brush on fiberglass pole, pretty simple remove the cap and run the brush through the chimney/stove pipe. I made a pan out of aluminum that sits above the cat area so it catches everything.
Flue cleaning. From stove up. Vermont Castings Encore
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Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
So I just cleaned mine today. Bottom up cause I'm not going on my rood. Was pretty easy. A wiser and more experienced person suggested using an aluminum foil tray to catch the creosote under where the cat goes which was a great call. Then I taped a plastic bag over the front of the stove so ash didn't end up all over my living room.
To start I pushed the brush head in the damper housing. And twisted it by hand as I added more rods to get it all the way to the cap. Then I attached the drill and cleaned it moving down one rod at a time. Took me about 45 min total.
To start I pushed the brush head in the damper housing. And twisted it by hand as I added more rods to get it all the way to the cap. Then I attached the drill and cleaned it moving down one rod at a time. Took me about 45 min total.
Then I just put the sooteater through the damper. It's a tight fit, just twist it as you push up and it'll go. Then started adding rods.
![[Hearth.com] Flue cleaning. From stove up. Vermont Castings Encore](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/323/323800-8dd6941db4fe3b972ce985bc96fdf87c.jpg?hash=G54YjB6a2j "[Hearth.com] Flue cleaning. From stove up. Vermont Castings Encore")
Thank you to both of you for your advice. I was just wondering if it was ok to leave stove connected, remove cat, with all the debris coming down and there would be a clear path to remove it all. I will do top down through the damper and find a tray to catch as much as I can. All my previous cleanings where done lifting the pipe and bagging it. This sounds much easier.
Not sure on your stoves but on mine there are chambers on either side alongside of the cat chamber. If you don't block them the soot will fall in there and block flow. You can snake a hose in there and vacum them out. it looks like your cats come out through the stove, mine comes out through the back.
I was able to vacuum this area out with relative ease. The tray I put in caught most of it, got the rest no problem
This is what I use for cleaning metal chimney pipe. A little unorthodox but it works. I use an old pair of jeans, cut one of the legs off and fill it with golf balls. Not quite 6" in diameter. Take off the chimney cap and drop it down and pull it up a few times. Non-abrasive and leaves the inside nice and clean. Knots are tied in the string so I know how much to drop down in the pipe. I also wrap the stove and stove pipe with an old bed sheet to keep the dust down.
![[Hearth.com] Flue cleaning. From stove up. Vermont Castings Encore](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/324/324780-060a48854a9672acf29906a21603a678.jpg?hash=DXONQw0Wi- "[Hearth.com] Flue cleaning. From stove up. Vermont Castings Encore")
I did my first cleaning of my new Encore. I had an old Encore (30 years?) and I cleaned it top down before installing the new stove. The old stove was easy to clean through the open damper from front of stove. I used a regular fireplace shovel to get the loose creosote out that had been cleaned using a chimney sweep brush. HOWEVER! the NEW Encore has a curved damper door and it does not lay flat so that you can scoop out the ashes. They hide behind the curve. I had to scoop out with my hand and could not get what was left under the damper. Anyone else have this issue or have a workaround. I think if I slide in a flat piece of metal or cardboard and let sweepings land on that on top of the opened damper...that should work.
I have an old Encore and I clean top down and it is hard to clean after sweeping if you let the sweepings fall behind the damper and down the side compartments. I made a shield out of light aluminum coil that I can lay in place before sweeping so nothing gets behind the damper or down the side compartments. I also use my shop vac to clean after sweeping and have used a piece of hose on the vac to get down the side compartments alongside the cat, also remove the cat and vacum.
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