Need Some Advice on Cleaning My Chimney Flue's

Hello all,

I have a wood stove in the family room and a wood burning fireplace in a room off of the kitchen and lastly an oil fired forced air furance. This fall I am finally going with a stoker and can't wait to save time, money and be warm.

But I would like to clean all the flue's in the chimneys and am wondering what do you all recommend to clean chimneys. Is the brushes from a hardware store with enough of the extensions to go the full length of the flue all I need? Last year I paid over $350 to get the 3 of them cleaned and I'd really like to start doing it myself and save that money year in and year out. I will only have a wood fire for the decoration part of it. And that's only for my wife because I am tired of all the work with wood.

Thanks in advance.

All I use is the brushes & enough rods to do the whole length. Remember--different size brushes for different size flues--this is the method I've used for 45 yrs of wood burning & 4 of coal.. It's only as complicated as we tend to make it.

Thanks freetown fred. That sounds so do able. The brushs & rods you have came from your local hardware store? And I can clean from the bottom up, right. Instead of climbing up to the top of the chimney. The one chimney is 36 ft tall on the outside of my house.

I think mine came from Tractor Supply. Yes,from bottom up works if you can get at them, those rods bend quite a bit for angles. I do a couple good sweeps. PIA, but way more economical.

Some of those 1/4 inch rods are a little freaky as they do not like to be pushed too hard. 3/8 rod is more of a professional diameter and way more rigid. Just my opinion.

I have a slate roof about 2 maybe 2.5 feet above flue opening, and the whore is fastened to the mounts. So I use a brush with rope instead of the rods. Works good for me. Plus I would need another ladder in the roof to get to the top of the chimney to ram the rod down. Drop rope in first, head the cellar and start pullen :whip:

Good point. Don't think I've ever seen 1/4 inch rods, but yes, they would not work in my situation either.

2001Sierra wrote:Some of those 1/4 inch rods are a little freaky as they do not like to be pushed too hard. 3/8 rod is more of a professional diameter and way more rigid. Just my opinion.

So I should not go the cheap route on these because they will probably break and since I have 3 flues I'll be saving a lot of money doing it myself over the years. Saving about $400 a year is worth getting good professional brushes and rods that will last a long time.

Thanks again everyone.

You can go from the bottom up, but let me tell ya - your gonna get COVERED in *censored*, especially if it's been a while since your last cleaning. I'd have to wear a full suit & respirator to do that. From up top is much less messy. By the time you get all the stuff off the roof & get down the basement, the dust will have settled.

Thanks for that tip because that would not be fun.

Put a vacuum hose in the cleanout and seal around it with an old shirt or something...you won't make a mess of the basement that way.

I find a toilet paper roll plugs a nice 6inch liner just right....

I came across this product (Anti-Creo-Soot Creosote Remover) that works great. Our chimney was neglected from previous owner and was almost completely blocked by creosote. Harden and glazed over that made brushing useless. Followed directions on product and chimney was clean with ease, I collected (5) five gallons of creosote out of the chimney. This winter will be our first year burning coal.

That Keystoker will go to work on the remaining creosote...don't be surprised if you get another pail of dry creosote in the bottom of the chimney after a few months of burning coal.