I used a plastic bristle brush for like 3 years on clay liners. Thought it was fine. Then last week I grabbed a poly brush from a guy I was helping on a job out in Arlington. Night and day difference. The poly got through a layer of crusty creosote in half the passes. Plastic just kinda slid over it. The poly actually dug in. Now I gotta buy one. Anyone else made the switch and felt dumb for waiting?
Been fighting this one curved flue in a 1920s house for like 6 months. Regular brushes just wouldnt grab the soot on the bend. Tried everything from whipping chains to wire brushes. Then my uncle who retired from sweeping 10 years ago told me to shove a plastic grocery bag over my brush head before going up. Sounds crazy right? The static actually pulls the soot off the walls way better on those tight curves. Took me one pass and the flue was clean. Anyone else got weird old timer tricks that actually work?
I was halfway through a cleanout on a row house in Baltimore last week and a hunk of creosote fell into the basement, lighting up a pile of old newspapers, and the homeowner just stood there yelling while I grabbed the extinguisher - has anyone else had a close call like that during a routine sweep?
Called me lazy for dragging my HEPA vac up 3 flights of stairs, so I tried his way on a job last Tuesday - ended up with soot all over the customer's white sofa and had to pay $200 for cleaning. Has anyone else gotten burned by that old-school "just brush it down" advice?
I was cleaning out a rental property on Oak Street and just started tallying the soot clumps that came out of the flue. Hit 47 before I lost count, and I've never seen that many in a single house before. Any of you guys keep track of how much you pull out per job?
I couldn't even get my rod through the first foot of the stack, had to spend an extra hour scraping out all that debris, has anyone else dealt with a flu that bad on an old house?
I was on a job at a pizza place in Austin last Tuesday and an older sweep stopped by to chat. He said I was burning through my poly brushes too fast because I was skipping the first pass with a wire brush on heavy creosote. He showed me his logbook and he gets triple the life out of his brushes doing it that way. Has anyone else changed up their order of tools and seen a big difference in brush wear?
I used to think blasting out a chimney with a leaf blower was the fastest way to clear soot. Did it for years, even bragged about it to my buddy Dave. But last Tuesday on a job over on Maple Street, I aimed my new 200 mph air wand into a flue and forgot to close the cleanout door first. Whoosh. Covered the homeowner's entire living room in a fine black dust cloud, including their white couch and their breakfast toast. Now I vacuum from the top down with a filtered shop vac, slow and steady. Takes twice as long but at least I don't have to apologize for redecorating their home. Anyone else ever get humbled by a simple door you left open?
I was working a chimney in Bakersfield when my trusty fiberglass rod snapped in half after just three years of use. Cheap plastic ferrule gave out, and I spent an hour fishing the brush out of the flue with a shop vac and a bendy wire. Anybody else stopped trusting those budget rod kits from the hardware store?
Last month I was cleaning a double-wall chimney that had a real thick layer of glazed creosote. My old wire brushes were just sliding over it, not cutting through at all. I was getting frustrated and about to call it a day. Then I remembered a guy at the supply house in Denver told me about those silicone bristle brushes for tough buildup. I paid $40 for a set online, and honestly I figured they would be a gimmick. But they chewed through that glazed creosote in about half the time my regular brushes took. No sparks, no scratches on the liner either. Has anyone else tried these on heavy buildup or do you stick with the steel wires?
I was swapping stories with this older guy at a supply shop in Portland. He said he still uses the same manual brush his dad handed down in 92. Told me he watched three shops close in the last 5 years because new guys buy all the fancy gear but skip the basic training. Made me think about how I've been leaning on my rotary kit way too much and forgetting the feel of a good hand rod. He asked me flat out when was the last time I actually looked at the flue before running a tool through it. Stung a bit because I couldn't remember. Any of you old timers still doing it the slow way?
Always figured the old school wire rods were fine until I helped a guy in Nashville clean a massive creosote log jam. He let me try his rotary setup and I got through in 10 minutes what would've taken me an hour. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a big difference on heavy buildup?
I was sweeping a flue for this retired carpenter last fall and he watched me like a hawk the whole time. Halfway through he stops me and says 'you're missing the smoke shelf, son' - and sure enough I had skipped it like I always do. He made me spray a mirror on a stick up there and I saw this thick crust of creosote I'd been ignoring for years. Has anyone else had a customer call them out on something you thought was standard?
I bought this fancy rotary cleaning system from a supply house in Denver last month... thought it'd save me time on heavy creosote jobs. First use on a 8-inch clay liner, the head got stuck and spun sideways, chipped a chunk out of the tile. Cost me $150 extra to have a relining crew fix it. Anyone else have bad luck with rotary tools on old flues?
I saw a guy online talking up how lightweight carbon fiber poles are for reaching tall flues. Figured I'd try it out on a three-story job over in Brighton last month. First time extending it fully, the damn thing splintered near the handle and almost took out a window. Ended up finishing the job with my old steel poles I paid $40 for five years ago. Has anyone else had bad luck with these fancy pole upgrades?
I used to hammer away with those stiff wire brushes on every job, but after a rough day in an old house near Poughkeepsie where the creosote was like cement, I tried a poly brush on a recommendation. It took half the time to scrub the same flue. Now I only use wire on heavy glaze. Has anyone else made the swap and found certain situations the poly just can't handle?
I was doing a cleanout on a rental unit in Denver last Tuesday, figured I could speed things up by only running the brush once since the flue looked clear. Turned out there was a hidden buildup of creosote behind a slight bend I missed the first go. The homeowner called me back two days later saying smoke was backing up real bad. Anyone else ever get burned by trying to save time on a flue that looked clean?
Had a job last Tuesday up in Portland. Regular customer, old house they just bought. They said it was a simple cleaning. Got up there and found wet creosote logs jammed in the flue. Like half a dozen of them. Someone shoved them in there during a rainstorm and they swelled up. Took a pry bar and a shop vac to break it apart piece by piece. Two hours just to clear the blockage. Then another hour to scrape the rest of the liner. Whole job should have been 45 minutes tops. Has anyone else dealt with wet creosote logs blocking things up?
Had a call this morning where a client's flue was completely blocked with this weird drywall dust and mortar mix. Old renovation job they never cleaned up after. My regular vacuum couldn't handle it, kept clogging every 5 minutes. Pulled out the Ridgid I grabbed on sale last month and it sucked up everything in one pass. Anyone else ever get burned by not having the right gear for a weird blockage?
I got a call from a customer in Elgin who said their fireplace was smoking bad. Got up on the roof and everything looked fine, so I ran my rods down and hit a massive clog at the top of the crown. Turns out a bird had wedged a bunch of twigs and a dead squirrel right under the cap. I spent a whole 4 hours trying to fish everything out with a shop vac and a pick tool because my camera was dead and I couldn't see what I was dealing with. Has anyone else found a better way to clear out those tight gaps under a crown cap without needing to pull the whole thing off?
Last month an old lady asked why I was scraping soot back into her clean fireplace and I finally looked at the bristle angle on my cheap brush, has anyone else had a basic tool reveal they've been using it backward for years?
I went with the brush because I figured it'd be gentler on the old liner, but it took me twice as long to get all the soot out. Has anyone had better luck with chains on clay flues?
Used to spend 20 minutes scraping every flue with a wire brush and still miss spots. Tried a poly whip on a job in Oak Park last month and got it done in 8 minutes flat with way less dust. Anyone else made the switch or am I late to the party?
For years I was using just rods and hand scrapers on all my flue jobs. Then I watched a guy in the next crew over at a job in Portland finish a 6 inch liner in like 20 minutes with this rotary brush setup. I bought one off his recommendation and tried it on a real sooty chimney last Tuesday. The before was a solid quarter inch of creosote and the after looked like brand new tile in half the normal time. Has anyone else had better luck with rotary over manual for heavy buildup?
I keep seeing guys on job sites using the same bent up poly rod for months on end, and then they complain their customer's flue still has soot streaks after a cleaning. I snapped one of those cheap rods two weeks ago on a job in Tacoma and had to rig up a temporary fix with a section of steel cable, which made me realize how much easier the whole job is when you just replace them every 60-90 days. Has anyone else noticed how much cleaner a flue looks after swapping to a new rod?