I was working on this old house on Maple Street last Tuesday, the owner said the flue was fine but I always double check. Got my standard round brush up there like always, but I noticed this weird oily residue on the bricks when I pulled it back down. The homeowner said they'd been burning some kind of treated wood (like old pallets) for weeks. My usual brush just smeared that gunk around and made it worse, a real sticky mess. I had to call my buddy who does commercial work and he told me to switch to a poly brush for that kind of buildup. He said the nylon bristles grab the oily stuff better without just pushing it deeper. Took me three extra hours to fix what I could have done in one with the right tool. Has anyone else run into that weird oily creosote situation and found a brush that actually handles it?
He said I was losing too much suction with those 90-degree bends I keep adding - switched to a single long sweep hose last week and the difference in pickup is crazy. Anyone else get called out on their rig setup and actually saw better results after changing it?
Honestly, I've been using a steel wire brush for years on all my jobs here in Portland. Last month a customer watched me scrub their flue and said 'you're gonna scratch the liner, that brush is way too harsh.' I laughed it off at first, but then I started noticing tiny grooves on some older clay liners I'd worked on. Switched to a poly brush for regular cleanings, and after 6 weeks I can see less dust build and way less scratching when I pull the brush back down. Has anyone else had a homeowner call you out on something that actually turned out to be a solid tip?
I spent three whole years using a rotary brush setup on this old masonry chimney in Cincinnati. Last month I borrowed a buddy's set of hand rods with a poly head and it cleaned way better on the soot buildup. The rotary brush just kept gliding over the crusty stuff while the hand rods really scraped it off. Has anyone else noticed this difference on really old liners?
Been sweeping chimneys for about 5 years now, and last week a homeowner pointed out that my brush was leaving streaks on his flue liner. Turns out I'd been using a 6 inch brush on 8 inch flues this whole time because my old mentor told me to 'go smaller to fit easier.' Switched to the right size and the soot came off way cleaner in one pass. Anyone else get stuck in a bad habit because of bad advice early on?
I've always used fiberglass rods on my jobs because that's what my dad taught me with, but last month I snapped one on a tight 90 degree bend in a 8 inch flue. Picked up a set of wood handled rods from a local supply shop near Portland for about $80 and I'm honestly surprised how much better they grip in my hands when it's damp out. The extra weight took a couple days to get used to but I feel like I have way more control on stubborn creosote. Anyone else made this swap and noticed a difference with heavy buildup?
The HEPA one was so weak on suction I had to run the brush head over the same spot 3 times just to get basic dust. Has anyone else tried those high-end filtration units and felt like you're just pushing air around instead of actually cleaning?
I used to toss one in every spring for maintenance until I pulled my liner out last fall and found this tacky orange film that took twice as long to scrub off as just brushing it manually, so now I only use them on masonry chimneys - anyone else run into this or just me?
I had this one house last month, old farmhouse out near Ellensburg, where the flue was caked with about a quarter inch of Stage 2 creosote. Normally I'd break out the chemical spray or spend an hour with the wire brush attachment grinding away. But I read online somewhere about using dry ice blasting for stubborn buildup. So I grabbed a small chunk of dry ice from the grocery store, tied it in a rag, and ran it up and down the flue on a rope. It worked way better than I thought it would. The cold makes the creosote brittle and it just flakes off. Saved me a good 20 minutes on that job. Has anyone else tried this method or am I just getting lucky with the conditions?
Honestly, I was working on a regular job over in Arlington and thought I had the right size brush. About 4 feet down, it just jammed solid and wouldn't budge up or down. Took me a solid 20 minutes of wiggling and pulling to realize the liner had a crushed spot from an old bird nest block. I ended up having to use a small rotary tool attachment I carry for tight spots to chip away the creosote around it. Finally got it free but scratched up my hands pretty good on the rough metal. Has anyone else run into a crushed liner like that in a newer home?
I was working on a 70-year-old terra cotta flue liner this morning and the soot was really caked on. I usually grab my 8-inch poly brush for most jobs but the guy I was helping swore by his steel wire brush for old buildup. I went with the steel brush on his advice and honestly it worked great for the heavy stuff but I switched to the poly for the final pass to avoid scratching the liner too bad. Does anyone have a go-to brush for old flues like this or do you just play it by ear?
I never bothered with the smoke shelf because I figured the soot falling down was good enough. Then I got a call back where creosote had built up so bad it blocked the flue completely. Anybody else make that mistake early on?
Last October I had a routine cleaning over on Maple Street and pulled the cap off to find a nest jammed so tight it had dammed up all the smoke. The homeowners had been using their fireplace for two weeks with barely any draft and never thought to check. I had to use a shop vac from the top down and it took me three hours to clear it out. Anyone else ever had a nest sneak past a cap screen like that?
My grandpa's buddy Ed swore that leaving a thin layer of soot on the flue walls actually helped seal cracks, so I skipped a full scrape on Mrs. Harrison's chimney last fall. Three months later she called me back with a chimney fire that nearly took out her roof, and I had to eat crow and redo the whole job for free. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from the old guard that cost you?
I was doing a routine sweep at a house in the suburbs last Tuesday and everything seemed normal until I got near the top. My rods felt like they were catching on something but I figured it was just heavy creosote. After I scraped through, I heard the camera fall a little lower than expected. Turns out there was a crack behind all that soot that had been there for who knows how long. Anyone else ever missed damage because of heavy buildup hiding things?
I was going through my old logs Wednesday night and noticed I hit 500 sweeps since I started keeping track back in 2019. Didnt even realize it until I counted up the numbers. That is a lot of creosote and bird nests over the years. Funny part is my 500th was a routine gas insert cleanout, nothing special. Anyone else ever hit a random milestone like this that snuck up on you?
I was at a supply shop in Columbus last spring just grabbing my usual stuff. Old timer behind the counter asked what I was running. Told him. He just looks at me and goes "you know those bristles are too soft for clay flues right?" I been using the same brand poly brush since 2004. Switched to the stiffer mix he recommended and my cleanings went from taking an hour to like 35 minutes. Feels stupid but nobody ever told me. Anyone else find out they been doing some basic thing wrong for way too long?
I used a whip head on this old chimney in Philly last Tuesday and barely made a dent in the hard glaze. Swapped to my rotary brush mid-job and it shredded through that buildup in under 20 minutes. Anyone else seen a big difference between these two brush types on tough jobs?
For the first 4 years sweeping I only used a push broom on everything, even big creosote buildup in stainless liners. I thought it did the job fine until a customer in Denver showed me how much junk his tube brush pulled out after I already swept. Now I keep a 6 inch tube brush for the final pass on every job, especially after heavy wood burning seasons. The difference in how clean the flue feels is night and day, plus my push broom bristles last way longer now. Has anyone else found a simple tool swap that made a big difference in their day?
I was on a job in the Pearl District last Tuesday, cleaning a 3-story Victorian. My brush snapped off the rods and fell all the way to the bottom, and I thought I'd have to pull the whole rig apart. Instead, I fished it out with a magnet on a string that I keep in my truck for exactly this kind of mess. Anyone else keep random tools like that handy for when things go sideways?
Last week I was doing a routine cleaning for a client in Oak Park when my fiberglass rod just gave out on the third section. It snapped clean in half while I was pushing through a tough spot near the damper. I had to drive back to the shop and grab my metal rod to finish the job, which wasted about 45 minutes total. The client was cool about it but I felt pretty stupid standing there with a broken pole in my hands. Anyone else had a rod fail on them like this or do I just need to replace mine more often?
Been fighting that stubborn damper in a 1920s house in Buffalo for three weeks and tried everything from a metal scraper to a shop vac before I just bought this cheap brush at Ace and it slid right through the gunk... anyone else got a tool that surprised them?
Ngl, I was stuck choosing between fiberglass rods for $150 or a polypropylene kit for $200 on this 3-story flue with a 45 degree offset in Detroit. I went with the polypropylene because an old timer told me it bends better in tight spots. Worked like a charm on the second offset, but the first one took me 45 minutes of wrestling. Anyone else run into a flue that made you second guess your rod choice?