c/chimney-sweeps

Had a chat with an old timer that made me rethink my brush setup

I was sweeping a flue in a 1920s house up in Portland last Tuesday and the homeowner, a retired sweep who did this for 40 years, watched me wrestling with my segmented rods and said 'son, you're fighting the pipe instead of reading it.' He showed me how he uses a stiff poly whip with a slow spin to feel the liner ridges before deciding if he needs a chain knocker, which cut my time on that job from 2 hours to about 80 minutes. Anyone else ever get thrown off by a stranger's old-school trick that goes against what you learned in training?

The $20 brush kit I laughed at saved my back last Tuesday

Tbh I always thought those cheap rotary brush attachments for drills were a gimmick. My buddy in Pittsburgh swore by one for cleaning out flues, but I figured my hand rods were fine. After doing 3 chimney jobs in one day, my shoulder was shot, so I grabbed a kit at the hardware store for 20 bucks. Used it on a heavy creosote buildup on a 1970s house and it cut my time from 45 minutes to 20. Anyone else tried these on masonry flues or is it just me?

Took the old steel brush off the truck for a 1930s stack in Salem

Last Thursday I had a job in Salem on a house with a clay liner that wasn't round, it was oval and knobby. Everyone in my shop swears by the newer poly whips, but that liner had so much crusted creosote the whip just bounced off. I grabbed my grandfather's steel brush from 3 years ago, the one with the worn bristles, and it shredded that buildup in about 20 minutes. The homeowner watched me the whole time and asked if I was sure it wasn't going to scratch the tile, but it left the liner smooth as glass. I know the poly guys say steel is outdated, but for old irregular flues, nothing else grabs like it. Has anyone else kept a beat-up brush around for these weird retrofit jobs, or am I the only one clinging to the past?

Brush type comparison after 60 flues in Pittsburgh

Swapped from wire brushes to poly brushes on my last 60 flues in Pittsburgh, the poly ones grab soot better on the first pass and don't get stuck on the liner ridges. Has anyone else found poly worth the extra cost for heavy creosote jobs?

Homeowners keep using fake logs that leave a greasy glaze

Last week I did a cleaning in Dayton and the flue lining was coated in this slick, shiny film. The homeowner said they only burned those wax-impregnated fake logs for the last two winters. That stuff does not just brush off, I had to scrub with a chemical spray for over an hour to break the glaze down. It is a real fire hazard because the next real fire can ignite that residue and send flames up the chimney. I have seen this at least 12 times this year alone, and every single time the person had no idea those logs were the cause. Has anyone else found a fast way to cut through that waxy buildup without spending forever on it?

Stayed at a bed and breakfast in Vermont, the fireplace had a bird nest two feet up the flue

I went to clear a rental property's chimney near Burlington last Tuesday and found a full robin nest with three eggs sitting on a ledge just above the damper, so I had to wait for hatchlings while the owners panicked, has anyone else dealt with nesting birds mid-season and what did you do about the cleanup fee?

Old lady in Denver called my brush 'too rough', but her flue was packed with soot

I had this 80 year old customer watch me sweep her fireplace and she kept saying I was damaging the brick with my steel brush, even though I showed her the before pics with a 2 inch thick creosote layer. She made me switch to a poly brush halfway through, then complained it didn't get everything. Any other sweeps run into owners who think they know better than the tools you've used for years?

The shop vac + leaf blower trick for clearing a stuck flue

Had a really stubborn creosote blockage about 3 weeks ago in an old house over in Brookline. Rodding it with the standard brush setup just kept packing the stuff tighter, I was losing my mind after like 2 hours. Then I remembered an old timer telling me to reverse the airflow, so I taped the leaf blower to the cleanout door and let it rip while I ran the shop vac on reverse from the top. Within maybe 15 minutes, the whole chimney was clear and I didn't have to climb back up there. Has anyone else tried this trick or do you stick to chemical drops for hard buildups?

Vent: A homeowner's comment about my new brush made me second-guess my whole kit

Last Tuesday in Dayton, I was finishing a job and the owner mentioned my new nylon brush seemed too soft for the soot buildup they had. He said his dad used steel wire for 40 years and never had callbacks. It hit me different because I've been using nylon for 2 seasons now and thought it was the safer choice for liners. Now I'm wondering if I've been babying the flue too much and leaving residue behind. Anyone else switched materials and second-guessed themselves after a client's throwaway remark? What's your go-to brush for heavy creosote?

Shoutout to the old timer who told me to rap the brush handle before every sweep

Remember when we used to hand-tie brush heads in the truck?

Honestly, back in 2004 I'd spend a solid 20 minutes after every job re-threading the poly bristles with wire on the tailgate. Now I just snap in a new head and it costs me like $12, but I swear the old ones lasted three times longer. Anyone else feel like the newer materials just don't hold up on creosote buildup?

Hit 10,000 sweeps last month and it caught me off guard

I was going through my logbook from over in Lancaster County and added up the jobs, 10,000 exactly since I started in 1992. That number just hit different, makes me think about all the roosters and squirrel nests I pulled out over the years. My knees and back sure feel every one of those flue cleanings, but I still get a kick out of the look on a homeowner's face when I show them the soot pile. Anyone else keep track of their lifetime job count or am I just the weird one with a full spreadsheet?

Fought a blocked flue for 6 hours, it was a toy car

Got a call from a lady in Springfield whose fireplace was smoking back into her living room. I ran my rods up and hit a hard block about 8 feet up, so I figured it was a bird nest or creosote chunk. Spent 6 hours trying everything, spinning tips, drop weights, even a camera, and the blockage never budged. Finally pulled the chimney cap off and a toy car had wedged itself sideways in the flue opening. Must have been her kid tossing it off the roof last summer. Anyone else ever find something that dumb blocking a flue, or am I just lucky?

A customer told me chimney cameras were a gimmick, so I showed him the proof

Honestly, this guy in Columbus had a 40 year old flue that I swore had a crack near the top. He kept saying I was just trying to upsell him on a $150 camera inspection. Tbh, I pulled out my phone and showed him the live footage from my endoscope, clear as day, where the liner was split about 3 inches. He went quiet for a sec, then booked the full reline on the spot. Ngl, it made me wonder how many of us are still working blind just to avoid the argument. Anyone else carry a camera on every job now, or is it just me?

Rant: hand sweeping versus the new rotary brush kits

Back in 2009 when I first started in Philly, I carried a stiff wire brush and a drop cloth everywhere, took me 45 minutes on a basic flue. Now I use a rotary kit off my drill and finish the same job in 15, but I still keep the hand brush for the offset bends. The rotary misses the corners where creosote loves to hide, especially on older clay liners. I made the switch full time around 2015 after doing a double sweep in Ardmore that left a thick ridge behind. Anyone else find themselves going back to the hand brush on certain houses?

The rental house with 14 years of creosote buildup I had to chip out by hand

Pulled a job last week on a rental in Austin where the tenants said the fireplace smoked every time they used it. Owner hadn't swept it since 2011, and I pulled out a solid 3 inch layer of glazed creosote that was baked on like concrete. Took me 6 hours with a rotary loop and then a scraper for the last section near the damper. The difference in the draft was night and day, and the smoke test went from a mess to a clean line. Has anyone else dealt with landlords who ignore maintenance until the chimney is basically a fire hazard waiting to happen?

The 1912 chimney sweep photo that changed how I read old manuals

I was flipping through a 1912 trade journal scan from the Library of Congress archive and noticed the sweep in the photo was using a brush with iron bristles, not the wire ones we assume are modern. Turns out, old catalogs from that era list both, but the iron ones were cheaper and caused more flue scoring, which explains all those cracked terracotta liners in pre-war houses. Has anyone else found a vintage source that contradicts what we were taught in cert class?

Old brush heads from the 80s are way better than what I use now

Was cleaning out my dad's garage last week and found his old chimney brush from back when he ran his own sweep business in the 80s. I compared it to my current one and the wire bristles are way stiffer, hold their shape better, everything. Did some digging online and found out older brushes used a thicker gauge wire that just isn't made anymore. My dad said his brush lasted 12 years before he retired it. I've been through 3 in the last 4 years. Anyone else notice newer gear just doesn't hold up the same? What old tools are you still using?

That magnetic sweep brush scratched a flue liner in Dayton

Customer called me out last month for a second opinion after another sweep used a magnetic sweep brush on a clay flue liner. That brush picked up a roofing nail and dragged it the whole way down, left deep gouges all over the liner. I pulled the camera in and showed the homeowner, who just stared at the footage. I get that magnetic brushes are faster for steel liners, but on clay, they turn into a nail scraper. Has anyone else seen damage from those or am I the only one who's had to explain that repair quote?

That $140 rotary brush attachment finally paid for itself on a 3 story rental

I mean, I was skeptical since my old rods and manual scraping took forever, but this thing chewed through a season's worth of creosote in an afternoon, and honestly it beat my back up so bad I'm wondering if anyone else has made the switch or if I just got lucky with my flue setup.

Talked to a boiler tech in Pittsburgh, now I look at soot differently

I was swapping a liner for a guy who does commercial boilers on the side, and he said the color of the soot tells you more about the draft than any gauge you'll carry... he pointed at the crusty flakes in the firebox and said that gray stuff means your draw is lazy. I've been checking flue deposits before I even light a test fire now, it's wild how much it changes my prep routine. Anyone else get thrown off by a simple visual check beating their fancy tools?

Can we talk about hand tools versus power tools for cleaning?

I've been sweeping chimneys for about 8 years now and I keep going back and forth between using my hand brushes versus my power cleaning kit. Hand brushes give me way more control on tight bends and I can feel exactly what's happening in the flue. But last month I had a job in an old house where the buildup was really thick, like almost 2 inches of creosote in spots. My power kit with the rotary attachment cut through that in about 20 minutes less than hand work would have taken. The downside is the power kit left more dust floating around even with my vac hooked up, and I had to spend extra time at the end cleaning up. What do you guys reach for first when you walk onto a job?

An old timer at the supply house told me I wasn't pulling enough brush on the downstroke and now I get half the dust I used to

He watched me three times on a job over on Maple Street last Tuesday and said I was rushing the return, so I slowed down and started overlapping my passes by about 6 inches each time, and the difference in how clean the flue is now just from that one change has been night and day, has anyone else had a simple tweak like that totally change their results?

PSA: A homeowner told me my sweep marks were too faint and I was doing it wrong

Ngl, I got chewed out last week by a guy who'd been using my service for years. He pulled up a photo from 2021 showing thick black stripes on his flue tile, then pointed to my recent work where the marks were barely there. Said it looked like I was just brushing the surface. Turns out I'd been rushing my final passes with a poly brush, not letting the bristles dig in. Now I do three slow, hard passes on each section and I can actually feel the difference. Has anyone else gotten called out like this from a customer who knew their stuff?

Found a trick for creosote logs that actually works

Used one of those anti-creosote logs on a heavy buildup last Tuesday and it flaked off way easier than scrubbing. Has anyone else had luck with those or am I just getting lucky?