Sweeping my own chimney

grahamc2003

alleycat` wrote: »

So we've established you like to poke your pole into any hole it'll fit in, on, up or down?

I'll get my coat...:whistle:

I'm a little concerned about the length being a little inadequate. It's only 30 feet long, so considering an extension.

The Rod set arrived this afternoon. First poke was a failure. The drainpipe I wanted to unblock (a downward poke, from what I call the exciting yet precarious top of ladder position) failed due to the drainpipe having a couple of too-sharp bends in it. I hope the 1/2lb of caustic soda followed by boiling water I poured down it will clear this hole's blockage.

alleycat`

Sounds like it will bring tears to someones eyes.
I'm sure with a bit more practice you'll get the hang of the length.

This all sounds a bit too "carry on"...

loyalstokie

I have a open fire which we sweep ourselves, so do have some experience of sweeping chimneys and realise that the rods and brush we have is not suitable for a wood burner with a liner.

Does anyone know the difference between a guide wheel and guide ball or if one is better than the other.

Greenfires

A guide ball is just a solid ball on the top end of the brush shank. The guide wheels are okay but obviously the wheel has to be pointing the right way in order to trundle round the bends in the flue - otherwise you're trying to make it skid sideways.

"Normal" 3/4" chimney rods can be used in liners sometimes if they're fairly straight - and in fact the cheap ones are sometimes better than the quality ones like Bailey Blue rods - as they're a bit more flexible. On the downside, the fittings are cheap too - so more likely to come adrift and leave half the rods and the brush stuck up the liner.

The superflex rods are only any good in a pretty clean and straight liner - because they're so flexible, if the brush runs up against any heavy deposits, rather than pushing through, the rods tend to just snake all the way back down to the stove. I hate the things!

I only use the Rodtech gear on liners these days - they're solid nylon rods which are somewhere between superflex and normal rods as far as flexibility goes - but with really good button lock fittings that will spin either way, and a nylon flail head rather than a brush. The flail puts a lot less pressure on the liner than a brush and will power through just about any deposits. Price not for the faint hearted though!