Know Anything About Sweeping A Chimney?

UnderPressure

I did put this on the DIY forum but it was suggested that you nice people here may know more, below is a copy of the original thread:



Now then, what an afternoon I have had, all in the name of saving a few quid!!

Our chimney at home has not been swept for around 4 years, we only ever use the open fire in Winter and then not all the time, when in use we usually burn a mixture of coal and logs. My better half tried to light a fire last week and the whole of the downstairs ended up filled with smoke, I decided the chimney must be in desperate need of sweeping, it is quite hard where I live to get a chimney sweep and the prices tend to be a bit to keen as well so off to Amazon I went and bought a kit containing 30 foot of drain roads and a 400mm nylon brush.

The last time we had it cleaned I made sure to pay attention and to be honest it seemed like money for nothing, not much effort involved no hassle.............how wrong could I have been!

I dust sheeted the fireplace off, made a hole in the middle, connected the brush to the 1st rod and shoved it up the first part of the chimney, so far so good, connected the next 4 drain rods no problem then it would push no further, lots of huffing and puffing it was lodged and would not go any further, so I pulled all the rods from the chimney and tried to put just the rods up with no brush, these went straight to the top and out of the top of the chimney no issue (chimney not capped) so I decided as all it needed was some brute force............I was wrong I tried everything and could not get past that point with the brush attached, got loads and loads of soot and at least a hundred twigs out of the bottom half of the chimney so decided it definitely needed to have the top half clean, I will give it up as a bad job and see if I can research it or get a chimney sweep in.

Started pulling the rods back down undid, the first one, started pulling the next one down and bam, completely stuck, gets to a point where there is 4 rods and brush up there and it just will not come down past this point, I am a big lad and even with all my weight on it (which would turn most things blue ) it will not budge not an inch!

So no I have the brush and 4 rods stuck up the chimney, I can push it up a little and rotate it nut it will not for love nor money come back down! I did on previous attempts cut the brush down, firs to about 12 inches and now it is down to about 8 inches in diameter, it should come easy it did on all the other attempts but now it is down to the 8 inch size it is stuck solid!

Any ideas anyone? I would still love to finish this job myself I hate paying for stuff like this when really I should be able to do it but I am completely flummoxed and feeling very very stressed out

Thanks in advance kind fellow MSE'rs



I have now ordered one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Microscope-Endoscope-Recording-Inspection/dp/B009GBTJC4/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1386877943&sr=8-13&keywords=snake+camera

It is being delivered tomorrow so at least I will be able to see inside the chimney, still need some ideas though as to what could be causing the issue.

Thanks :beer:

spacey2012

I think.. the kind of screw the brush, even with the rods bending it rotates.

Greenfires

Sounds like you've gone through, or part way through a load of nest material. Quite easy to get a brush jammed above it - the twigs will just lock it in there and you won't be able to snap all of them. A sweep would have probably tried a small diameter brush first, established that there was a nest and then used a nest hook before he got stuck.

Dare I mention that this is one more good reason for getting a proper sweep in?! And will cost less than the window cleaner over the course of a year! You mentioned it being hard to get a sweep - whereabouts are you? Wrong time of year of course - I'm still getting loads of "any chance before Christmas" calls, and even an "any chance before Saturday" one today - the answer in both cases is "no - there's no chance at all" The answer is very likely to be the same with any decent sweep. We've been booked up until Christmas for a while and it's the same every year.

Let us know what the camera shows up.

Greenfires

Also worth noting that many sweeps will charge extra for sorting this kind of job out!

A._Badger

This really should be made a sticky - as a warning to others!

A good sweep is worth his weight in gold (or soot, if you prefer).

We have a problem in this country with a generation (maybe two) who have no experience of living with open fires and the basic, simple things which people of my generation used to absorb by osmosis: how to light and look after a fire, simple safety procedures, different types of coal and other fuels and above all the importance of regular chimney sweeping by an expert!

I hope the OP gets his problems sorted out soon.

Swipe

Just buy a hook for the remaining rods and try to remove the nest little by little. And be careful with any stoves over the next 2 days with the fireman strike. They will only be responding to life or death situations, not chimney fires

Dieselman

We are assuming it's a nest.

Now you say the brush wouldn't go up but the pole stuck out the chimney pot so i wonder if your mid feathers may have collapsed.

Bricks may have fallen and got trapped and the brush won't get passed but the pole does..

Hope it's a nest and a cheap fix.:D

Greenfires

Well it could be both of course! The bottom end of any nest blockage may well be looser than the main body - so that's what the OP may have got out already. If the mid feathers have fallen in on top of the nest then it's going to be a long day - and an expensive one too!

UnderPressure

Morning all

Thanks for all your replies I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out

Greenfires you are so right, this kind of thing should and in future will be left to the professionals, I really should have known better than trying to save a few quid with this kind of job, I live in North Pembrokeshire it is a nightmare to get a sweep here unless a pay a "premium" for travelling from South Pembrokeshire where there are loads of them, fair enough though I know myself fuel costs an arm and a leg at the moment.

I do, if possible want to try and at least get the rods and brush out before calling in a pro though, camera is being delivered between 14:30 and 15:30 this afternoon, I am hoping once I can see, to be able to somehow maneuver it around whatever it is holding it in place, I can push it back up and then rotate the rods and brush no problem so it does seem something may have fallen, I was not exactly being gentle in the end trying to get it to go up the chimney so I suppose it is entirely possible I have loosened something that has now fallen and lodged in place.

If I can get it out it is 100% going to need some professional attention, I got a black bag full to the brim of soot and hundreds of twigs and this was from only the bottom half of the chimney! Time to invest some money in it get it properly cleaned and capped, damn birds! What a horrible place to build a nest!

Luckily this is hardly ever used we have an electric fire that slots into the fireplace that we use most of the time but at this time of year it is nice to have the crackle of the odd log burning away.

Thanks again I will post up some stills or a video later today

Mister_G

And when you do get it sorted - fit a birdguard!

UnderPressure

Mister_G wrote: »

And when you do get it sorted - fit a birdguard!

Yes, absolutely :beer: