c/chimney-sweeps

Went back to the old rotary brush after 15 years, should've done it sooner

My fancy new motorized whip kept jamming on soot clumps last Tuesday, lost a whole afternoon on one flue. I fought with it for an hour, taking it apart twice before I remembered my dad's old rotary head sitting in the garage. Swapped it out and the job went smooth as silk, finished before lunch. Funny how the newer stuff ain't always better, that thing cost me $120 and it's just gathering dust now. Anyone else keep a backup of the old gear around for days when the new kit acts up?

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evan_dixon67•7d ago

Hit 1,000 sweeps and I still skip the top cap check

Everyone I know swears by popping the cap off every single time, but after a thousand jobs in the PNW I only pull it when I see water stains or rust. The extra 15 minutes per call adds up to a full day of lost work a week. Anyone else find that cap check is overkill on newer installs, or am I just asking for a call back?

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mark676•8d ago

Old timer's advice about creosote still bugs me

Last fall in Boise, a retired sweep told me to never trust a wire brush on tar buildup, said I was wasting my time with my current routine. He showed me a crusty liner from a rental where the wire brush just polished it smooth and hid the real problem. Anyone else ran into a job where a brush made things look clean but left a ticking time bomb up there?

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henrygrant•10d ago

Old timer's 12-inch brush vs my new rotary kit, who's right?

Last month I did a rehab job on a 1930s house in Centerville and brought both my old 12-inch steel brush and the new rotary head I got for my drill. The old timer I was helping swore the steel brush gets into every crack better, but my rotary kit cut the job from 4 hours to 90 minutes. He said I was missing baked-on creosote near the flue tiles, so I ran a camera after and sure enough, there were a few spots. Is the speed worth the risk of a second pass, or should I stick to the manual method for heavy builds? Anyone else run into this call on older chimneys?

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margaretw41•10d ago

Bought a creosote log from a gas station in Winnemucca

Stopped for fuel on I-80 last month and grabbed a creosote log off the shelf next to the beef jerky, figured it was worth a shot for a quick clean on the rental property. It did about nothing for the buildup, but the smoke smelled like maple syrup for two days, so at least the neighbors thought I was baking. Anyone else ever grab chimney supplies from a random convenience store and get a surprise like that?

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aaron_ellis42•11d ago

A customer complaint about soot streaks made me swap my brush routine

Had a lady in Columbus call back twice about gray marks left on her brick after I swept her flue last month. She sent a photo and I could see my steel brush was skipping the corners where the liner met the clay. I switched to a poly brush with a smaller head and started doing a second pass from the bottom up on every job. Has anyone else had better luck with a particular brush for tight offset sections?

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evan_dixon67•16d ago

Chimney cap rusted through on a $2,400 job in Detroit

I was finishing a re-line last Tuesday on a three-story row home and the old cap just crumbled in my hands when I went to clean it. Caught it before it fell on the homeowner's car, but I had to drive 40 minutes back to the shop for a replacement, killing my whole afternoon. Anyone else ever deal with caps that look fine from the ground but are basically dust once you touch them?

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cameron684•18d ago

Wasted $220 on a robotic chimney camera that couldn't handle one soot cloud

Bought one of those fancy robotic inspection cameras last month thinking it would save me time on the tight flues. First real job with it, the lens fogged up so bad I couldn't see anything after 10 minutes. Then the motor jammed on some creosote buildup and I had to fish it out with a wire hook. Total waste. My old $40 endoscope with a phone mount does the job better. Anyone else get burned by fancy gear that sounds good in the ad but fails on a normal 8-inch clay liner?

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hannaht29•19d ago

A hidden damper gap cost me three hours last Tuesday

I was doing a routine sweep over on Maple Street when smoke started curling back into the living room. Thought it was a flue blockage, so I ran my rods up twice and still had the issue. Turns out the old damper plate had a quarter inch gap on the hinge side I kept overlooking, and the client's wife spotted it after I'd already pulled everything apart. Has anyone else chased a draft problem that turned out to be a worn damper seat instead of a clog, or am I the only one who burns half a day on that?

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richardknight•20d ago

TIL the hard way: brush direction matters more than pressure

In Baltimore last February, an old sweep named Pete told me I was pressing too hard and going top-down on a heavy creosote build up. I laughed it off, thought he was stuck in the 80s. Three flue fires later on the same commercial job, I finally tried his way, light pressure and bottom-up only. He was right, the flue came out cleaner in one pass and I stopped scraping the liner. Anyone else fight this habit or did you learn it the first time someone showed you?

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cameron684•21d ago

Hit 500 flue liners this week, and the last one scared me straight

I passed the 500 mark on lined flues yesterday, which sounds like a nice round number until you realize it's 500 chances to mess up someone's fireplace. That job in Allentown, the one with the cracked clay tiles, it was number 497 or something, and I almost missed the gap behind the offset. Took me 20 minutes with a mirror to spot it, and I keep thinking about the other 3 I might have blown past back when I was doing 6 jobs a day. The number itself ain't the milestone, it's the reminder that every one of those needs the same slow check, no matter how many you've done. Anyone else got a count they wish they hadn't kept, or do you log every liner too?

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clark.lily•22d ago

Went from brushing-only to rotary tools after one creosote disaster

I used to swear my wire brush was enough, but last spring I pulled 3 inches of glaze off a flue in a 1970s house and realized I'd been missing the real buildup for years. Picked up a rotary kit from a supplier in Denver and ran it on a rental property last week, the difference in what came out was night and day. Anyone else find that brushes just polish the problem instead of fixing it?

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alices16•23d ago

Spotted a crew using the wrong brush size on a creosote build-up job today

Saw a guy in Greenville tackling a 3/4 inch glaze with a 6 inch poly brush and it just smeared everything around. How do you guys handle folks who refuse to step down to a wire brush when the buildup is that bad?

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riverhill•23d ago

Hit 500th sweep last Tuesday, got me thinking about speed vs. care

After 11 years I finally crossed 500 chimney sweeps, and honestly the number surprised me. I did my first few in Maryland taking 90 minutes each, now I can finish a standard flue in 35 if the setup is clean. But last Tuesday I finished one in 28 minutes and felt great, then the homeowner asked if I actually cleaned the smoke shelf. I pulled the camera back up and there was a gap I missed near the damper. So do we push for speed because that's what pays, or does taking longer just mean we're more thorough? Has anyone else hit a milestone and questioned if they got faster or just got sloppy?

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gray_schmidt8•24d ago

Switched from spin brushes to a chain flail for 3 months, never going back

I was fighting crusted creosote in a rental property near Portland for weeks. Spin brush would smooth it out but chunks kept falling behind the smoke shelf. Bought a cheap chain flail setup from a supply house for $180 and ran it on the same flue last Tuesday. Took one pass, knocked everything down in 20 minutes, and the homeowner said they never saw the flue that clean. Has anyone else made the switch and had to adjust their rod speed or angle for tight turns?

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elizabeth438•25d ago

Customer asked for a 'chimney facial' and I nearly lost it

Had a lady in Medford call yesterday and ask if I could come do a 'chimney facial' before her open house. Turns out she meant a deep clean and inspection, but the words she used had me laughing for a solid 10 minutes. I told her I'd bring the brushes and the face mask, and she didn't get the joke at all. Anyone else get calls where folks mix up chimney terms in a way that just makes your day?

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troy_wilson8•25d ago

Soot bomb went off in a customer's living room in Tacoma

I was doing a routine sweep on a gas fireplace last Tuesday and the damper was stuck worse than I thought, so I gave it a hard tug and the whole plate snapped, dropping a two-foot pile of crusty soot right onto their white carpet. The homeowner just stared at me and said, 'Well, at least it's not the chimney itself,' which made me laugh so hard I almost dropped my brush. Has anyone else had a damper fail mid-sweep, and how do you clean up that mess without making it ten times worse?

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blake_smith•27d ago

TIL a chimney balloon can pop your liner if you run the furnace

I shoved one of those inflatable chimney balloons up the flue in my own house last fall after a bird got in. Two days later I fired up the gas furnace and heard a bang so loud I thought the water heater blew. The balloon held the damper shut enough that the exhaust had nowhere to go, and it cracked the terra cotta liner right near the crown. Cost me $1,400 to have a stainless liner dropped in, but now I only use them in the summer and never with fuel burning appliances running. Has anyone else had a balloon fail like this?

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taylor82•27d ago

Lost 300 bucks on a magnetic sweep setup that barely worked

I bought one of those magnetic chimney sweep kits off a guys recommendation at a trade show in Denver. Figured it would save hours on those tight flues, but the magnet kept slipping off the cable and I spent a whole Saturday fishing it out with a shop vac attachment. Three jobs later I gave up and went back to the old brush and rods, which costs way less and never gets stuck. Has anyone else had luck with the magnetic route, or is it just a gimmick for certain liner types?

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kevin_schmidt97•1mo ago

Wasted $120 on a carbon brush kit that didn't fit my rig

So I ordered this brush kit online last month for my main chimney cleaning rig. The listing said it fit my model but when it showed up the brushes were 2 inches too wide and the rods didn't thread right. I tried to wiggle it in there for like 20 minutes before I gave up. By the time I realized the return window was only 14 days and I had already passed it. Now I got a box of useless brushes sitting in my garage. Anyone else ever get burned by a generic cleaning kit that claimed universal fit?

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black.amy•1mo ago

The way people clean liners with rotary tools is doing more harm than good

I've been called in on 6 repair jobs this quarter alone where someone used a rotary brush too fast on a stainless steel liner and actually polished the inside smooth, making creosote stick worse than before. My crew and I only hand scrape or use slower speeds with poly brushes now, and we see way less buildup on follow-ups. Has anyone else noticed this pattern with the newer flex shaft kits?

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alice242•1mo ago

That one customer who called my work 'lazy' changed how I cap chimneys

Had an old guy in Cleveland last fall tell me my mortar caps looked like I was in a hurry. He was right, I was using too wet of a mix and not packing the crown tight enough. Switched to a drier mix and started using a small trowel to press it in layer by layer. Took me 20 extra minutes per job but I haven't had a single leak call since. Anyone else have a customer call them out on something that actually made them better?

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spencer_moore39•1mo ago

Worst day I've had in 12 years - a bird nest the size of a basketball

Last Tuesday I went to a job over on Maple Street in Cleveland and found a bird nest jammed in a flue so bad I had to use a camera to even see where it ended. Took me almost 4 hours to break it all out and vacuum the debris, and the homeowner kept asking if I was done every 20 minutes. Anyone else run into nests that just refuse to budge?

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riverhill•1mo ago

Steel brush vs. poly brush for clay flue tiles - I made the switch

I spent years using a steel brush on clay flue liners cause that's what my old boss used. Switched to a poly brush about 6 months ago after a job in Frederick where the steel brush kept snagging on rough spots. Way less scratching on the tiles and I actually get less soot buildup between cleanings now. Has anyone else noticed a difference with poly brushes on older flues?

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lee_bailey65•1mo ago

I finally figured out why my flue brush kept snagging on a job last week

I was up on a roof in downtown Portland cleaning a liner that's been giving me trouble for months, and it turns out a previous crew left a chunk of mortar wedged about halfway down. Managed to fish it out with a hook and now the brush slides through smooth as butter. Anyone else deal with hidden debris messing up their sweep?

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