Ever done a DIY chimney cleaning?

[Spork]

I've googled around... it doesn't look too hard.  But the various videos/articles leave me with a few questions:

* how much soot/crap should I expect below?  I've got a wood stove.  Will it contain the mess?  Or do I need to do something to wrap it up/seal it?  I know soot can be very very fine.

* I have a bend in my stove pipe.  It's not dramatic.  There are 2 45 degree bends so that the chimney will make it between the trusses above.  Will chimney brushes make the turn?  Or do I need to take down the pipe?  (and that sounds really messy).

[teen persuasion]

Our woodstove has a short run of pipe (18" vertical, then 12" horizontal) thru the wall to the chimney on the exterior of the house.  The chimney has a clean-out door at the bottom.  I can't remember if DH fed the brush up thru the clean-out door, or had to work down from the roof.  Probably from the roof, knowing DH.  I was surprised that there was not as much soot as I had expected.  I think we removed the interior pipe to visually check things after sweeping, and then put it back together.

Do you have any chimney at all, or just pipe?  We didn't use the brushes in the pipe, just in the block chimney.

We don't have any cap on the top opening of the chimney, and probably could use one.  We often get birds in the chimney, and have to let them out by opening the clean-out door.  Once we had a small owl IN the woodstove (no fire that day).

[bogart]

We have about 16' of straight-down pipe to a wood stove that DH cleans with a brush from above (on a long pole, at the risk of stating the obvious).  It hasn't been that messy, but he did once detach the pipes midway and then we discovered that the installer hadn't installed it correctly at the top (used just one screw instead of 3, the whole length of pipe came crashing down and fortunately *didn't* land on our then two-year old son who was standing nearby).  He may have detached the pipes other times, I'm not sure (don't remember -- obviously the installation problem has been addressed, so subsequent cleanings have been less memorable thank goodness).

I don't think our brush/pole rig would go around a corner, even just 45 degrees, but perhaps some would.

[Kazimieras]

* how much soot/crap should I expect below?  I've got a wood stove.  Will it contain the mess?  Or do I need to do something to wrap it up/seal it?  I know soot can be very very fine.

* I have a bend in my stove pipe.  It's not dramatic.  There are 2 45 degree bends so that the chimney will make it between the trusses above.  Will chimney brushes make the turn?  Or do I need to take down the pipe?  (and that sounds really messy).

The amount of soot depends how hot and how cleanly your fireplace normally burns. Hotter typically means less soot.

I've only cleaned a straight chimney, but it isn't very hard. Just expect to get some flecks of black on you.

What my family used to keep the buildup from getting too bad was we would once a month burn a pizza box in the fireplace (it was decorative and was used for a few hours each evening). The heat from the grease keep the chimney very clear. Although a word of caution, you need to make sure the chimney isn't too dirty beforehand, otherwise you'll start a chimney fire. :S

[Spork]

Do you have any chimney at all, or just pipe?  We didn't use the brushes in the pipe, just in the block chimney.

we have a mix of double wall stainless steel pipe and the typical black stovepipe (in the downstairs room).  We don't have any masonry.

The amount of soot depends how hot and how cleanly your fireplace normally burns. Hotter typically means less soot.

From watching, it looks like it burns super clean.  There is only visible smoke on startup (before it gets up to temperature).  After that, it only has clear "heat waves" coming out.

[mx905]

We clean ours every year but burn 8-10 cord per year.  We only clean the brick chimney and don't touch the stove pipe.  From what I have seen the metal gets so hot that you don't get build up in it. 

[strider3700]

I clean mine yearly, burn 2-3 cords of wood each winter some of it not the driest.    I get maybe an ice cream buckets worth of soot from what I'd guess is a 25'-30' liner. I keep keep the door closed on the stove, close any air intakes, make sure the inside of the house isn't in vacuum (open a window as my house is tight enough a bathroom fan makes the wood stove the easiest air source to suck in).  I've got no bends but the rods I use are quite rigid and will certainly not make a 90 degree turn.

[Spork]

I clean mine yearly, burn 2-3 cords of wood each winter some of it not the driest.    I get maybe an ice cream buckets worth of soot from what I'd guess is a 25'-30' liner. I keep keep the door closed on the stove, close any air intakes, make sure the inside of the house isn't in vacuum (open a window as my house is tight enough a bathroom fan makes the wood stove the easiest air source to suck in).  I've got no bends but the rods I use are quite rigid and will certainly not make a 90 degree turn.

The vacuum isn't a problem.  Our stove is plumbed to draw air from outside, not inside.  The intake is adjustable.  If you run our stove according to directions, you end up closing both the flue and most of the intake once it is hot.  There is a very round-about way for smoke to escape with the flue closed, but this burns hotter and long on mostly smoldering coals.

[Spork]

We're just now getting a handful of chilly (not cold yet) days... so I decided it was time to give it a try before I really need it.

Report:  simple as can be.  For $50 I got a brush and extension poles.  That's less than one cleaning and I presume it will last several years.  The brush/poles would not make it through my little bend in my pipe.  I had to clean the upper pipe from the roof down to the bend then disassemble the last 8-9 feet and take that outside to clean it.

We've only done one real winter in this house... and there was a fairly significant amount of creosote that came out.   I'm calling this a win.

[chops]

Spork,

Congratulations on your mustachianism and trying out something new! 

You're absolutely correct, a DIY chimney cleaning is one of the best investments you can make (with a return rate of less than 6 months!)

Chops

[Mr. Minsc]

I have a wood boiler, all I do is stick up the chimney sweep every 3-4 weeks.  The thought of paying someone to clean my flue never even crossed my mind.

[chops]

Wood boilers are probably one the most mustachian forms of heating...through the hauling, chopping, stacking, etc., of cords of wood to heat your house all winter (and the boiler gets you free hot water to boot!)  There's a great satisfaction of being self sufficient for all your heating and hot water needs for a cold NE winter.

[jawisco]

We're just now getting a handful of chilly (not cold yet) days... so I decided it was time to give it a try before I really need it.

Report:  simple as can be.  For $50 I got a brush and extension poles.  That's less than one cleaning and I presume it will last several years.  The brush/poles would not make it through my little bend in my pipe.  I had to clean the upper pipe from the roof down to the bend then disassemble the last 8-9 feet and take that outside to clean it.

We've only done one real winter in this house... and there was a fairly significant amount of creosote that came out.   I'm calling this a win.

What was the consistency of the creosote - was it sticky or dry and flaky?

Dry and Flaky is good and means you have a good system in place and are burning hot enough fires...

Sticky creosote means you may need to burn hotter fires from time to time or clean more often.  Sticky stuff is what causes chimney fires.

[Spork]

Dry and flaky.

Edit to add:
We keep a thermometer on the stove and try to burn at the manufacturer recommended range (400-600 degree stove top temp.)

[Mr. Minsc]

Wood boilers are probably one the most mustachian forms of heating...through the hauling, chopping, stacking, etc., of cords of wood to heat your house all winter (and the boiler gets you free hot water to boot!)  There's a great satisfaction of being self sufficient for all your heating and hot water needs for a cold NE winter.

For the most part we use a wood splitter. ;)  Though I do split up kindling for lighting by hand.

One of the perks of being a dairy farmer is you have access to equipment and woodlots which allows us to supply wood to five, soon to be six, homes.

[George_PA]

I just swept my chimney for the first time year myself and learned a lot, it was a rewarding experience to learn a new skill.

Spork, if you have no idea how bad yours is, just duct tape a large plastic trash bag to the bottom of the chimney pipe (disconnect from the stove of course) and then start from the roof top sweeping downward.  Its important to have the bottom sealed with something or otherwise the creosote and soot dust will just pour right into your house.

The extension rods for chimney sweeping have some flex to them (at least the 4 foot long ones I used that I got from Lowes) so they might be able to handle the 45 degree bends (it probably depends how far apart the bends are as well).  Just try it and see if you can get all the way from one end to the other.

You never really know until you actually try it out.  Even if the rods are not flexible enough search around online or at a specialty store, they probably make some type of extra bendable version.  My tools to do the chimney cost me about $50, and these can be used over and over again year after year.  Having a professional sweep your chimney would probably run you about $100 each time.  So it is definitely worth learning how to do it yourself.