Old timer's advice on dark soot buildup actually saved me a headache today

I was cleaning a flue over in Clifton this morning and it had this thick, greasy black soot that wasn't coming off easy with my regular brush. An old sweeper I met at a trade meet like 6 months ago told me to try a wire brush attachment on my drill for that kind of stuff, and I always thought he was just showing off. Well, I gave it a shot after fighting it for 20 minutes and it cut through in like 5 minutes flat. Has anyone else had luck with that method or do you stick to traditional hand brushes?

2 comments

2 Comments

mark_nguyen9518d agoMost Upvoted

Man that's a great tip! I swear old timers have been doing this stuff since before we were born and they always know the weird tricks that actually work. I've been using hand brushes mostly but after reading this I'm gonna try the drill attachment on my next tough job. The thing is I feel like the wire brush might leave scratches if you're not careful, especially on older flues where the lining is already thin. But for that real caked on greasy stuff I bet it's way faster than scrubbing yourself sore.

the_willow17d ago

I read a forum post last year where a guy warned that wire brush attachments can gouge the liner if you run the drill too fast, especially on clay flues. So just keep the speed low and it works fine for that heavy stuff.