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Showerthought: I always thought a basic brush was fine for a standard flue
Honestly, I was cleaning a chimney in a 1920s house in Tacoma last week and my regular brush got completely stuck on a hidden offset about 15 feet up. I had to carefully work it loose with a set of rods and a different head, which took almost an hour. What's your go-to method for checking for unknown bends before you start a sweep?
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the_mary6mo ago
Ugh, that sounds like a nightmare. I always run a cheap inspection camera up first now after a similar scare. The little flexible ones you can hook to your phone are a lifesaver for spotting those sneaky offsets before you commit a brush.
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oliviabutler6mo ago
Yeah @the_mary, I need to get one of those, my current method is just hoping for the best and it's not going great.
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troyc175mo ago
just hoping for the best" is a wild system. @jana509 that soot thing is brutal, I can't believe you're wiping it every few feet. The first time I tried one of those phone cameras I pulled it out covered in black sludge and thought I broke it. You probably have better visibility on a moonless night in a coal mine. I'd rather run a brush blind than deal with that mess every three minutes.
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jana5096mo ago
You mentioned a cheap inspection camera. How do you deal with the soot completely covering the lens on the way up? I feel like I'm always wiping it off every few feet.
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