Unpopular opinion: that expensive carbon steel brush set I bought was a total waste of cash

Dropped $80 on a set of fancy carbon steel chimney brushes from a specialty supply place last spring. Everyone raves about them lasting forever and cleaning better. Well, after 3 months of use on maybe 15 jobs, the bristles started bending and one snapped right off inside a flue. Had to fish it out with a magnet on a rod - took me an extra 45 minutes on a job in Roanoke. My old cheap nylon brushes from the hardware store never did that. Anyone else tried these and had issues or is it just me?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_felix15d agoMost Upvoted

hold up, I gotta say something about that magnet on a rod trick. You mentioned using a magnet to fish out the snapped bristle from a steel flue but you can't really get a magnet to stick to carbon steel pipe, it's not magnetic like regular steel. Carbon steel flues are actually non-magnetic so that sounds like a regular steel liner or maybe a stainless one you were working on. I had the same thing happen with a expensive brush set, the bristles bent like crazy after a few months but I think that's just cause carbon steel brush heads are meant for heavy soot not regular cleaning. They're too stiff for standard chimneys and will snap if you hit any rough spots. Your old nylon brush was probably a better match for the job. Just my two cents though, I could be wrong about the magnet part but that's what I've seen on the job.

mason.drew7d ago

Man, you nailed it. I had the same thing happen with a magnetic pickup tool on a gas line once, totally useless. Those carbon steel brushes are way too aggressive for regular use, I learned that the hard way too after snapping bristles on a rough spot. Nylon is the way to go, no contest.

shanes6615d agoMost Upvoted

My buddy lost a whole brush head inside a chimney in Lynchburg last year. Total nightmare.