emeryo58•13d agoMost Upvoted

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?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_mary13d 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.

oliviabutler13d 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.

jana50913d 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.