Chat with a old timer behind the Masonic lodge yesterday

I was on a job in Albany last week cleaning out a massive creosote buildup and this retired sweep named Bill comes up to me at the dumpster... told me he never scraped his flues after 1982 because he switched to a rotary brush system. Hit me different hearing him say he did 40 years without a single chimney fire using that method. Has anyone else gone full rotary and ditched the hand scraping for good?

2 comments

2 Comments

annaw731mo ago

Watched @the_sam hand scrape a flue once and he pulled out a chunk that looked like a burnt raccoon.

the_sam1mo ago

Wait, did he say he never touched a brush or a rod again after 1982? Because I've been at this for over twenty years and I still hand scrape the tough stuff every single time. Rotary brushes are good for maintenance, sure, but they just don't hit the hard packed crust that builds up around the smoke shelf and the offset joints. I've seen too many guys rely on a spin brush and then miss a solid inch of glazed creosote hiding in a tight spot, only for it to catch later. There's a reason the old timers like me keep a 4-inch scraper and a mallet in the truck.