Hot take: hand sweeping vs. vacuum cleaning hasn't really changed for me

I used to hand sweep every residential job with a stiff brush and pan, like my grandpa taught me back in 2018. Last year I tried using a HEPA vacuum on a tight job in Denver and it left so much fine dust in the flue I had to redo the whole thing the next day. Am I the only one who still sticks to traditional sweeping for most houses?

2 comments

2 Comments

robert_bell1mo ago

Vacuuming out a flue with fine dust is a nightmare, I had a similar situation last winter. I switched to a stiff bristle brush but go slower than you'd think, like letting the bristles do the work without pushing too hard. Then I follow up with a shop vac on low suction just to pull the visible debris without stirring anything up. It takes a little longer but I haven't had to redo a single job since.

grace_campbell1mo ago

My brother tried that same bristle brush method last year on his flue and honestly it took him like 45 minutes for something that should be a 15 minute job tops. I get that fine dust is annoying but is it really that much of a nightmare? I mean we're talking about sweeping a pipe here, not performing brain surgery. Maybe I'm just lucky but I've never had a flue job go so sideways that I needed to completely change my whole system. Feels like overthinking it honestly.

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