Update: I thought chimney brushing was a scam, then a 1920s flue in Providence proved me wrong

Grant Torres · 2026-10-17T18:45:05.36103+00:00

For a long time I figured those rotary brush kits were just upsells, since a stiff hand brush and a shop vac had done fine on most of the older brick flues around here. Last month a customer on the east side of Providence had a 1920s chimney with heavy glaze on the smoke chamber walls, and my hand brush was just sliding over it. I dug out a rotary kit I'd bought 2 years ago and never opened, ran it at low speed for about 20 minutes, and the glaze came off in flakes you could hear hitting the bottom. I still think most chimneys don't need the fancy setup, but I was wrong that it never helps. Now I keep the rotary in the truck for glazed or offset flues and leave it home for the plain straight ones. Anybody else got a cutoff rule for when they pull out the rotary versus stay with hand tools?

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Update: I thought chimney brushing was a scam, then a 1920s flue in Providence proved me wrong | Chimney Sweeps - Babble Community