Hit my 100th sweep with an old masonry fireplace this morning

I spent the last 6 months going back and forth on whether to use a rotary brush setup or stick with the manual rods for these old flues. Decided to go with the manual rods because the mortar on a house from 1920 is just too fragile. Today I swept a place in the historic district downtown and the rods worked perfect. No dust leaks, no cracked tiles, just a clean flue. Customer said her smoke issues were gone. I guess the old way still wins for these older homes. Has anyone else had the rotary brush chip out old liner tiles?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby_palmer1mo agoTop Commenter

Oh the "rotary brush chipping out old liner tiles" thing is REAL. I had a customer last year who insisted I use the rotary because "it's faster." Two sweeps later they called me back because chunks of the terracotta liner were falling down into the firebox. That 1920s mortar is basically sand at this point. I've found that even the manual rods can be too much if you're not careful with the angle. I actually wrap my brush head in a thin layer of felt cloth for the first pass on really old flues. It sounds crazy but it catches the loose stuff without scraping anything.

kevin_hernandez831mo ago

Felt cloth trick. That's brilliant. I tried a pillowcase once. Tied it over the brush head with a zip tie. Looked ridiculous. Customer watched me from their kitchen window. Probably thought I was an idiot. But it worked. No chunks came down. Just soft dust.