Bummer of the week.

[Rich Jones]

Re: Bummer of the week.

The hood does double duty for spark arresting and for baffling wind that might make the smoke back flow into the house instead of drawing properly. I think.

Also keeps the critters out.
I burn hardwoods with little creosote and call in the chimney sweep every two years.

[Garret]

Re: Bummer of the week.

I use a length of chain and rattle it about till all the soot falls output our roof is a shallow slope so I can walk about on it. Lots of creosote in the wood that grows on the block. I do it twice a season.

A friend used that method on a masonry chimney with flue tiles. He got a new wood stove installed & the installers would not hook it up because the tiles were destroyed by the chain. So - if you use this method, be careful!

[Paul Pless]

Re: Bummer of the week.

i think most new wood stove installations are strongly recommended to be done with a stainless flue line, regardless of the chimney material

[SaltyD from BC]

Re: Bummer of the week.

Well all I have to add is that roof looks steep. And slippery. Congratulations on retrieving the rogue brush that would have sucked if you weren't able to snag it

[Garret]

Re: Bummer of the week.

i think most new wood stove installations are strongly recommended to be done with a stainless flue line, regardless of the chimney material

Yep - they are. We put one in. Especially if you have a fireplace sized flue (which we did), as they are too big & the air slows down & drops more creosote.

[epoxyboy]

Re: Bummer of the week.

Spark arrestor screen, to prevent spreading a roof fire, might be installed, and might keep the brush being pushed out the top?

No spark arrestor on flues in NZ - we don't have those damn stupid bitumen roof shingles here, so roof fires are pretty much not a thing we have to try and prevent.
A couple of hose clamps and some #8 wire or something slightly stouter, and make your own spiral hook.

Pete

[Stiletto]

Re: Bummer of the week.

No spark arrestor on flues in NZ - we don't have those damn stupid bitumen roof shingles here, so roof fires are pretty much not a thing we have to try and prevent.
A couple of hose clamps and some #8 wire or something slightly stouter, and make your own spiral hook.

Pete

Being a good Kiwi lad,I had tried the number 8 wire route but it was a bit soft and bent in use, hence to make a crude spiral hook I used the small paint roller handle which has about a 6mm shaft. The rod also fitted nicely up the inside of the handle.

[hawkeye54]

Re: Bummer of the week.

Quite the resourceful group we are here, eh ? ( Nicely done, Grant ! )

[john welsford]

Re: Bummer of the week.

It's starting to get cold where I live, so I decided to sweep the chimney of my wood burner before putting it into use for this season.
I have one of those flue brushes that goes onto the end of a series of flexible rods that clip together.
I carefully inspected each fitting as I fitted it to the following one, and proceeded. When I finished the cleaning process with the brush fully extended I started the extraction of the rods only to find that the bloody brush had been left behind at the top of the flue! The brush itself had been attached by a glued fitting which had come apart.
I'm in the process of trying to make a fitting to attach to the end of my rods to see if I can snare the brush and drag it down. 73 year old men and 45 degree roofs do not go together, so I'm not going to try to recover it from the top. Ten years ago I would have, but I have seen enough reports of old guys who have come to grief when they tried to do something they took for granted when they were younger.

I went online to see what people used to recover these brushes, and a sort of spiral hook that fits on the end of the rods seems to be the thing. None are readily available where I live, and in this town there is no resident chimney sweep to save me so I will head out to the workshop and see if I can cobble up something to do the job.
To be continued........

P.S. This is what I am thinking of:

Can U suggest that you make a hook with a sharo enough radius on the bend to allow you to press it through the bristles of the brush, but with the end of the hook splayed out enough to allow you once its through the bristles to catch on said bristles. With that lashed to a pole, push it up until you feel it contact, then jab until its through, turn it a little then draw it gently back down. It might take a number of attempts to do the job.
Good luck.

John Welsford

[Stiletto]

Re: Bummer of the week.

Yes John, that's pretty much what I did.

[John B]

Re: Bummer of the week.

i was thinking about your dilemma yesterday when I spotted this..
20230513_122401.jpg
Something i didn't know or had forgotten we own. Looks like a beach drinks holder thingummy to me.

[RFNK]

Re: Bummer of the week.

Our flue does have a sort of spark arresting cowl thing but it doesn't stop animals getting in. One evening, in summer, thankfully, I could hear scratching and scraping at the bend in our flue and guessed that a possum had climbed in and slid down to the bend. Dismantling the flue at the fireplace end isn't an option and I didn't want a sooty possum tearing through the house anyway. So I took the cowl off and dropped a length of double braid down to the bend, climbed off the roof and waited, hoping. By the time I got down, the possum was already climbing out so I put some mesh around the cowl and put it back. No problem since!

[hawkeye54]

Re: Bummer of the week.

What do you get when a starling decides to fly down the flue to your gas-fired water heater ? A basement full of smoke, and a house which smells like bad Barbecue ! ! ! Also had a visit from the fire lads , as we had no idea, at first, of the source of the smoke .