CLEANING THE CHIMNEY YOURSELF

If you plan to clean the chimney yourself, you will need to obtain some or all of the following tools and supplies:

Drop cloth or other appropriate covering
Treble light or portable lantern
Leather gloves
Hand wire brush
Hand scraper or stiff putty knife
Hammer and screwdriver
Heavy duty vacuum cleaner
Whisk broom and dust pan
Metal bucket
Small shovel
Adjustable wrench
Can of furnace cement
Chimney brush
Rope and a weight or extension rods

Before starting to clean the chimney, be sure all doors and windows are shut to prevent any drafts. Remove damper, if possible. Seal fireplace opening with a drop cloth and masking tape. You will need proper protective clothing, including a mask to cover your mouth and nose and glasses or goggles for your eyes. The material that collects in chimneys is of such a nature that you should avoid contact with it as much as possible. Wear good shoes with slip resistant soles and be careful when climbing on high, steep roofs to clean a chimney.

When cleaning the chimney from the roof, the easiest method is to attach a line to the brush with a weight on the opposite end. This weight should be of such a size and shape that it cannot swing free into the tile liners and cause damage. The purpose of the weight is to pull the brush down into the chimney. A solid 5 kg- to 10 kg weight is required to move the brush downward. This will depend on how tightly the brush fits and how dirty the chimney is.

Another method is to attach a rope at each end of the brush with a person at the top of the chimney and one at the bottom, taking turns pulling the rope. This method may be somewhat messy.

More effective is the use of rigid extensions such as a pipe or tubing with a flexible leader. This allows you to control and feel the scrubbing action of the brush in the chimney. This method is used by most professional chimney sweeps. Fiberglass rods are available for this purpose. If metal pipe is used, be careful of power lines above.

Lower the brush into the chimney being careful not to disturb any loose brick mortar or any device in the chimney. Cleaning can be accomplished by passing the brush through the chimney a number of times in the same direction or by raising and lowering the brush in short strokes in a scrubbing action. If your brush is too large, it will not reverse in the chimney and may even lock up.

Experience will tell you how many passes to make to get the chimney clean. Once this process is finished, remove the seal from the fireplace opening. Use a drop cloth in your working area. Slowly open the damper if you were unable to remove it, vacuum up debris from the bottom of the hearth, smoke shelf or catch pit. If you can't open the damper you may have to drop a hose down the chimney to vacuum out the soot.

While cleaning masonry chimneys, check for cracks in the brick or masonry. Cracks allow cool air to come in, thus reducing the efficiency of the fireplace or wood stove and allowing creosote to form.

Stove pipes on the wood burner are critical to safety and require additional attention. When cleaning an inside flue, remove the connected sections. Be careful to protect the area from soot. Take the sections outdoors and brush inside them with a hand wire brush or a flue or chimney brush that is the same diameter as the pipe. Remove all the soot and creosote build-up from the breech and the loose accumulation in the fire box. Stove pipes need to be cleaned regularly. Check pipes at least once every 2 or 3 months of stove operation.

After using your chimney brush, rinse it in a cleaning solution such as kerosene and store it away in a dry place. lt is a valuable tool.

	Contact Information
	Email: Skype: brian.o.shea68 PO Box 905 Manjimup Western Australia 6258