Chimney Cleaner

Intro: Chimney Cleaner

I needed to clean the chimney of a new/old house I just moved into.  I looked online and found a couple videos of professional chimney sweeps using a chain flail to remove cresote and soot from a chimney so I came up with this design for my own chimney flail that uses weed eater line instead of chains. 

STEP 1: Materials List

Materials needed: 
1 ea. - 5/16" x 6' all thread
1 ea. - table leg mounting bracket,
2 ea. - 5/16" nuts,
1 ea. - fender washer,
weed eater line. 

To make this simple chimney flail I bought a 6' length of 5/16" threaded rod at Home Depot for around $6.00.  I found the table leg bracket at the Habitat for Humanity RESTORE and paid a quarter for it.  The rest of the materials were on hand in my garage.  I call it the cheap sweep. 

STEP 2:

To make the chimney flail I screwed a nut onto the all thread, then screwed on the furniture leg bracket,  Insert the weedeater line through the screw holes on the bracket as shown in the picture,  Now add a fender washer and another nut. Tighten everything down really good. 

Chuck the rod into a portable drill and head up to the chimney.  Run the flail up and down the chimney pipe a few times.  For a long flue you could use a 5/16" coupler nut and another length of all thread.  My chimney was just around 6' from the top to the dampener so I didn't need a longer tool. 

For a really dirty chimney I think you could replace the weed eater line with some steel aircraft cable. 

I was amazed at what a wonderful job this did on my chimney but couldn't find a camera to show before and after photos. 
Build one and give it a try, I'm sure you'll be happy with the results.

Comments

[Toxictom]

It works well because while there is only four bristles, they are each whacking the sides of the chimney at 1600 rpm or whatever the speed of the drill.

[audreyobscura]

Wouldn't you need many more bristles to clean a chimney....granted my only frame of reference is marry poppins.