I spent $180 on a HEPA vac attachment for my sweep kit and it either ruined or saved my work

Six months ago I dropped $180 on one of those high end HEPA vacuum attachments that hooks right to your chimney rod. First two jobs I thought it was the best thing ever. No dust clouds, no coughing, the homeowners were thrilled. Then I got a call from a guy I did a full reline for saying his pilot light kept going out. Turns out the vac was pulling so hard it was actually sucking the draft back down and messing with his gas appliance. I spent four hours backtracking and fixing it. Now I only use the vac for cold fireboxes and do the upper flues by hand. Has anyone else had a vac attachment mess with their draft like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

angelafisher6d ago

So you basically paid 180 bucks to turn your chimney sweep kit into a dust-powered vacuum cleaner that also hates gas appliances. That's a hell of a deal right there. I bet the homeowners were thrilled until their pilot light started doing the limbo, huh? At least now you know your vac has a hidden "suck so hard it kills everything" mode. Could be a cool party trick if you ever need to put out a birthday candle from across the room.

xenan645d ago

Did you ever try putting a simple filter on the intake hose to stop the big stuff?