The difference a wire brush width makes, couldn't believe it

I did a cleanout on a rental property in Cleveland last Tuesday, same chimney I've hit every spring for 4 years. Always used a 6 inch wire brush, figured that was standard. Owner said the draft felt off, so I finally swapped to a 9 inch one and ran it down. The soot that came off was way thicker, like actual chunks instead of dust. Then I ran a camera down and saw the flue walls looked almost new, no buildup at all. Turns out my old brush was bouncing off the corners and missing a good 2 inches on each side. I checked the flue was 11 inches wide, so the 6 inch was just too small to hit everything properly. Has anyone else sized their brush to the flue width or do you all just use whatever came with your kit?

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taylorm898d ago

Bigger brush just scrapes off years of creosote buildup, you exposed a bigger problem.