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I used to skip brushes every job, then a 40 foot liner almost cost me my knees in Buffalo
Honestly I always thought brushing after a sweep was overkill since the rods and vac do the work anyway. Last Tuesday I was on a two story colonial in Buffalo and the homeowner kept saying her flue smelled like campfire every time the furnace kicked on. I pulled my camera down and found a glaze layer about a quarter inch thick from years of pine burning, so I ran a poly brush on a drill for maybe 20 minutes and swept out close to a full bucket of crust. She called back four days later saying the smell was gone for the first time in six seasons. Tbh my arms were shot after that job but it beats a repeat call or a chimney fire. Ngl I still hate drag brushes but I'm not skipping them again. Any of you run a rotary setup on glazed creosote or do you stick with hand brushes?
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dylan_thompson14d ago
Learned this the hard way too but from a totally different angle. The glaze doesnt just smell, it insulates the flue so the heat stays in the wrong place and your liner or masonry never gets to dry out right. I pulled a camera on a rental once and the glaze was hiding cracked tiles underneath, so brushing isnt just about smell, its the only way to actually see whats going on in there. If you skip it you cant tell if the crack is new or old and you end up guessing on a job that shouldnt be a guess. Hand brush on a drill is my go to but I break the glaze first with a metal brush head then finish with poly so I dont chew up the liner. Takes longer but you get real eyes on real damage.
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