Spent $80 on a soot-eater drill attachment and it paid off in one job

I bought one of those rotary soot-eater kits from the supply house in Akron after a customer with a wood stove had about half an inch of creosote buildup. Hooked it to my drill and cleaned that whole flue in 20 minutes instead of an hour with brushes. Anyone else use these things or do you stick to the old way?

2 comments

2 Comments

benflores34m ago

Yeah I read somewhere that those drill attachments can actually be bad if you're not careful. There was this story about a guy who used one on a chimney that had a weak liner and it basically ripped it apart from the inside. He ended up having to tear the whole thing out and reline it. I still use the old rods and brush method for anything thicker than a quarter inch just cause I feel like I got more control. For a thin layer like yours though, that drill thing probably saved you a ton of time.

dakota_murphy901h ago

Half inch of creosote? That's barely a dusting. I've seen fireplaces with it caked on so thick you could chip it off in chunks. Not really sold on a drill attachment for something that serious.