cleaning chimneys

[sueb]

Following on from the other stove threads I wondered how often you clean your chimney and what do you use to do it?

Sue

[Smelly]

Following on from the other stove threads I wondered how often you clean your chimney and what do you use to do it?

Sue

 

We use a flue brush. Cost about 7 quid from Lyons' on't Stratford.

[Guest User]

We use a flue brush. Cost about 7 quid from Lyons' on't Stratford.

 

Ditto-ish (£8-9 from Uxbridge), used once a year just before the first fire of autumn.

[Jamboat]

Ditto-ish (£8-9 from Uxbridge), used once a year just before the first fire of autumn.

 

Ditto again, £4.95 from ironmongers in Thorne - every few weeks whilst stove is on 24/7

[Keeping Up]

I normally use a bit of the hedge, about once a year (but we don't use the boat a lot during the winter)

[matty40s]

twice last year, before autumn, and after a 3 week without being out stint in early feb. Flue brush on boat so free!!

[david and julie]

I give the stove a thorough clean out every Autumn including checking the fire bricks, any seals and brushing the flue out.

 

I don't live on the boat,rarely burn wood or logs, so the flue doesn't get that bad really.

[LoneWolf]

twice so far, with a hawthorne branch.

 

The second time wasn't really necessary but i'd been burning a lot of free (ie unseasoned) wood so just did it to check the amount of build up.

 

I have been advised that burning a video tape (available cheaply from a charity shop) does the job but haven't tried it. I think maybe it's just the tape you're supposed to burn rather that the plastic casing as well.

[alan_fincher]

Ditto-ish (£8-9 from Uxbridge), used once a year just before the first fire of autumn.

Blimey - for once our marina comes in a bit cheaper - our brush was a fiver, I think.....

 

One word of warning......

 

If you have a fairly small flue, as we do, they can be quite a tight fit......

 

Not a problem as you push them in, as the bristles bend backwards, making them "arrow shaped".

 

Provided you can push it right through into the stove, the same thing will happen on the outward "stroke", and it will come out freely.

 

But, if like us, you have a permanent part of the stove that obstructs a through passage, (a back boiler in the case of our "Heron"), then you can't push the brush right through. On ours it is a major tug to reverse the bristles when still in the flue, so it will pull out again.

 

First time I did it I thought we were going to have to burn it out! I think many flues are bigger than the Heron / Puffin uses though, sop presumably less of an issue on those ?