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A 6 foot length of blue water pipe, with a load of 3" screws driven in around one end with the points sticking out.

Stuff it down, whirl and jog it up and down on the way out, shifts all the clag.

The flue brushes that chandlers sell are useless and short lived.

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If you have your stove just ticking over all the time, like me, you might end up with a very tough cement like crud lining the inside of the flue pipe which can get thicker and thicker until it blocks the pipe. Mine did this towards the end of winter, I noticed a little smoke gush out when I opened the stove door which got worse. At first I put it down to the strong winds. Let it out and went to sweep it, no go, shone a torch down it, blocked solid. Poked and pumped my boat pole up and down in it, wouldn't shift it.  I then got a long length of 3/4'' steel water pipe, and bashed that up and down in it, still no go. I then heated, flattened and bent slightly one end of the water pipe and tried again, still no go. I then used my 2ft Stilsons on the top of the sleel water pipe, turning and ground through the crud like an Auger which eventually did the job and then rammed it up and down for a while to clear the walls.  I got a small bucketfull of the stuff out which fell down onto the grate.

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2 hours ago, bizzard said:

If you have your stove just ticking over all the time, like me, you might end up with a very tough cement like crud lining the inside of the flue pipe which can get thicker and thicker until it blocks the pipe. Mine did this towards the end of winter, I noticed a little smoke gush out when I opened the stove door which got worse. At first I put it down to the strong winds. Let it out and went to sweep it, no go, shone a torch down it, blocked solid. Poked and pumped my boat pole up and down in it, wouldn't shift it.  I then got a long length of 3/4'' steel water pipe, and bashed that up and down in it, still no go. I then heated, flattened and bent slightly one end of the water pipe and tried again, still no go. I then used my 2ft Stilsons on the top of the sleel water pipe, turning and ground through the crud like an Auger which eventually did the job and then rammed it up and down for a while to clear the walls.  I got a small bucketfull of the stuff out which fell down onto the grate.

Fortunately not. But a salutary tale nevertheless.

2 hours ago, Boater Sam said:

A 6 foot length of blue water pipe, with a load of 3" screws driven in around one end with the points sticking out.

Stuff it down, whirl and jog it up and down on the way out, shifts all the clag.

The flue brushes that chandlers sell are useless and short lived.

Sounds promising. I should be able to make some kind of jig to attach it to a cordless drill :)

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on a bigger scale....
our wood burner / boiler runs a 10 inch flue (that's diameter not length), in a cold winter it gets a little soot that will burn itself off with a cone of orange & blue flame at the top of the flue about once a month (looks and sounds like a jet engine).
in a warmer winter where the boiler isn't running as hard / hot it slowly builds up a very tough layer eventually reducing our 10 inch flue to a 3 inch flue, we have found that nothing will shift it effectively while the flue is in place so our solution has been to remove the flue and hammer through a length of angle iron (with the aid of a sledgehammer)

 

for reference the burner pictured runs all our heating and hot water for the house and workshop
28 radiators and 2 500 litre hot water tanks

IMG_2990.JPG

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And when you have swept it make sure that the baffle plate inside the fire (if it has one) is not full of the stuff that has fallen down the pipe and blocked it, Rayburns are prone to this as well as many others.

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21 hours ago, Jess-- said:

on a bigger scale....
our wood burner / boiler runs a 10 inch flue (that's diameter not length), in a cold winter it gets a little soot that will burn itself off with a cone of orange & blue flame at the top of the flue about once a month (looks and sounds like a jet engine).
in a warmer winter where the boiler isn't running as hard / hot it slowly builds up a very tough layer eventually reducing our 10 inch flue to a 3 inch flue, we have found that nothing will shift it effectively while the flue is in place so our solution has been to remove the flue and hammer through a length of angle iron (with the aid of a sledgehammer)

 

for reference the burner pictured runs all our heating and hot water for the house and workshop
28 radiators and 2 500 litre hot water tanks

IMG_2990.JPG

That's a serious bit of kit ?

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