Noticed my flue tiles turned from black to white after switching brushes

I've been sweeping chimneys for about 7 years now, and I always used a standard wire brush. Last fall I switched to a poly brush after a customer complained about scratches. After about 10 jobs with the new brush, I noticed the flue tiles came out way cleaner, almost white compared to the dark gray I was used to. The wire brush was just smearing the creosote around instead of actually removing it. Now I go back over old jobs I did last year and the difference is night and day. Has anyone else seen this kind of change after switching brush types?

2 comments

2 Comments

kelly38521d ago

You ever notice how sometimes the old way of doing things just kinda hides the real problem? I had the same thing happen with a different kind of brush on a metal flue last spring. The wire brush was leaving this thin greasy film that looked like it was clean until I switched to a softer one and saw all that dark residue coming off on the second pass. Makes you wonder how many fires I was missing before.

grant_allen8521d ago

Kelly385 brings up a good point but I'm going to go the other way on this one. A wire brush is actually doing more than just smearing stuff around, it's grinding down the glaze and rough spots in the tile that trap creosote in the first place. Switching to a poly brush might leave more of that rough surface behind which just means the next cleaning will be tougher and the creosote will have more places to grab hold. I've seen poly brushes leave a waxy sheen that looks clean but isn't really removed from the pores of the tile, and that can build up faster over a season.