Took me 20 years to trust a rotary brush over the old hand method

After a job in Columbus last month where a clogged flue had been baked on for years, I figured the rotary would just smear it around, but it cut the job from 90 minutes to 35 and the homeowner even commented on how clean the liner looked, so has anyone else been late to that particular upgrade?

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avery_lopez2mo ago

The rotary brush is definitely a game changer, but I gotta point out one thing. Those baked on creosote jobs can hide damage in the liner that the rotary just polishes over. I took a class last spring and the instructor showed us photos where the brush made everything look clean, but the flue was cracked underneath. That Columbus job might have been fine, just saying you still gotta do a full camera inspection before you call it done. Hand brushing lets you feel the surface more, you catch the rough spots and soft areas that a spinning tool just whips past. Not saying go back to the old way, just saying trust but verify every time.

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emery_lopez2mo ago

Friend of mine runs a sweep service up in Maine. He took over a job where the previous guy only used a rotary on this old farmhouse chimney. Looked spotless when he was done, but my buddy dropped his camera down and found this huge gap in the mortar joints behind where the creosote had been. Bricks were basically floating. He said if they'd fired that stove again it could've been a house fire. Now he does the spin brush for the heavy stuff but always follows up with a hand tool and camera on every single job. Takes longer but he's never had a callback since.

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