Tried a new brush head on my rotary and it shredded the soot worse than before

I picked up a polypropylene brush head from a supplier in Denver last month, figured it'd be softer on the flue tiles. First job, it just broke up the soot into tiny dust particles and made a huge mess inside the firebox. Learned that some flues need a stiffer wire brush to actually pull the creosote out instead of grinding it down. Has anyone else had a brush head fail on them like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

bettyfox1mo ago

Oh come on, it's just a brush head, not the end of the world. I've used poly brushes on all sorts of flues and they work fine if you don't go in like a gorilla trying to scrub every speck. You probably just had a heavy creosote buildup that needed a steel brush first. Maybe try a dual-brush pass next time instead of blaming the tool for operator error.

oliviagrant1mo ago

Blame the flue condition not the brush, @jessica_ross38 hit it right.

jessica_ross381mo ago

I used to think any brush head would do the job, but that poly one changed my mind real quick.