Tried a rotary brush kit vs my old manual rods on a tough flue in Denver

I spent 3 hours fighting a heavy creosote buildup with my regular rods and brush last Tuesday, got maybe 60% clean. Swapped to a borrowed rotary kit and finished the whole job in 45 minutes, flue looked like new. Has anyone else had that big of a difference switching to a powered setup?

2 comments

2 Comments

grace_allen13d ago

That 3 hours on manual rods rings a bell for me. I used to do a lot of chimney work in older Denver homes (like 1920s bungalows) and heavy creosote always kicked my butt until I tried a rotary setup. But I gotta gently point out something - you mentioned "borrowed a rotary kit" and finished the flue in 45 minutes. Those kits usually need a specific drill with a certain RPM range to work right, and just hooking it up to any drill can be dangerous if it's not the right speed. I've seen guys burn through brushes or snap cables because they used a regular drill that spun too fast. Not saying you did anything wrong, but just make sure the drill you borrowed is actually suited for that kit's torque and speed limits. Otherwise the difference is real though - powered brushes handle those dense layers way better than manual rods because they cut through instead of just scraping.

andrew_rodriguez13d ago

I mean, are people really snapping cables that often?