How many people sweep their own chimneys?

[DIYNotIan]

Hi all

I've got a problem with my drains at the moment and so am going to invest in a set of drain rods.

While checking out which set to buy I saw that you can buy brush attachments for chimney sweeping... It's never occurred to me to sweep my own chimney (for some reason!!!). So I'm thinking of getting one of those and saving myself a bit of money each year.

So I wondered how many folk sweep their own? How easy is it? And will a DIY sweep be as effective as a sweep from a pro?

Cheers

Max

 

[misterhelpful]

As a kid, I always used to help my father sweep the chimneys in our old terraced house until we switched from coal to gas in the late 80's - two flues were in use but, on occasion, we used to do all six. I used to love running out into the garden to see the brush popping out of the top of the stack.
As long as you keep the rods turning the same way going up and down so they don't come apart inside the flue, and do them regularly, it's not that difficult (then again my father used to do all the hard work!). We used to have a canvas type sheet with a hole in the centre for just the rod to fit through which would be packed tight all around the fireplaces with pieces of timber to minimise the soot escaping.

Nowadays, there are probably H&S rules with regards to sweeping certain types of flues/fires (don't know anything about that ) and I would imagine the pro sweeps are more efficient and less messy.

Don't know if this helps but your post has brought back some good memories for me.
Cheers!

 

[ladylola]

I used to do the same. I'd help my father and like misterhelpful he had the same sort of arangement that the rod went through to minimise the dust entering the room.
I'll always remember , however, when a friend of his asked how to do it as she had her own rods. My father explained but the next day he had a call saying that she had done as he had said but that there was soot all over the room ! We went down to see what the problem was and were astonished to see that she had taped up the fireplace but then cut the hole to fit the whole brush head through the sheet kept us laughing for hours

 

[foxhole]

Me too, make sure you have a good vacuum handy.

 

[Burnerman]

I have my fingers in this pie too.....but I always check out the state of the chimney pot first!
I have the 4 and 6" wire brushes, a 16" regular brush and another cut down to 10" diameter.
There's always a sinking feeling when the larger brush starts to jam so its up with the smaller one first!
For an open fire I've a plywood panel with a carpet covered hole in it - I tape the ply to the fireplace and poke the rods up through a hole in the carpet. There's another hole there for the vacuum which is on all the time. The vacuum exhaust has another long pipe on it which goes outside - just in case the filter should fail!
£40 a pop.
John

 

[Nige F]

Burnerman - You da Man I `ve got another one for you Have a look @ PTS plumbing supplies - they have a Condensate Trace Heat kit that looks like it just plugs into a 13A. socket - Nice little earner and no Part P/ Gas Safe required . Might have a go myself

 

[Burnerman]

Burnerman - You da Man I `ve got another one for you Have a look @ PTS plumbing supplies - they have a Condensate Trace Heat kit that looks like it just plugs into a 13A. socket - Nice little earner and no Part P/ Gas Safe required . Might have a go myself

Can you give me a closer link, mate? Living in the tundra regions, this could be a route to our first million
John