Not wanting to make light of a chimney sweeps work but could I not do it myself, I have a 6 inch liner and a relatively straight route with a cage on top.

Putting the house insurance issue aside to stay on topic!

Who does their own? What method do you use? and which rods and brush should I buy?

Also for the wife I should ask how best to reduce the mess?

Thanks

Our chap charges £40. In and out in 3/4 hour. No mess at all.

The latter is worth the cash IMO. I don’t think I could do it without it being a tad messy!

I bet brushes cost a bit too. And I wouldn’t want to be using Mrs Beagle’s dyson to hoover the soot out.

Bit of a no brainer for me. I will however keep my eye on this thread, to see if anyone does answer your question.

Apologies Mj!

I brush my own.

Drain rods and a 6″ nylon brush from eBay.

I detach the lower length of flue from my stove and the furnace, take them outside and brush them on the compost heap.

I then tape an old pillowcase to the end of the flue with a small hole for the rods to stick out of. All the soot falls into the pillow case.

If you are brushing through the stove, use an old sheet over the face of the stove.

DOnt forget to twist the rods clockwise only.

Count them out so you take it easy as the brush reaches the cowl.

Just did mine the other day. I had a set of drain rods already (what real man hasn’t?) and bought a 16″ brush from B&Q for about £6. Dissembled the interior of the stove, put a dust sheet down and twisted the thing up then down the flue a couple of times (clockwise only, or you lose the brush). Quick brush up and hoover the rest. Took about ten minutes.
Quite a lot of soot comes out, but the fire definitely performs better as a result.

Yup after a recent thread on here asking how easy it was I bought my own and did it myself, very easy and the burner has been working lovely since. There was loads came out and another load fell that night when the flue got hot.

What about insurance and chimney fires then? My mates a fireman and reckons they now actively check out whether chimney fire call outs have had their chimneys cleaned, to they could face a bill for the cost of the appliance call out.

My friends in Ireland have a system in built. It has 2 buttons.

1 button puts out a fire in the chimney and the other one sends a gel down the chimney. He opens a hatch at the bottom and places a bucket underneath.

He cleans it once a month. He said the system only cost a couple of hundred quid. He said they are common in Ireland but I’ve never seen them over here.

My mates a fireman and reckons they now actively check out whether chimney fire call outs have had their chimneys cleaned, to they could face a bill for the cost of the appliance call out.

Codswallop.

Just drop a chicken down the chimney pot. Live, obviously.

Just drop a chicken down the chimney pot. Live, obviously.

I think the correct protocol is from the bottom, with a small fire burning. Does a better job apparently. 🙂

Get your own brushes.
Our sweep charges £45 a pop, the old chimney and fire place took 20 odd mins to do so fair enough.
The flue took him about 10mins, and for £45 thought that was taking the p#ss so bought some rods & brush off ebay. I did buy the more expensive flexy rods and brush for around £100 as there are a couple of bends and thought I’d play safe. 2 1/2 sweeps and they’ve paid for themselves and as I’ve got my own brushes I’ll sweep twice a year from now on.
I weight an old towel from the top of the stove that reaches the hearth, make a hole for the rods and sweep up through the stove.
Took my time but wasn’t too messy 🙂

If youve got a flue.. get a bin bag and tape the opening round the flue.
Push the rods through a small hole in the side of the bin bag and all the mess will go straight in the bag. Obviously get your rod inserted in the flue before you cover it with the bag and poke it out through the side of the bag. I used some £25 rods and brush from toolstation.

my father in law is a sweep. there are good sweeps who really know what they are doing and there are a great deal of cowboys. there is way more to it than just popping a brush up a chimney, and a good sweep does way more than just sweep a chimney.

a good sweep does way more than just sweep a chimney.

I know one thats also a window cleaner..

And a street artist the cheeky little scamps.

I can’t believe someone suggested using a chicken ! I thought that was what children were for. They’ve got it far too easy these days.

I can’t believe someone suggested using a chicken ! I thought that was what children were for. They’ve got it far too easy these days.

I went round a small stately home in Northern Ireland last year. A guide explained to the visitors how children were used to clean the chimneys and that when that was outlawed, the chicken technique was used. Guess which statement brought gasps of horror!