How a homeowner proved my rotary brush routine wrong

For years I swore by spinning the rotary brush at full speed on every sweep, figured faster meant cleaner. Last month a guy in Bakersfield stopped me mid-job and asked why I was turning his 1920s clay flue liner into dust. He showed me the scoring marks on the tile, then had me run the brush at half speed with a lighter touch. After I finished, the camera showed less debris left behind than my usual method, plus no new cracks. Now I check the liner age before picking my speed, and honestly that extra two minutes saves me a redo call. Anyone else adjust their gear based on the flue material or did I just miss this basic step for 8 years?

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rose_anderson403h ago

The liner age thing is huge but so is wall thickness. I keep a cheap caliper in the van and check the tile before I even pick a brush. Anything under half an inch and I drop to a soft nylon at low rpm, no exceptions. Old clay tile from the 20s is already brittle from years of heat cycles, so spinning fast just chews it up.

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