Tried using a shop vac instead of rods for a straight flue and learned a hard lesson

I was up on a roof in Medford last Tuesday, figured I'd save time by sucking soot down with a vac instead of running brush rods through a 20 foot clay liner. Halfway through, the soot compacted into a solid plug and I spent two hours chiseling it out with a hammer. Has anyone else had a vac trick backfire like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliot_king27d agoMost Upvoted

A buddy of mine tried the same thing and ended up replacing an entire vacuum motor.

anthony_jackson27d ago

Whoa, the whole motor? That's wild. Guess the dust cake was way deeper than it looked. Sounds like a pricey mistake.