Went with a rotary brush over traditional hand rods for my first flue cleaning

I been sweeping for about 8 months now and finally had to choose between getting a rotary brush kit or sticking with the old hand rod method my mentor taught me. My buddy swears by the rotary setup because it cuts his time in half on heavy creosote jobs. I ended up going with the SootEater system for around $80 and tried it on a nasty Class 3 buildup last Tuesday. It chewed through the gunk way faster than my hand rods but I noticed it left some streaks near the top I had to go back over. Has anyone else had issues with rotary brushes leaving uneven spots, or did I just get a bad angle on the first pass?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_alex1d ago

800 on a cordless drill is way too slow for Class 3 creosote, that's probably why Karen's leaving streaks. I run mine at 1500 on the way up and 800 on the way down and it comes out even every time. Fluffing up the liner fibers is a myth too, unless you're literally grinding the brush into the wall for five minutes straight.

martinez.karen2d ago

My first rotary brush job was on a wood stove insert with a tight offset, and I had the same streak problem until I figured out the cordless drill speed matters way more than I thought. Running it too fast on the way up actually flings the debris outward instead of letting the bristles scrape it clean, so now I keep it around 400 RPM and it leaves a smooth finish every time. The other thing nobody warned me about is that rotary brushes can fluff up the liner fibers on stainless steel if you push too hard, which ends up catching soot later on. I still use hand rods for the first pass on really bad flues because I like to feel the buildup before breaking out the power tool.