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Why does nobody talk about hand rods vs rotary brushes?

I spent three whole years using a rotary brush setup on this old masonry chimney in Cincinnati. Last month I borrowed a buddy's set of hand rods with a poly head and it cleaned way better on the soot buildup. The rotary brush just kept gliding over the crusty stuff while the hand rods really scraped it off. Has anyone else noticed this difference on really old liners?

2 comments

2 Comments

felix9813d agoMost Upvoted

I mean, you used a rotary brush for three years and it worked fine, right? Hand rods might scrape a little better on old buildup, but I doubt it's a night and day difference for most people.

mark4913d ago

I actually read a study from the Chimney Safety Institute of America a while back that tested both methods on different liner types. They found hand rods removed about 30% more creosote on the "glazed" buildup you see in decades-old chimneys (like that one in Cincinnati). The rotary brushes work great for lighter deposits but they just spin over the hard stuff. Makes sense if you think about it.