Cleaning the pipe from soot. Cleaning soot from stove and fireplace chimneys: the best means and methods for getting rid of soot in the chimney. How often should cleaning be carried out?

08.02.2017
2683
Pechnik (Moscow)

Any heating unit that is based on a chimney needs periodic and proper cleaning. The quality of traction and operation of this device directly depends on this. You can learn how to clean a chimney from this article.

When to clean

If cleaning is carried out quite rarely, combustion products begin to accumulate in the chimney pipe, as a result of which accumulations and roughness form on its walls, which prevent the high-quality removal of combustion products. Traction begins to work less efficiently.

When cleaning is necessary:

	Description
High fuel consumption	In order to light a fireplace or stove, more fuel, logs and coals begin to be required.
Unpleasant odors and smoke	When a large amount of soot accumulates, an unpleasant odor begins to appear, which may be accompanied by slight smoke.
Black plaque	A strong black coating is visible on the inside of the pipe. This picture can occur even if only dry fuel is loaded into the combustion device.
Flame color change	The burning flame has a pronounced dark red color. This indicates poor traction performance and insufficient supply of fresh air.

Advice: if at least one of the listed signs of pipe contamination appears, you need to clean it yourself or seek the help of professionals.

Cleaning options

To clean, you can use one of the following methods:

1. Use of folk remedies and techniques;
2. The use of commercial chemicals;
3. Heat the chimney pipe;
4. Remove contamination mechanically.

Chemicals

You can clean the chimney of soot by using special commercial preparations, which can be purchased at any specialized store. When choosing a cleaning product, pay attention to the instructions and recommendations from the manufacturer. Some products are suitable for cleaning specific models whose pipe is made of certain materials.

If you don’t know how to clean soot from a chimney, use the most popular means, such as: “Komichek”, “Chimney Sweep”.

Depending on the method of application, they can be produced in the form of:

• Briquettes with product;
• Powder;
• Special logs.

The cleaning principle is simple and is carried out according to the following scheme. The product is placed in the firebox, and the unit is heated to full capacity. The substances begin to act and rise up the hood with smoke, acting and destroying plaque and soot, which, after lagging behind, comes out on its own.

Traditional methods

Before cleaning the chimney with folk remedies, you must choose one of the following options:

• Aspen firewood. This method is suitable if the formations are not too large. Aspen firewood burns with a very hot flame and copes well with any dirt and accumulations on the walls of the hood;
• Salt. The oven must be heated well and 400-500 grams of coarse salt added to the firebox. The soot itself will fly out of the pipe;
• Potato peelings. Cleanings must first be dried thoroughly. For one pass you will need about 500-600 grams. Add to a well-heated fireplace in small portions;
• Naphthalene. Suitable only if the pipe has no cracks and is completely sealed. One tablet must be placed in the burning fuel and the unit must be heated well. The soot will come out on its own in white flakes.

Important: cleaning using traditional methods is one of the simplest and most accessible, sincepricefor such funds is very low.

We heat the pipe

What is the best way to clean a chimney, without using folk or commercial products:

• It is necessary to perform calcination. This procedure requires special care.

Instructions for calcination:

1. Heat the oven at full power and wait until the temperature reaches 60 degrees;
2. The device must continue to operate at full power until the soot begins to burn and fall off the walls;
3. After the unit has cooled, the hood is mechanically cleaned.

Important: using this technology is very dangerous. When choosing this method, it is recommended to seek help from professionals.

Mechanical method

How to clean a chimney pipe mechanically:

1. Broom;
2. Brush;
3. Brush;
4. With a vacuum cleaner.

All these devices can be either purchased or made independently.

In order to make a ruff, you will need a metal base or a very thick wire that needs to be twisted well. Villi of the required size and density are attached to one end. For added convenience, you can install a comfortable plastic or rubber handle.

To learn more about the assembly process of this and many other devices, watch the video in this article.

How to clean a chimney from a roof

We perform cleaning mechanically

How to clean soot from a chimney, step-by-step guide:

• Remove from the hood all unnecessary objects that are in the way or poorly secured;
• If you have a stove or hob, it must be well covered with cellophane and secured;
• Cleaning is carried out from bottom to top;
• After the hood from below is completely cleaned, we move on to the roof;
• To work on the roof, it is necessary to use additional protection: an aspirator, a mask and a mounting belt;
• Soot is pushed in any convenient direction;
• A broom or vacuum cleaner will help get rid of dirt.

Important: after cleaning, heat the unit and check the operation of the traction. Tip: specialmesh for stones on the chimney, will not allow soot and other formations to accumulate in the pipe quickly and in large quantities.

Causes of pollution

On average, it is necessary to remove all contamination about once or twice a year. If cleaning is needed more often, you need to figure out the reason. The main reasons for premature contamination of the hood:

1. Incorrectly selected fuel. Logs that are too wet contribute to the emergence of various large formations. Fuel moisture content should not exceed 15-20%. You cannot burn household waste and other items in a stove, as they can be impregnated with various compounds and resins;
2. Violation of tightness or incorrectly laid masonry. The presence of cracks or free space in the masonry reduces the performance of the draft, as a result of which combustion products quickly accumulate on the walls and over time can completely clog the pipe. To solve this problem, completely clean the fireplace and seal the seams;

1. The use of low-quality material can also lead to its destruction and excessively rapid accumulation of combustion products and sediments. For finishing and assembling the structure, you use exclusively materials that have a high level of fire resistance and appropriate impregnations, varnishes, paints and laying materials.

Photos of chimney cleaning methods and products can be found in this article.

DIY flexible brush

If you don’t know how to clean a chimney, make a universal and convenient brush on your own using scrap materials:

• Make the base from any flexible and durable material of maximum length. You can also use thick rope;
• A handle made of metal, rubber or plastic is attached to one side. It is necessary for additional convenience;
• On the other hand, a round-shaped weight is attached to the base (so that it passes well through the base of the pipe);
• The product must be supplemented with a special brush with bristles of the required size and density.

Important: to clean sandwich pipes, the base of the brush must be assembled, since such pipes have many branches that are difficult to predict in advance.

Now you know how to clean a chimney, and most importantly, how to do it quickly, easily and safely!

When using any solid fuel, products of incomplete combustion accumulate in the chimney, which settle on the walls in the form of a soft coating. If cleaning is not carried out in time, the clearance will decrease, which will significantly worsen traction. And so much so that smoke will go into the room. In the worst case, the soot can catch fire, which can lead to pipe destruction or even fire. Chimney cleaning is practically the only way to avoid this. It is necessary to inspect the condition of the pipe twice a year - before and after the heating season. How often you will have to clean depends on whether you use preventative chimney cleaning methods or not.

This is the result of soot igniting

There are two types of chimney cleaning:

Chimney sweeps have been cleaning soot this way for centuries. Cleaning is carried out from the roof. A special projectile is lowered into the pipe - a core, to the center of which a flexible cable is welded/attached. Above the core there is a brush that brushes away soot, and the core is a weighting element that simultaneously checks the permeability of the pipe. When working, you need to be careful: if the traction is good, soot and other debris will fly into your face. Therefore, first put on goggles and a respirator, and also stay attached to the pipe: with a sudden release in the face, a person involuntarily makes a sudden movement. You can probably imagine how this could end up on the roof.

This design - a ruff with a core on a cable - can be made independently, but the main catch is in the correct load. It should be round and centered. No ordinary weights or heavy pieces of iron are suitable. They work for the time being, and then the attached load becomes “stupid” in the pipe and cannot be removed from there by any effort. Often, in order to remove the projectile, disassembling a fragment of the chimney is required. If you are going to clean the chimney yourself, either make or buy a “correct projectile” that will under no circumstances get stuck in the chimney. Wrapping a brush, making it out of metal or synthetic bristles - these are details that usually do not cause difficulties.

Sometimes the pipe is too high to be reached even from the roof. In this case, the chimney is cleaned from below. If the chimney is metal and there is a cleaning glass, unscrew it and insert a brush on a flexible rod into the pipe. In some cases, not rods are used, but rigid wire. If there is no glass, maybe there is a cleaning hole, but if there is none, then you will either have to disassemble the beginning of the chimney, or clean it through the firebox, which is completely inconvenient.

There is one more point: if the pipe is metal, cleaning with a brush is not enough - a large amount of plaque remains on the walls. To ensure high-quality cleaning, instead of a brush, wrap a ball of rags around a wire or rod. This chimney cleaning leaves behind almost perfectly clean walls.

Homemade brush for cleaning the chimney

One option is to make a cleaning brush from polypropylene pipes. The pipes are cut into fragments of approximately 1.5 meters. Threaded fittings are installed at the ends. A metal brush for an angle grinder is attached to one of them.

First, the wire on the brush is fluffed using pliers or pliers. It turns out to be a homemade telescopic cleaning rod for the chimney.

Watch the video to see how to make a chimney cleaner from a plastic bottle.

How to clean a very tall or curved chimney

Sometimes the pipe rises very high above the ridge. Why not call a special machine with a lifting platform every time to clean the chimney? The issue is resolved with the help of a very long cable, in the middle of which a brush of a suitable diameter is attached.

A small weight is tied to the end of the cable, thrown into the pipe, and pulled out from the other end. The cable remains inside, and its other end hangs outside. When the need arises to shake the soot, simply pull first one end, then the other, moving the brush tied to the cable. The total length of the cable is three pipe heights.

The problem of a pipe with a bend is solved in the same way - you only have to somehow pull the cable through the bend the first time, and then you only need to pull the ends of the cable.

Chemicals for cleaning soot

Any chemicals are only preventive measures and a way to make mechanical cleaning less frequent. You can cope without mechanical removal of plaque only if you have a stainless steel or ceramic chimney, and only with regular use of one or more products from this category.

Keep in mind that if you haven't cleaned your chimney in a while and you start using one of the chemicals, there is a chance that you will completely “plug” the draft. These substances do not remove or dissolve deposits, but only soften them. Softened soot and soot either fly away in the form of flakes into the chimney or fall down. If the stove is reversible, with long curved smoke channels, soot can clog the clearance. It will be necessary to open the cleaning windows, rake out the soot and everything that has fallen there. If the pipe is straight, after using these products you need to clean the firebox - within a few days the fallen sediment will fall into it.

Folk chemicals

Let's start with “folk” remedies for dissolving soot. Our grandmothers also periodically sprinkled some salt on burning wood. To ensure that the soot flies into the chimney and does not fall inside, the chimney is heated very well, with the fireman at full power for some time. Then half a kilogram or a kilogram of salt is poured into the fire and the fire continues for another hour and a half. If the pipe is hot enough, gray or black flakes begin to fly into the pipe. Over the course of several days, residues may fall inside, but the bulk burns in the pipe.

Many people are well familiar with the effects of potato starch. In the same way, with a well-heated oven, pour about a bucket of potato peelings onto the firewood (you can use chopped potatoes, or you can use starch). The effect is almost the same, with the only difference being that almost everything falls inside.

Another option for “folk” chemicals for cleaning chimneys is burning several aluminum cans. In this case, the fire must be really hot: you need firewood with high heat capacity. Then the aluminum really burns - the can disappears in 5-7 minutes. If it just darkens, there will be no effect.

Store-bought drugs

There are various chimney cleaning products available in stores. Some of them are produced in the form of powder packaged in bags, others - in the form of logs or briquettes. Please read the instructions before purchasing. There are preparations intended for open fireboxes, such as a fireplace, and others for closed ones, such as sauna or heating stoves. It is not recommended to replace them - after all, chemistry...

The range of chemicals for chimney cleaning is constantly updated, but there are drugs that have existed for decades. Their effects have already been well studied. Below we will talk about the most popular and common ones.

The composition of these products, of course, is not disclosed; the principle of operation is described rather poorly: under the influence of gases released during combustion (safe for humans), the soot dries out, burns out, becomes brittle and flies out into the chimney or crumbles down. For an overview of the Chimney Sweep Sazhinet chimney cleaning log, watch the video.

Thermal chimney cleaning methods

The action of this method is based on the fact that soot is a high-calorie combustible substance. The temperature in the chimney is brought to the point where it flares up and burns out. The problem is that the combustion temperature of soot is about 1100°C and few chimneys and fire stops (when passing through a ceiling or roof) are able to withstand such heat.

Its one very unpleasant and dangerous feature is that if a lot of soot has accumulated, the moment of ignition is very similar to an explosion. Almost the same sound is heard, and the air wave is noticeable. So, in addition to extremely high temperatures, a significant shock load is also added. There were cases when even rough stoves fell apart. So this method is a dangerous undertaking.

Thermal cleaning is simple: take dry aspen firewood and heat the stove. Their combustion temperature is very high, and after a while the soot ignites. If you burn aspen periodically, the deposits simply do not have time to be deposited in sufficient quantities to cause any noticeable harm during combustion. But it is dangerous to use this method on a clogged chimney.

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A soot fire in a chimney is a daily nightmare for the inhabitants of any home with flaming heating and cooking appliances. Even if the fire can be extinguished before the stove (boiler) pipe burns out and there is no fire in the house, the costs of eliminating the accident will be prohibitively high, and the house will be left without heating and cooking facilities in the cold. However, regular cleaning of the chimney from deposits in it is necessary not only for fire safety purposes: the efficiency and durability (lifetime before overhaul) of the stove or boiler are maintained only if the draft in the chimney corresponds to the nominal one; any blockage reduces the clearance of the chimney and, accordingly, the chimney draft.

Why get into the mud?

For the reasons stated chimney cleaning is an absolutely necessary planned technological operation during the operation of heating and cooking appliances that burn fuel, and the profession of a chimney sweep remains in demand in the most developed countries in an age when humanity is mastering quantum information systems and preparing for interstellar flights. Moreover, given the current state of affairs with energy resources in the world, the advantages of individual stove heating over centralized heating significantly outweigh its disadvantages.

But, the reader may object, when my sink siphon gets clogged, I call a plumber. And why do I need to know anything about such a much dirtier and unhealthy activity as cleaning chimneys from soot? Let the chimney sweeps do this, and I’ll pay within reasonable limits.

Firstly, what is a “reasonable limit” in this case? Chimney sweep services in the Russian Federation are considered perhaps the cheapest in the world. But even in Russia, cleaning a chimney from soot costs at least 10,000 rubles. This is if there is a chimney sweep in this locality or in its immediate vicinity. For calling him out, you will have to pay extra for round trip travel and accommodation at the place of work. What if the road to the house with the stove is impassable for ordinary vehicles in winter?

Secondly, if there is a leak from the kitchen sink siphon or an overflow from the toilet, then there is simply no time to wait for a plumber - here the rescue of drowning people is the work of the drowning people themselves; the degree of urgency if there are signs of the need for unscheduled/emergency chimney cleaning is even higher. Therefore, even if your money is enough to pay a chimney sweep + 200% bonus, you still need to know how to clean the chimney yourself, at least quickly, so that the immediate threat passes.

Thirdly, cleaning the chimney by any method other than chemical gentle (preventive) does not leave a mark on its resource. At the same time, the profession of a chimney sweep is highly paid, but harmful, dirty and dangerous, and there is little competition in it. Really high-class professionals prefer to do easier scheduled preventive cleaning under subscription service contracts, and if you need to clean a chimney in a private house urgently and/or in the outback, there is a high risk of running into a money-hungry klutz, and if your chimney is a modern modular sandwich or ceramic/glass, improper cleaning can damage it once and for all.

Reliable information about chimney cleaning is much less common than about plumbing - after all, just 10 years ago, individual stove heating was considered a relic of the past doomed to extinction. If a plumber starts connecting propylene pipes by taping them together, a glamorous, pampered diva will drive him out. But if a chimney sweep puts a steel brush on a solid rod into a sandwich chimney with blind kinks, then even a smart businessman may decide that this is the right thing to do. And a day, week or month after the “specialist” receives his bribe and leaves, the consequences will be severe, even catastrophic. If there is a need to clean a stove/boiler pipe, you need a certain minimum of knowledge in this area to supervise the work of a specialist. Therefore, even if the very mention of cleaning a chimney causes you physiological disgust, but you use stove or boiler heating, you you definitely need to know:

• Why and how the chimney lumen becomes covered with deposits.
• How can you determine by external signs whether a chimney needs cleaning and, if so, in what order (see below)?
• What tools and methods are used to clean chimneys of different types, depending on the nature and properties of deposits in them?
• How to clean a chimney with your own hands if necessary, using improvised means?
• Are there ways to guarantee avoiding urgent chimney cleaning during the heating season and, if so, which ones?

Is it just soot?

Cleaning a chimney from black soot, as the ignorant imagine it, is quite simple, and if the chimney is brick, then you cannot expect serious negative consequences from manual cleaning with improvised means. But, firstly, not only black soot is deposited in chimneys, and in different ways. Secondly, modern chimneys, in terms of their properties, are by no means brick.

In brick and, when fired with high-quality fuel (deciduous or pine firewood, properly seasoned in a woodshed), in simple steel chimneys, the so-called. plump soot (item 1 in the figure), which is almost pure amorphous carbon. As a rule, plump soot completely covers the lumen of the pipe before it cokes (sinters; cemented with bituminous substances, mainly creosote). Puffy soot ignites most easily, but external signs of its influence on traction (see below) appear early and clear. Cleaning a chimney from plump soot or preventing its deposition using any of the methods described below does not present any technical difficulties.

Gray soot (item 2) is typical for conventional steel chimneys of stoves/boilers operating on coal or random wood fuel. Coking of gray soot begins when its layer reaches approx. 2 mm and then spreads to the entire plaque. External signs of a chimney being overgrown with gray soot are weakly expressed and develop slowly. The combustion of gray soot is a rare phenomenon, but it necessarily entails the most severe consequences: part of the amorphous carbon is modified to graphite during the bituminization process, and the burning gray soot develops a temperature of over 1600 degrees. Manually cleaning a chimney from gray soot is not always possible or is very labor-intensive, so in this case preventive measures against soot deposition are of paramount importance.

Note: pure graphite burns at 2500 degrees. According to the recollections of the helicopter pilots who extinguished the Chernobyl reactor, its interior shone dazzlingly, like the Sun.

Light gray soot in sandwich chimneys (item 3) cokes instantly at the moment of deposition. A modular sandwich chimney, at the moment of starting the device that is connected to it, experiences a thermal shock: the cold inner surface of a thin-walled steel pipe in thermal insulation very quickly warms up to the temperature of the flue gases. From the point of view of the energy efficiency of the device, this is good: almost no fuel is wasted to accelerate the stove/boiler to its rated thermal power. But the first to settle on the pipe wall is a creosote film, which immediately grabs unburned fuel particles. Further, if the chimney is not prevented from soot falling out, its clearance quickly becomes overgrown with ordinary gray soot. Only an experienced professional chimney sweep can remove a coating of light gray soot without damaging the chimney, alternately using installations for hydraulic and mechanized rotary (rotary) cleaning.

Oily (white) soot, pos. 4, is formed in the chimneys of devices intended for cooking over an open fire: barbecues, barbecues, etc. In addition, in sandwich chimneys of household fireplaces, a real coal-wood fireplace, thanks to the always open firebox, perfectly cleans the room of dust. Where does the fat come from? From dust drawn into the firebox. A significant proportion of house dust consists of dried grease from the inhabitants of the home, kitchen fumes and splashes. Oily soot manifests itself just as clearly and quickly as plump soot, and can be easily cleaned off with a brush or ruff both from above and below. Preventive measures against greasy soot are quite effective and, if applied correctly, urgent chimney cleaning will never be necessary. But, if there is greasy soot in the chimney, you should not hesitate to remove it under any circumstances - greasy soot catches fire very easily; True, it burns weakly and the chimney can always be extinguished in time. But a complete replacement of the expensive modular system is inevitable after this.

About sandwich systems...

The advantages of sandwich chimneys do not end with their efficiency, but it is almost never possible to clean a clogged sandwich without compromising its service life. The fact is that customers, tempted by the ease of installation of sandwich pipes, for the sake of cheapness, ask to make a chimney (or make it themselves) with inclined sections and blind corners (kinks). Even with manual cleaning (see below), the brush gets through them, but it scratches the smooth stainless steel so much that the deposition of soot on the fractures becomes chronic, to the point that the chimney elbows have to be replaced at the height of the season.

A properly modular sandwich chimney is assembled from horizontal (hogs) and vertical (otters) bends connected by tees with cleaning and inspection hatches, see figure:

In this case, even if solid light gray soot is detected in the chimney, after hydrotreatment it is cleaned with a gentle rotary brush (see below) and its service life is practically not reduced. If chemical prevention and inspection of the chimney is carried out in a timely manner, then “impact” chemical cleaning (see below) will work. Then the remaining soot can be raked out into the tees and removed by the owner himself without calling a specialist. In general, additional the costs of “extra” elbows and tees during operation are paid off by savings on cleaning and peace of mind.

Note: what is in fig. designated as otters, according to the rules of technical terminology - risers. The otter in the stove industry is the widening of the part of the chimney protruding above the roof, which improves the wind flow around it, the draft of the chimney and partly prevents the joint between the pipe and the roofing pie from getting wet. But there are already plenty of risers in everyday life - water supply, sewerage, gas - so it would not be a great sin to call the vertical modules of a sandwich chimney otters.

When to call a pro

It is recommended to clean the sandwich chimney yourself only using chemical (non-contact) methods, but they are effective if the soot layer is no thicker than 2 mm. Otherwise, you need to call a chimney sweep, but first show them a photo of the soot in the chimney and ask: how will you clean it?

Puffy soot and gray in a not too thick layer, i.e. not completely coked, the so-called with a gentle brush of rapid rotation, on the left in the figure:

Its flexible shaft (see below) can be driven by a drill or hammer drill with the blow turned off. Next, if the gentle brush fails, use a hydraulic unit to remove soot and repeat the passage with the gentle brush; this is already extra. payment. There is soot left - more. payment, and the master prepares the unit for mechanized rotary cleaning with hard brushes (the rest are in the figure). A “handy” drive is not suitable for them, because The rotation speed must be kept stable regardless of the load on the brush. The brush frequency and type are chosen by the master depending on the type, structure of the chimney and the nature of its contamination. A hard rotary brush will remove everything, but if the sandwich was cleaned with this, a conscientious specialist warns: “Don’t forget to replace the chimney in the summer. I can’t guarantee whether this next season will last.”

...and about ceramic chimneys

Glass chimneys and solid ceramic chimneys made by slip casting are very expensive, but in terms of efficiency and overall performance qualities they surpass the best sandwich. If regular chemical prophylaxis is carried out, the soot in them either does not fall out at all, and if it does fall out, it holds on very weakly. But such chimneys are fragile, and damaged ones quickly become overgrown with plump soot. Therefore, if it comes to mechanical cleaning of a ceramic/glass chimney, you need to use only and only a special tool, see below.

When should you clean?

The chimney is cleaned next. cases:

1. Planned annually - before the start and after the end of the heating season with the furnace/boiler stopped;
2. Scheduled preventive maintenance - during the use of the heating and cooking device without stopping it;
3. Unscheduled without shutdown - if there are initial signs of soot deposition and if, based on the results of the chimney inspection, the thickness of its layer is established to be up to 2 mm;
4. Urgent with shutdown - based on signs of heavy soot deposits and a layer thickness of more than 2 mm.

Annual scheduled cleanings must be carried out mechanically (see below). During the autumn, the readiness of the device for the heating season is checked, even if it was not used in the summer: a bird's nest, a tangle of wintering snakes, or just random debris may be found in the pipe. In no case should you skip the spring one: over the summer, the winter soot in it from the heat and precipitation will become so coked that the autumn cleaning will turn from a simple inspection into a complex, expensive procedure.

Smoke or flame?

It is usually advised to determine the need to clean the chimney while the stove/boiler is moving by looking at the smoke from the chimney: if, they say, it is white, curly, everything is OK. It has turned grey, thickened, pulled down - it needs to be cleaned. This is an unreliable sign: the type of smoke from the chimney is highly dependent on weather conditions; You know that they use it to predict the weather, right?

The more reliable condition of the chimney is determined by the type of flame in the firebox. Fuel must be loaded into it according to the norm; the wood should flare up, i.e. be completely engulfed in flames and charred on the outside. If the stove/boiler is new, correctly designed, built and heated correctly, then after they are accelerated (brought up to design power by test fireboxes), the cores of the flames will become light yellow, and the tongues themselves will stretch straight up (on the left in the figure). This means that the device has become stable: a layer of soot with a high content of graphite up to 0.5 mm thick has been deposited in its chimney. Such plaque is harmless, and in a brick chimney it is useful, because... makes its walls smoother and increases traction.

Over time, the cores of the tongues will turn straw-yellow and the flames will begin to dance (center in the picture). This is a sign that it’s time to start chemical prevention (see below) and carry it out until the flame stretches straight up, remaining straw-yellow at the core. If this does not happen after 2-4 fires, you need to burn the aspen or log for impact dry cleaning. It didn’t help, the flame died down, turned red at the top and beats in the firebox; especially if it splashes onto the forehead of the stove, on the right in Fig. – urgent mechanical cleaning of the chimney is required and the appliance should be stopped.

Note: You can use the smoke to determine the condition of the chimney if the flame does not give a definite answer; e.g. when changing the type of fuel. Provided that you remember (or take a good quality photograph) what the smoke was like from the chimney of a new or thoroughly cleaned stove in different weather conditions. If during the same period it darkens and thickens, you need to trim the chimney and, if necessary, clean it.

Chimney cleaning products

Chemical and mechanical means for cleaning the chimney have already been mentioned above; This is where their selection is limited. “Anti-soot chemistry” is applicable to chimneys that have not been neglected (in terms of maintenance) with a soot coating no thicker than approx. 2 mm; in other cases you have to use mechanics

Anti-soot chemistry

Chemical products are intended for use by the owners themselves without the involvement of specialists and cope with a thin coating of any soot of any kind. “Chemistry for soot” cleans not only the chimney, but also the entire smoke system. For devices with complex thermal circuits (which are the most economical) this is more than relevant. Prevention against soot loss is also possible only with chemical means. In addition, “dry cleaning” of the stove is the cleanest in the literal sense: a relatively small amount of cleaned soot falls into the firebox, from where it can be removed without dirtying the room; Most of the soot burns and flies out into the chimney.

The action of chemical soot removal products is based on the release of catalysts into the flue gases, provoking the combustion of its bituminous components. Typical composition of “soot chemistry”:

• Amorphous silicon (inhibits, i.e. suppresses the combustion of carbon).
• Wood sawdust (emit volatile flammable substances that initiate the ignition of bitumen).
• Urea (urea) plays the role of nitrate: when heated, it releases oxygen. Nitrate itself (any kind) cannot be used in this composition - it can detonate in contact with carbon and in the presence of catalysts!
• Ammonium and sodium sulfates provide catalyst ions.
• Coal wax - spreading in a layer of soot, ensures uniform combustion.

Note: Carbamide is also, in principle, an explosive substance. In the Bond film “All World is not enough”, under the Western name “urea”, a terrorist blows up MI6. But they used some kind of Hollywood-style fantastic detonator, but in general it is extremely difficult to make urea detonate even in special installations.

Creosote and other bituminous substances are enough for even the plumpest soot. After they burn out, non-sticky amorphous carbon and graphite remain, which crumble down. This leads to an important drawback of chemical soot removers: the chimney must be designed for elevated temperatures. If the upper part of the pipe is laid on ordinary cement mortar or made of asbestos-cement pipe, then the use of chemical soot cleaners can render it completely unusable. And if you try to “chemically” remove a thick coating of plump or greasy soot, then the likelihood of it catching fire is very high.

Chemical soot removers are available in the form of powder (left in the figure), briquettes and logs (center and right):

Powders are used for prevention; the ratio of ingredients in them is different than in compressed formulations. The powder is sprinkled on the logs loaded into the firebox in layers before kindling according to the instructions included with the package. The device starts up and operates in normal mode; It is possible to regulate combustion by air supply and draft using a damper. If you buy a powder recommended for the type of fuel you use, then you will only need scheduled seasonal chimney cleanings listed above.

A briquette and a log for cleaning a chimney from soot differ only in shape and are used for “impact” unscheduled chemical cleaning. They are used differently, because They act only on hot soot: standard fuel is loaded into the firebox and they wait for it to burn out, but not completely go out. Then they throw a cleaning log into the firebox, close its door and completely open the vent with the damper. The device is kept “in the air” for 2-3 hours (more precisely, according to the instructions), i.e. the stove/boiler gets cold and this fuel load does not provide useful heat.

Note: how to use chemical soot removers, see the video:

Video: chemical cleaning of the chimney

and user reviews about them follow. video:

Village chemistry

Our ancestors discovered chemical prevention and removal of soot from chimneys long before they appeared on the market as new chemical technology products. Folk remedies for preventing soot deposits in the chimney and cleaning it from it are as follows:

1. Potato peels - for the prevention of soot, similar to chemical powder;
2. Table salt - the same;
3. Aspen firewood – for “impact” cleaning of small soot deposits.

Potato peelings are dried until brittle before being added to fuel. Catalysts for the burnout of soot bitumen are organic products of the joint pyrolysis of starch and the alkaloid solanine; Solanine is contained in the peel, sprout and green parts of the tubers, which is why they are all poisonous. The tops of potatoes and other nightshades (for example, tomatoes) contain even more solanine, but there is no starch and they are not suitable for preventing soot. Also unsuitable are products containing only starch, for example, rice, and cleaning root vegetables without alkaloids containing sugar (beets, turnips, etc.) will only aggravate soot deposition. In principle, peeling the root crops of yams, sweet potatoes and taro would work against soot, but they don’t grow here, and where they grow, there is no problem with cleaning chimneys due to the lack of need for seasonal heating.

Note: organic catalysts for bitumen combustion are more active than mineral ones, therefore removing a lot of plump and greasy soot with potatoes is even more dangerous than with “chemicals”.

During thermal decomposition, table salt releases sodium ions - catalysts, but in the singular without additional additives they act weaker. But you can try to loosen thick, plump and greasy soot with salt without stopping the furnace: if it doesn’t work, then nothing bad will happen. Just don’t expect an immediate effect - soot starts falling into the firebox 1-3 days after burning salted wood.

Aspen firewood (see figure on the right) to remove soot is used at room dryness, i.e. After the wood burning, they must be kept for at least a month in a dry, heated room. Aspen fuel is low-calorie, but when burned it develops a high temperature, up to 1200 degrees, which is why it is used to accelerate brick kilns. The aspen firebox acts on soot (including thick, plump and greasy) purely thermally: the bitumen is heated to the point of fluidity and the soot falls off. Firing aspen from soot gives an immediately visible effect, but It is necessary to load aspen firewood into the stove no more than half of the norm (by weight), otherwise the structure of the stove may not withstand overheating.

Note: For “rustic” methods of preventing soot in the chimney and removing it from there, see the video:

Video: traditional methods for removing soot

Mechanical cleaning products

Mechanical cleaning of the chimney is carried out, firstly, in the order of its routine inspection and maintenance in the fall and spring. Secondly, if urgent cleaning is necessary during the heating season with the furnace/boiler stopped, because... Mechanical cleaning while the device is running is not possible. Mechanical cleaning is labor-intensive; A lot of dirt gets into the room. It is impossible to clean the stove/boiler mechanically at the same time as the chimney. Mechanical prevention of soot is also impossible: mechanical cleaning of the chimney is carried out only after it has been contaminated. When cleaning with mechanical methods, the likelihood of damage to the chimney is not small. But by mechanical means it is possible to remove the oldest soot, even if it has completely blocked the lumen of the pipe, without the risk of causing it to catch fire and/or overheating of the device.

Note: machine cleaning of the chimney (briefly described above) is the domain of professionals, because keep at home in reserve just in case, resp. installation is pointless. If an ordinary householder dares to clean the chimney himself, he will have to do it manually.

Top or bottom?

Mechanical devices are used to clean the chimney from above (from the roof) or from below (from the furnace/boiler firebox). Top cleaning may not allow dirt into the room at all, because... Most of it is removed outside, but it is dangerous and is only possible under favorable weather conditions. As a rule, the chimney is cleaned from above in the order of autumn-spring inspection. After the bottom cleaning, the room will be full of soot, but climbing to the roof is not necessary. Therefore, urgent/emergency winter cleaning of the chimney is carried out from below and the device is stopped. In both cases, the working body of a manual cleaning tool will be a brush or brush.

Ruffs...

Cleaning the chimney with a brush is the most accurate; It is strongly recommended to clean sandwich chimneys manually only with a brush. But cleaning with a brush is also the most labor-intensive: on average, routine cleaning of a 4 m long pipe takes 40 minutes, and urgent cleaning takes more than an hour. It is unlikely that it will be possible to remove light gray and old gray soot with a brush.

The chimney is cleaned with a brush most often without rotation; in this case, the working element is fixed on a long flexible cable in a slippery shell (on the left in the figure). Clean the pipe with a brush, screwing it up and down; The cleared soot is scattered wherever necessary. The spines (bristles) of the brush can be steel or plastic. A steel brush cleans both plump and greasy soot, but scratches the pipe. A plastic brush gets stuck in greasy soot or slides on it, but it can be used to clean not only sandwiches, but also cast ceramics and glass. However, now chimney brushes with spines made of propylene fishing line for brush cutters are increasingly coming into use; they combine the advantages of steel and plastic brushes without their disadvantages.

Note: a brush with spines made of hard, inflexible thick steel wire (see figure on the right), the so-called. garnish, is used in exceptional cases for cleaning thick-walled steel chimneys, but it scratches them so much that then the deposition of soot accelerates significantly.

A brush-brush (item A in the previous figure) with 2-3 turns is also called a single or fine-cleaning brush: with it alone you can remove only thin, fresh, plump soot, and from the others it only scoops out residues that have been loosened and/or softened by chemical or hydrocleaning. The cleaning brush does not fit through the fractures of the chimney - there are few spines, they are crushed and do not hold the rod, which rests on the fracture.

A one-and-a-half-turn brush with 4-5 turns (pos. B) is most commonly used, because It takes plump, greasy and not old gray soot and passes through the cracks at least 120 degrees. However, even with scheduled seasonal cleaning, they have to move for up to an hour or more. A one and a half brush is also called a one and a half brush and is often attached to a cleaning device with a ball (see below), which is also called a one and a half brush. A full brush with 6 or more turns (pos. B) is suitable for cleaning only straight pipes, incl. barbell (also see below), but reduces the operating time by approx. 1.5 times compared to one and a half.

...and brushes

A chimney brush differs from a brush in that its spines stick out in bunches without forming spiral surfaces. Therefore, you can use a brush to clean the chimney with rotation: the awns do not crush or cut into soot and do not get stuck in it.

Brushes for manual chimney cleaning (see figure) are not the same as for machine cleaning (see figure above), and replacing hand brushes with machine ones is unacceptable: a machine brush should rotate much faster than a hand brush, and you will ruin the chimney with your hands more than you will remove soot . Brushes for manual cleaning of conventional chimneys are available with a through axial hole for mounting in a one-and-a-half-barrel (item and 2 in the figure) or with a threaded tip for installation on flexible rods (item 3) for cleaning from below or above, or on a rigid rod for cleaning only from above. In terms of length, location of the spines and action, both do not differ, but the drum brush for sandwich chimneys is designed differently, pos. 4. It is not recommended to replace it with a simple one, because otherwise, the brush core or the load of a half-barrel can damage the thin-walled pipe.

Note: When using a hand brush on the rod, be careful where you twist. If the brush unscrews and remains in the chimney, it will be difficult to remove it back.

Cleaning from below...

A non-chimney sweep most often has to clean the chimney from below with his own hands - in winter, urgently, when the roof is snowy and/or icy and calling a specialist is too expensive or even problematic. For lower cleaning, a brush (better if it takes soot) or a brush is screwed onto a rod and, building up the unit with them, they gradually push it into the chimney until the working element comes out of the mouth of the pipe (this can be felt well). If it gets stuck, carefully poke and twist: flexible rods with a one-and-a-half brush bend at 120 degrees, and with a brush at 90 degrees.

If you are working with a brush, then you need to move slowly to the full length, moving back and approaching again until the soot stops pouring out in a stream. Be patient: an hour and a half to clean the bottom of a 4-meter chimney with a brush is still fast.

If you work with a brush for the sake of speed, the next stage is the most interesting. A standard handle is placed on the last rod, or the end of the rod is secured in the drill chuck. The tool is switched to right (direct) rotation so that the rods seem to be screwed into each other and into the brush, the speed control is set 2-4 clicks from zero and moves back, rotating the entire system. One pass will most likely be enough, because... In winter, soot cokes slowly, but how much of it will fly into the room... you can imagine, but you don’t need to. And if it goes to such an extreme, you will see for yourself. Therefore, carpets, furniture and everything valuable from the room must be removed in advance, and the walls should be covered with film, secured with tape. It is difficult to hang a ceiling, so plan to re-whitewash it in the spring, and it is better to remove the false ceiling: stove soot eats into all finishing materials.

...and from above

Two scheduled cleanings a year will save you at least 20 thousand rubles, so let’s see how a chimney is cleaned mechanically from the roof. This can be done with a brush on the rod(s), or with a ball (one and a half brush) with a brush, depending on the type of soot and the degree of contamination of the chimney.

Dense gray soot builds up and the lumen of the pipe narrows slowly, so in this case it is better to clean with a brush. Cleaning is done in reverse: without rotating, the brush is slowly inserted into the chimney channel, trying to knock down as little soot as possible (pos. 1 in the figure), and then pulled up faster and rotating (pos. 2), pulling the soot out. If the firebox and vent of the stove are closed, and the fireplace portal is tightly curtained, very little soot will get into the room, but carpets, furniture and valuables still need to be removed in advance.

The chimney brush will not quickly pick up soot in the corners of a rectangular channel; square brushes are nothing more than a marketing ploy. To speed up the work, you can clean the corners with a hard household or bench brush on a pole, pos. 3, but the remaining soot will then fall down and it will take more time to rake them out of the firebox. For the same purpose, thick, dense and/or lumpy soot deposits are loosened with a hook (item 4) before using the brush; it also removes foreign objects.

A special case is cleaning a ceramic chimney. Soot adheres weakly to cast ceramics, but sharp scratches on its inner surface, even very small ones, accelerate its deposition and adhesion to the base to the point that the expensive chimney begins to require replacement. Therefore, ceramic chimneys are cleaned with a special so-called. smooth brush with blades made of steel spirals, pos. 5.

Note: It is more convenient, faster and cleaner to remove gray light, old or greasy soot from a round steel chimney using a disc scraper, see video:

Video: a simple and effective method for cleaning a pipe

What if you joke around?

If you don’t mind the time and effort of cleaning, and the chimney is straight, then you can clean it using the one-and-a-half-piece back-and-forth method. A little soot will also get into the room, but the risk of damaging the chimney duct is minimal. The top of the one and a half rack lends itself to very dense soot, which almost completely or completely covers the lumen of the pipe, because the weight (ball) of the device participates in cleaning, breaking and loosening soot deposits; the ruff removes it more and brings it down. To do this, they use the shock method: a half-truck is lifted on a cable and thrown. For these reasons, chimney sweeps of the past preferred to work with one and a half and were depicted with it.

You can make a one-and-a-half piece for cleaning the chimney with your own hands by purchasing only a brush and/or brush for it. But you shouldn’t use a sports weight as a load: it can get jammed in the channel (see figure below), which will almost certainly result in damage to the chimney and increased deposition of soot in it in the future. See the same fig for how a one-and-a-half rack is properly constructed.

Note: For information on cleaning a chimney with a homemade one and a half sheet, see the video:

Everyone knows that the removal of fuel combustion products in stoves and fireplaces is carried out through the chimney. It is also designed to create natural draft in the system, ensuring the efficiency of the combustion process. Those who have a stove are well aware that when the permeability of the chimney decreases, serious problems arise in its operation, including the occurrence of backdraft.

In this case, instead of being discharged outside, smoke and soot enter the living space. In such a situation, urgent chimney cleaning is required, otherwise carbon monoxide poisoning is possible. Regular maintenance of your smoke extraction system will help prevent such situations from occurring. You can clean the chimney from soot in different ways, which we will get acquainted with.

Cleaning a pipe can be done neatly and even elegantly

Why does the chimney become overgrown with soot?

Combustion of fuel is a process of high-temperature oxidation in the presence of oxygen. If the temperature is not high enough or there is not enough oxygen to support an efficient combustion process, soot is formed as a product of insufficient oxidation of carbon. Visually, it is detected in combustion products when black smoke exits the chimney. The main causes of soot are:

• Using raw wood as fuel. The combustion temperature in the firebox is reduced due to the consumption of thermal energy for drying firewood, as a result of which soot is actively formed.
• Plywood, particle boards and other similar materials contain glue. When it burns, the chimney becomes clogged very quickly, as when burning plastic bags and plastic.
• A large amount of soot is formed when the natural draft of the chimney decreases. This can occur due to the valve being covered or the pipe itself being insufficiently high, as well as due to a decrease in its permeability.

This is what soot looks like on the inner surfaces of the pipe

The type of wood used as fuel also affects the rate at which the chimney becomes overgrown with soot. This process will occur most quickly when burning coniferous wood, slower when burning deciduous trees, but they are much more expensive. Regardless of the type, you must ensure that only dry firewood goes into the firebox.

However, even if you select the fuel correctly, you will still have to occasionally clean the soot in the stove with your own hands.

Why do you need to clean your chimney?

The soot, lifted by the rising flow of warm air, is deposited on the inner walls of the pipe. A layer of soot that thickens over time leads to quite serious problems in the operation of the heating system. These include:

• reduction in natural draft due to narrowing of the smoke exhaust channel;
• accelerated wear of the internal surfaces of the pipe walls;
• reduction in the efficiency of the furnace;
• increased risk of fire inside smoke exhaust ducts.

Such a “fireworks” of burning soot can lead to a fire

To prevent such unpleasant consequences from occurring, the pipe must be periodically cleaned. This procedure should be carried out at least once a year. This procedure is not pleasant, but cleaning the chimney pipe and removing soot from it is simply necessary.

Methods for cleaning chimneys and stoves from soot

To learn how to clean the stove correctly and remove soot from it, it makes sense to study all known methods of doing this work. Since ancient times, the services of chimney sweeps have been needed by a large number of people; professionals in their field have been respected in society. From then to the present, many methods have been invented to clean soot from chimneys. These primarily include time-tested mechanical methods using special tools that have been used by professional chimney sweeps for decades.

Burning out soot using a thermal method gives good results, but when using it there is a danger of cracking the pipe. You can clean the chimney without using special tools, using chemicals of folk invention or industrial development.

The work of a chimney sweep is not without romance

Getting rid of soot with your own hands

The mechanical cleaning method is used in case of severe contamination of the chimney, when the soot layer exceeds two millimeters in thickness. In order to get rid of soot with your own hands, you will need the following tools:

• A brush made of plastic or metal for cleaning the chimney. Its diameter should exceed the internal cross-section of the pipe by one and a half times.
• Flexible plumbing cable equipped with a comfortable handle. It can be replaced with a strong rope.
• A long-handled brush with stiff bristles. It should be possible to increase the length of the handle if necessary.
• A metal core or weight attached to the brush. These parts must be centered and have a diameter two times smaller than the internal cross-section of the chimney.

The work of cleaning the chimney can be done both from above and from the bottom of the fireplace or open firebox. When performing all manipulations on the roof (to prevent falls), you must use a safety rope and a strong ladder. The respiratory organs are protected by a respirator, gloves are put on the hands, and shoes with non-slip soles are put on the feet. When working at height, it is prohibited to consume alcoholic beverages and medications that reduce reaction speed and concentration.

Basic tools for cleaning pipes

Before performing all procedures, it is necessary to allow time for the chimney to cool completely. The doors of the heating device in the living room are tightly closed to prevent soot from entering the house. The work begins by lowering a metal weight attached to a flexible cable into the chimney. This allows you to determine the distance to the blockage in order to eliminate it.

In this case, you need to try to keep the load along the central axis of the pipe section so as not to damage its walls.

A thick layer of carbon deposits from the inner surface of the chimney is first cleaned with a scraper on a long handle. Final cleaning is done with a brush with a metal core attached to it. If the stove design has an open combustion chamber, cleaning the chimney is completed from below using a brush with stiff bristles or a brush on an extendable telescopic handle. Lastly, the firebox is cleaned of soot using a vacuum cleaner.

Chemical cleaners are a good helper

Chemical cleaners are good helpers in removing soot from a chimney. They cope well with even the most difficult stains. Specially selected reagents effectively remove thick layers. When a composition consisting of a mixture of equal parts of coke, saltpeter and copper sulfate is burned on smoldering coals, soot deposits fall off.

Chemicals are easy to use

The industry produces a so-called anti-carbon chemical composition that has a very strong effect. Under no circumstances should the dosage of the drug indicated on its packaging be violated, otherwise cracking of the chimney may occur. Before use, be sure to read the instructions for use and follow all recommendations indicated there.

In the Czech Republic, a composition called Kominichek is produced, the active ingredient of which is copper chloride, so when using it, it is necessary to ensure good ventilation in the living room, or even better, leave it. The frequency of treatment is about three months with active use of the stove or fireplace.

Domestic manufacturers produce natural aspen or birch logs impregnated with copper chloride. It has a simple name: a log is a chimney sweep; when it is burned in the furnace firebox, substances are released that destroy tar deposits on the internal surfaces of the exhaust system. Considering the relatively high cost of chemical cleaners, it is cheaper and easier to take preventive measures that reduce the formation of deposits and regularly carry out mechanical cleaning.

Folk cleaning remedies are no worse than chemicals

Folk cleaning products work no worse than proprietary chemicals. The simplest and most affordable way is to clean the dirt in the chimney with potato peelings. To do this, burn about half a bucket of dried potato peelings in the furnace firebox. The starch they contain softens tar deposits, and they are easily removed mechanically. When burning, firewood sprinkled with rock salt releases sodium chloride vapors, which destroy soot deposits on the walls of the chimney.

Samples of folk remedies for cleaning pipes

Burning aspen wood at the final stage of heating the stove is highly effective. They have a high combustion temperature, and the intense heat burns the exfoliated deposits, but you need to make sure that sparks do not fly out of the pipe. Birch logs peeled from bark have approximately the same effect when loaded into the combustion chamber.

An alternative to aspen firewood is walnut shells. They also have a very high combustion temperature, so no more than two liters of this material should be loaded into the firebox at a time. Walnut shells perfectly clean the chimney of tar deposits. A good preventive measure is ordinary naphthalene. A tablet thrown into the fire helps the soot peel off and escape along with the smoke, but the smell of mothballs is extremely persistent and it is very difficult to get rid of it later.

When mixing seven parts of saltpeter, five parts of copper sulfate and two parts of coal, the so-called blue mixture is obtained. Approximately twenty grams of this mixture are poured into a well-heated stove and the door of the combustion chamber is closed. This composition is not recommended for use in open-fired ovens.

As you can see, cleaning the pipe yourself is not at all shameful.

Some owners, without further ado, clean the chimney using ordinary watering hose, preferably hard. It is pushed as far as possible into the chimney and several reciprocating movements are made. As a result, most of the pollution falls down: into a substitute bucket or other similar container.

An unusual but effective method is burning aluminum cans. They should be placed in a well-heated firebox with a large amount of hard coals. One can should burn in about five minutes, and not just sit there, changing the color scheme. Fumes from burning aluminum produce a good cleaning effect.

Extreme method using a chainsaw

Using a chainsaw is an extreme method of cleaning a chimney. A nozzle is put on the unit, which works on the principle of removing sawdust from woodworking machines in the form of a snail. It turns out to be a kind of exhaust cannon driven by a chainsaw motor. The flow of drawn soot is oriented in the direction of the wind. A similar effect can be achieved using a vacuum cleaner with reverse exhaust, but for it to function you need to run an electrical power cable to the roof.

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The following video has been carefully selected and will certainly help you understand what is presented.

The stove is one of the main elements of any private home. It mainly performs the function of heating rooms. However, over time, the chimney becomes clogged, and this has a negative effect on the operation of the furnace system. Therefore, cleaning the pipe should become a necessary and regular event.

Basic cleaning methods

There are many different options for chimney cleaning. Mechanical cleaning methods are used, using chemical reagents and various folk recipes. The optimal method is chosen taking into account the design of the pipe and the degree of its contamination. Of course, it’s easier to call qualified chimney sweeps who can professionally clean chimneys. However, this work is not so difficult, and it is quite possible to do it yourself.

The chemical method involves the use of special chemical compounds. This method is used when there is a small amount of soot inside the pipe. Used for preventive purposes and to eliminate light plaque. The chemicals soften the soot and help it peel off.

ATTENTION! There are also a variety of methods for solving this problem using folk remedies. For example, birch wood cleans pipes well, releasing a large amount of heat when burned.

Under the influence of high temperatures, chimneys made of stainless steel or brick are excellently cleaned. Pieces of soot peel off from the surface and fly out on their own. The method is often used to prevent blockages.

One of the methods for cleaning chimneys and stoves is the use of table salt. This method is not effective when the stove is actively used, or if it operates on solid flammable materials in large quantities.

What you need

Each cleaning method uses its own materials or devices. For cleaning using a method specially developed for this purpose, the following products are used:

• "Kominichek." The most well-known drug, produced in easy-to-use packages.
• Anti-carbon chemical composition (ACC). It is presented in powder form and requires strict dosage.
• "Log". It is shaped like a tile. Consists of coal dust and sawdust mixed with reagents. It is produced by many manufacturers.

IMPORTANT! For manual cleaning, you should select special brushes. Metal tools are better at removing soot deposits and are rough and wear-resistant.

Their significant disadvantage is their high price. If you work hard, you can damage the surface of the pipe, leaving scratches on it. Plastic tools are soft and less likely to scratch the surface. But they are less wear-resistant and durable.

Plastic products bend and break faster. Such a ruff quickly becomes obscene. Owners of brick chimneys are advised to use a metal brush. It will last longer and scrapes off dirt faster and better.

With a metal chimney, it is better to give preference to plastic. You will also need personal protective equipment: a respirator or mask, gloves, goggles and protective clothing. Do not ignore special ropes or twines for being on high roofs.

Popular favorite methods include the use of firewood with a high combustion temperature. As a rule, this is birch or aspen. From available means, they use table salt, which is available in every household. Such popular naphthalene is being used less and less, as it leaves an unpleasant odor in the premises, which is difficult to get rid of. Craftsmen have learned how to peel using potato peels.

Subsequence

When using chemicals, it is important to strictly follow the instructions and recommendations. In most cases, you just need to fill the compositions into the firebox according to the diagram. Typically, chemicals are dipped into the wood as it burns. It dried out under the influence of high temperature. Next, active components are isolated that convert the amorphous carbon of soot into solid particles. They, in turn, lose adhesion to the walls of the chimney and crumble into the firebox. They are then removed along with the ash.

REFERENCE! Remember to strictly follow safety precautions. It is necessary to ventilate the premises after work, as well as protect the respiratory and visual organs from toxic substances and dirt.

Potato peeling is one of the favorite folk methods. They are poured into a bucket about halfway (the size of the container and the number of cleanings depends on the design of the stove and the power of the chimney). It is recommended to dry the cleaning to avoid excess water.

Next, the stove is heated with coal, and the cleaning is placed on top. The hot steam generated from them, containing a high concentration of starch, helps soften the accumulated dirt. When using salt, pour one and a half cups of regular table salt onto hot firewood.

As a result of interaction with air, an environment is formed in which the formation of soot and mud deposits is minimized. This method is not recommended if the stove is constantly used or operates on solid types of flammable material. The salt method is more effective as prevention.

Mechanical cleaning requires physical effort. The ruff is tied to a string with a special weight and lowered into the chimney through a hole in the roof. The tool must pass along the entire chimney and remove soot from the walls. The ruff must be lowered with extreme caution and gradually. You cannot let go of the rope and “throw” the ruff into free fall. You can damage joints on your body or hit a load against the chimney and damage it. Lower and raise the tool around the entire perimeter of the pipe several times until you are completely sure that the blockage has been cleared and the soot has been removed.

The simplest way is to use boiling water. Before flooding the stove from above, pour several liters of boiling water into the pipe. The remaining dirt flies out through the pipe along with the smoke.

How often should you clean your chimney?

• at least once every four months, if the stove is used only for heating the house and cooking food;
• at least once every couple of months if the stove is used on an ongoing basis;
• monthly if the oven is constantly used for cooking.

What happens if you don't clean it?

When the chimney is clogged, the risk of fire and poisoning by fuel combustion products increases. Reverse exhaust of the chimney appears. Logs flare up worse and burn poorly. This contributes to even more soot deposits. The heating of the oven decreases. This happens because soot deposits prevent heat from penetrating. They are a kind of protective layer with poor thermal conductivity.

The surfaces and elements of the chimney also wear out faster. In addition, soot can easily ignite, which will inevitably lead to a fire.

All the methods discussed help to effectively clean the chimney. The choice of method is largely determined by personal preference. We hope that this article will be useful and help you navigate this issue.