DIY EASY Chimney Clean Out for Less Than $80!

It is finally that time of year to crank up the fire place! Even if you don't have a fire place, I'm sure you know someone who does. Please share this with them! Creosote builds up in the chimney and is the leading cause of 🔥 chimney fires 🔥 , so to say this is a very important process is an understatement. Last winter a friend of mine lost his house due to a chimney fire, and I don't want the same happen to you. I will show you my process on how I clean my wood burning chimney and give you some general knowledge. I have a wood burning fire place insert with a 8" inner liner that needs cleaned 1-2 times a year.

This is the link to the Soot Eater I used in the video, purchasable from Amazon:

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram!

DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission which does not impact your purchase price.

[gabeshull]

Commenting on why creosote is flammable but not by a lighter or torch. Being a former firefighter in the upper mid west I’ve made plenty of chimney fires. Every flammable material has a combustion temperature. Creosote i would assume is a similar temperature of motor oil. Burning a fire for a longer period of time at a high temperature can light it off. Most of the fires I’ve made are located in the upper 6’ of the chimney catching the surrounding frame work on fire. You probably won’t know until your neighbor calls the fire department. If it happens pop a ABC fire extinguisher off at the fire pit and the draft will put a good dent in the chimney fire.

[writchfangers]

With the amount of creosote collected is key. With temperatures reaching a constant 500 degrees and up to 2000. Think of creosote as like charcoal it’ll get to a burn as embers and the constant burn of logs below reinforces the temperature and when the creosote coating spreads as collective embers you get an uncontrollable burn and if you’ve ever walked outside to hear the chimney exhaust flue it’s a pressure cooker blowing up and out and is where if there are cracks present up the flue is where heat temperatures escape to start fires in the second story subfloors, walls and attics to the roof. It’s a sound you’ll never forget like a tornado. High pressure confined in small space try to get out. Great job on the video and the lead for the Sweep enjoy and be safe. You got it good. Now come to Georgia and do mine 😂😂😂😂

[knh]

From research at big box lumber yard on refractory cement, here goes- temp at base of fire gets to 1500 deg, regular concrete (mortar) breaks down at 850 over time unrelated here. Surrounding the fire can get to 1000 deg so if your smoke chamber and shelf heat up to 451 deg, which is less than half of temp in box, that is ignition point for creosote which then can expand like foam and reach temps of 2000 deg in minutes and catch other things on fire depending on their ignition temps.
Handyman mag stated necessity to clean chimney every 50 burns if wet wood, moisture coming out ends as it burns or 70 burns for dry hard woods. I would add if you have a ribbed flu like in this video, it looks like it catches the creosote and more cleaning and inspection might be necessary.
One last thing, I remember acid rain mixes with creosote and makes sulfuric acid further breaking down concrete (mortar), so do not forget about carbon monoxide poisonings if cracks in concrete, flu or liner at seams; so fire extinguisher as stated by fireman is great idea and carbon monoxide detectors on floors around chimney might be good precaution too.

[maryjanepartlow]

The kid in you 😂😂 sounds like my firebug husband to be. Anything to blow stuff up.
We just bought our first home and have a fireplace but the local sweepers told us $200 to clean it then never called back. We’re more of a “do-it-ourselves “ type of people if we can. This looks easy enough so thank you so much! I’ll be looking into the soot eater today. 😊

[DdD-pijw]

It takes a high temperature to ignite it, that’s why you might hear your liner burning (quite unsettling) when burning your stove really hard. Once ignited, it’s ferocious.
Many homes have burned down due to this phenomenon. Mostly in tile flu. The risk of burning your house down is minimal with a metal insert.

[Jack-nevm]

I'd start at the bottom & work up. Then creosote has a clear passage down, otherwise it may clog totally.

[norwegiannationalist]

Here in Norway the chinmey sweepers come once a year and clean the chimney and ashbox for about 80 dollars.

[inspectionworks]

Great video! Did you keep calling it creosalt? That's what I kept hearing

[FreedomOne]

My friend I am not sure how you can use the Sooteater with its extensions from the roof down without losing the extensions in the chimney! My system is to clean manually with a brush from the roof down and then send my Sooteater with its extensions from the bottom up the chimney. Using both methods our chimney is clean.

[miked]

Man! That looks like cake frosting. Based on that visual..looks like it might need cleaning weekly 😅. You must be burning some green or super soft wood. Slowing down the air flow setting for longer burn time can create this condition as well.

[handyonweekends]

Thanks for the video! I think the creosote combusts at higher temperatures that a lighter doesn't quite get to.

[CK-dtnx]

It's probably more like how coal burns where you need enough heat and air flow. You can't just take a match to coal either but there's TONS of energy in it when you get it burning

[stipostipo]

I know a gypsy village in Europe, where everyone burns wet wood, burns anything, including furniture with lchemical coatings for generations, yet there has never been a fire caused by a chimney igniting... And the fires that people describe here are caused by completely different causes than creosete. For example, the properties of the chimney itself..

[DMSJagXK]

Don’t forget that in the UK, for insurance, flues should be cleaned annually by a professional who gives you the required certificate for insurance purposes after the job has been done.

[akaredcrossbow]

What the problem is creosote expands like a firework snake. That starts to block the flue and has extreme temperature at that blockage and it ignites. It’s much harder to ignite creosote in an open environment like this. The tile, brick, mortar, even stainless steel can’t withstand those temperatures and expand, crack, or tear. Be more worried about stage 2 creosote because that’s the stuff that expands and causes a chimney fire.

[superbee]

It wouldn't gone much more longer, b4 a chimney fire 🔥🔥

[Vl-lyfg]

Thanks man! I just bought a house and I need some tips to be able to do my own shit!!

[superbee]

There was some sort of damage down in the liner. I seen it sunken in

[junkemails]

Oh so maybe didn’t catch fire cuz might have some moisture and also is cold at the time of video? Interesting, hey any one have any knowledge why i can’t keep the fire going in my
Chamine? Its like this one in the video, type of wood stove inside the chamine. Hard to start the fire and also it doesn’t last, besides this also i noticed got a lot of smoke inside the house. Crazy. I smoked the house. I know is also dirty but I don’t understand. I noticed my opening has a failed door seal of the fiberglass around the door thing
Of the stove. But still the smoke should been dragged out by the chamine up to the roof right?

[robertjeffery]

You’re not burning your stove hot enough or your burning wet wood….