I switched from a standard brush to a rotary whip system about five years back

Back in the day, I would spend close to an hour on a standard 8x13 flue with a basic poly brush and rods. It was a solid workout, but it felt like guesswork on the creosote. After seeing a demo at a trade show in Louisville, I bought a SootSweeper 2000 rotary kit. Now, the same job takes me under 30 minutes, and the interior scan camera shows a much cleaner surface. The initial cost was steep, around $1200, but the time saved on each job paid it off in a single season. Has anyone else made a similar switch, and did you notice a change in how often clients need a second sweep?

3 comments

3 Comments

casey39313d ago

Yeah, the better clean from the rotary system was the real game changer for me too. I found it let me push my regular clients to an every-other-year schedule if they burn good wood. That freed up my calendar for more new customers.

willow_reed1mo ago

Totally get the time savings, but I have to push back a little on the single season payoff. That math only works if you're doing flues non-stop. For a lot of us doing maybe two sweeps a week, that tool would take way longer to earn out. The real win is the better clean, like you said with the camera. I've found that a super clean flue from a rotary system can actually stretch the time between needed sweeps for some clients, especially if they burn seasoned wood.

val7411mo ago

Stretch the time between sweeps how much? Are you talking a full extra year for some clients, or just a few extra months?