Serious question, has anyone else tried both a standard brush and a poly brush on a tough clay tile flue?

I had a job last week in the old part of town with a flue that hadn't been cleaned in maybe 15 years. The standard steel wire brush just wasn't cutting through the glazed creosote, but a poly brush I borrowed from another sweep got it clean in half the time. What's the best brush type you've found for these older, glazed-up systems?

3 comments

3 Comments

davis.fiona3d ago

For that glazed stuff, a poly brush with some extra weight on the rod works wonders.

grant54014h ago

Totally get that, some of that old glazed stuff is a nightmare. reesepatel has a point about poly brushes shredding, but they're the only thing that touches the really hard deposits sometimes. Just have to go slow and hope the tiles are in good shape.

reesepatel3d ago

Serious question" is doing a lot of work here. It's a brush, not a space shuttle. You found one that scrapes the gunk off better, cool. The poly ones are fine until you hit a broken tile edge and shred it, then you're fishing plastic out for an hour. They all have a place, but no brush is magic.