Cleaning chimneys of stoves and fireplaces from soot: the best means and methods for getting rid of soot in the chimney

How to clean a chimney

If problems are identified, you can clean the chimneys yourself using both professional and folk methods. To do this, it is enough to use mechanical devices, special chemicals and just household salt or starch. But much here depends on the degree of clogging and the amount of soot inside. Often, with such a cleaning, you have to resort to several methods at once.

How to properly clean your chimney

Mechanical methods

The most effective way to clean the chimney is mechanical. Chimney sweeps have been using it for more than a century; the entire technology of this process has been worked out to the smallest detail during this time. It is possible to clean the chimney using this method both from the bottom of the stove (fireplace hearth) and from the top from the roof. But there are nuances.

From above, in this way it will be possible to clean only the vertical section of the chimney channel.

How to clean a chimney with a telescopic brush

The places where the pipe turns should be cleaned of soot from the inside of the house through the firebox or special doors (holes) in the stove masonry.

As a tool for mechanical cleaning is used:

1. Ruff on a stick or rope with a sinker below.
2. Ruff on a flexible cable (similar analogues are used by plumbers).
3. Metal scraper for particularly stubborn soot stains.

How to clean the chimney from below

How to make a chimney brush from plastic bottles

Chemical methods

If you don’t want to try on the role of a chimney sweep on the roof, then you can use specialized chemistry. Now there are a lot of products based on copper chloride and ammonium sulfate with phosphorus oxide. At first glance, as well as choosing an air conditioner for an apartment, it is difficult to understand the range of such chemicals. But everything is quite simple - it is allowed to take any option.

How does a chemical chimney cleaner work?

These chemicals emit smoke when burned, which travels up the chimney and loosens the soot, causing it to fall down. Then it only needs to be collected with a scoop from the bends of the chimney and the stove or fireplace.

Similar chemistry is produced in the form of powders in bags and briquette logs.The main nuance of their use is the need for thorough ventilation of the housing during cleaning and immediately after.

Chimney cleaners

Cleaning the chimney with these products is as easy as shelling pears, threw them into the furnace and that's it. However, when burned, they emit unpleasant and harmful components, which you definitely should not breathe.

Folk ways to clean the chimney

You can also clean the chimneys of fireplaces, gas boilers and coal-wood stoves using:

• table salt (half a kilo for kindling);
• dry potato peelings and simply chopped potatoes (a few kilograms at a time);
• powdered naphthalene (apply to logs, emits a pungent odor);
• aspen wood.

The principle of operation here is simple - vapors of sodium chloride (salt), starch (from potatoes) and naphthalene corrode the soot, carrying it along with the smoke up to the street or forcing it to fall down. With dry aspen, the situation is somewhat different, this wood burns with the highest temperature among all other types of firewood. Dust soot on the walls of the chimney from this heat simply burns out.

Why does the chimney get clogged?

There are several reasons why the draft in the stove at home may disappear and it will stop functioning properly.

1. Before the heating season, the owner of the house did not clean the stove from soot and dust accumulated during the warm season.
2. The vortex “fracture” has not been cleared.
3. The pipe itself in the house is not airtight; it drags in a cold stream along with street dirt.
4. There is no "umbrella" on the house.
5. Birds or wind-blown debris.

Do not forget that the most ordinary firewood on the walls of the chimney leaves soot many times greater than from coal.That is why it is recommended to periodically “throw” a chimney sweep log into the light, which allows you to slightly, but clean the pipe in the house. After the firewood, a significant layer of soot can collect, so do not be too zealous with the firewood.

How can you get rid of the accumulated soot?

Sometimes, than hiring a non-professional, it is much easier and safer to do your own bath from soot - with the help of brushes, modern chemicals for cleaning chimneys and even "grandfather" methods, and without necessarily climbing onto the roof!

Let's look at the most popular options for cleaning soot from the chimney and how to do it.

With a special brush - a simple and proven method

Of all modern mechanical and chemical means, the brush is the simplest and safest.

It is only important to choose the one that suits your chimney - both in diameter and in length, so that you do not worry about how to clean your chimney from soot along its entire height

A nylon brush with a stiff bristle is especially good, which is easy to clean the chimney of any material. The nylon bristle is flexible and adapts well to any pipe shape, while at the same time coping with the most stubborn deposits. But at the same time, it does not scratch or damage its inner surface.

The most difficult thing is to find a good brush for the chimney bends. It is there that the soot settles, and it is not so easy to get it. Just for this, nylon bristles are most suitable - it will easily penetrate into the most inaccessible places, while hard brushes will simply scratch the folds. And more scratches - less smoothness - soot clings more.

It is also important what kind of handle the brush has - it must have sufficient flexibility so that it can crawl into the most invisible nooks and crannies and at the same time be easy to control your movements.

Potato peelings - the old-fashioned method

Here's how to clean the chimney in this way: we throw a bucket or half a bucket of fresh potato peelings into a well-melted oven - this is how much it will fit into it already. During their combustion, starch will be released, and it decomposes soot. Within two or three days, it will almost completely fall off the walls of the chimney and partially fall out. After that, tie a rod ruff to the brick and clean the chimney from above in the classic way - it will be easy!

Aspen wood - with fire from the chimney

Chimney cleaning with aspen wood is as old as the world. But this method cannot be called safe - let's figure it out.

We put aspen firewood in the stove and kindle it well. They burn well and give a very high temperature. At this time, all the doors and valves of the stove should be open, and do not forget to add more firewood. The result - the soot itself lights up, the stove begins to hum strongly. If you go outside at this moment, you will see how fire plows from the chimney on the roof of your bathhouse! And the surrounding area will quickly be covered with large white flakes. But the chimney will be cleaned, and cleaned well. If only it survives this test - after all, not every chimney is designed for 1100 ° C, and soot will burn in it at this mark.

Aluminum cans - unusual, but effective

Banks need to be burned once for ten fireboxes - this is enough, and very little soot will be collected.The only condition: the fire must be made hot, with a large amount of solid coal - so that the jars really burn, and do not lie on the wood and change color. Normally, one can should burn out in five minutes.

Hose - what is already at hand

Some attendants don't bother with the newfangled methods and clean the chimney with a regular watering hose. The whole procedure looks like this:

• Remove the glass from the bottom of the chimney.
• We put a hose from below (preferably from above), preferably hard.
• A few cleaning movements - all the soot is already at the bottom.

On the tip of the same hose, you can additionally attach a chopped bottle or a brush - and you will see how easy it is to clean the chimney efficiently and without cost!

Chemical cleaning - unpopular and unpleasant

Chemical cleaning of chimneys is more of a preventive measure than a real cleaning. The bottom line is that after it the soot will fall off in places, but you still have to use an additional brush. Plus, the smell in the bath can last for several days. And therefore, if potato peelings are not available to you, you can purchase some kind of Kominichek or Chimney Sweep Log.

What is a chimney and why is it important to clean it regularly?

For safety reasons, the chimney in the house must be serviceable, for this it is periodically inspected and cleaned. In case of violations in the operation of the chimney, there is a high risk of carbon monoxide returning to the house, ignition of soot, or foreign objects accidentally falling into the duct.

It is necessary to clean the pipe periodically, and not only in emergency cases. Performing preventive cleaning contributes to better fuel burnout and ensures safety in the home.The frequency with which it is carried out depends on the intensity of use of the heating boiler or stove.

During combustion, a large amount of heat is released, and the fuel breaks up into fractions. Most of it passes into a gaseous state and, due to the draft that occurs in the chimney, is removed to the outside. In the emitted gas and smoke, there are small particles of soot, which gradually accumulate on the walls of the pipe.

Any type of fuel does not burn completely due to the presence of non-combustible substances and lack of oxygen. A mixture of soot with resins and oils is formed in the chimney, which, when a certain concentration is reached, can ignite. The combustion temperature of soot reaches 1000 oC, so its ignition can lead to a fire. For this reason alone, it is necessary to carry out periodic cleaning of the chimney, but there are other negative factors.

If there are large deposits on the walls of the chimney, soot can ignite and cause a fire in the house

Some people believe that the chimney only clogs when solid fuels are used, but this is not the case. During the operation of the gas boiler, soot is also formed in the smoke exhaust duct, it just happens much more slowly. Foreign objects can get into the chimney, therefore, regardless of the type of fuel used, it is necessary to carry out periodic inspections and cleaning of any chimney.

Causes of a clogged chimney:

• non-compliance with the rules for the operation of heating equipment;
• wind-blown debris, branches and leaves from nearby trees, small birds and large insects;
• improper laying of the heater or chimney pipe;
• the absence of a protective umbrella, as a result of which water enters the pipe and soot is not removed to the outside, but turns into a dense mass.

  The absence of a protective umbrella leads to water entering the chimney, due to which soot turns into a dense mass

In the presence of the described reasons, the products formed during the combustion of the fuel cannot be effectively removed to the outside and gradually settle on the walls of the chimney, therefore, over time, its efficiency decreases.

Each case must be considered individually, but first you need to determine the cause of the clogging of the pipe, the density of the formations, their number, and then choose the cleaning method and the necessary tools.

Signs that your chimney needs to be cleaned:

• the color of the smoke becomes not transparent or white, but dark;
• instead of the fuel burning with pure fire, dark flames begin to appear, the smoke content of the furnace increases;
• the sound of humming in the chimney changes;
• fuel consumption increases.

Usually, each chimney has viewing windows that cannot be covered with finishing materials, through which you can check the condition of the pipe and whether it needs to be cleaned. Previously, the clogging of the chimney was checked with a rope and a stone, which was lowered into the chimney. Now there are modern video cameras that allow you to get a complete picture of how much and in what place the chimney is clogged.

Mechanical chimney cleaners

Cleaning the chimney with ruffs has been used for centuries, and they still exist today. A ruff brush is tied to the end of a long elastic and flexible cable. Diameter - individually for the size of the chimney. A small metal ball can be tied under the ruff to make it easier for the tool to go down.This structure is lowered into the chimney, raised, lowered again and raised again. So until the passage is cleared. Everything works simply - soot is knocked off the pipe with bristles.

Chimney brush

Such cleaning of the chimney has one feature: in the presence of good traction, most of the crushed soot flies into the chimney. Therefore, firstly, you need to become attached so that you don’t fall off the roof from involuntary movement, and secondly, put on goggles and a respirator. Gloves will not interfere either, but they are needed so that the cable does not injure your hands.

If you decide to make a chimney brush yourself, just hang the ball below, and centered. Weights or wrenches are not suitable - sooner or later they become at odds in the chimney. You will be lucky if the gun can be removed without dismantling the pipe.

Below you can hang a ball

Not always the chimney is such that it can be cleaned from above - a sandwich pipe can rise several meters above the roof. You can’t attach a ladder to it, you can’t get up in any other way. In this case, the chimney is cleaned from below. To do this, there are ruffs on flexible rods. Fragments of the rod are connected to each other, the ruff moves along the pipe. In this case, part of the soot is also carried away by the draft, but some of it falls down and this must also be taken into account. Professional chimney sweeps use special vacuum cleaners for collection (not household ones, since soot is explosive); if you clean it yourself, you will have to collect everything manually.

Chimney cleaning from below

If you have a fireplace, everything is simple - access is free, but if it is a boiler or a sauna stove, the matter is more complicated.If the chimney has a glass for collecting condensate, removing it, you can easily run the ruff into the pipe. If there are no revisions, you will have to try to get to the pipe through the firebox. If this is not possible, the chimney will have to be disassembled. Then it’s better to immediately redo it by putting a tee with a glass.

Reasons for the accumulation of deposits on the walls of chimneys

During the combustion of fuel in stoves, boilers and fireplaces, deposits of soot and other products of incomplete combustion accumulate on the walls of chimneys. The rapid thermal process of oxidation of firewood, coal, fuel oil, briquettes and pellets with the release of a large amount of heat causes the release of carbon monoxide with particles of oily substances and soot.

When passing through the chimney of the smoky stream, these substances are deposited on the walls of the chimney. The products of incomplete combustion have increased adhesion, and the exhaust pipe is overgrown with them from the inside. If you do not know how to clean the chimney from soot in a private house in a timely manner, then this can bring residents a lot of trouble.

Deposits on the walls of the chimney

Clogging of smoke channels occurs for the following reasons:

• The use of raw wood. The tree does not immediately begin to burn, but in the process of smoldering it releases resins in gaseous form. During the rise, the resinous substances cool down and settle on the inner surface of the chimney channel. Sticky deposits attract all other products of incomplete combustion.
• As a result of improper design, the chimney cannot provide full draft. This may be caused by narrowing of the duct, the presence of a large number of elbows, or an excessively narrow neck. Because of this, smoke cannot quickly escape, which creates conditions for the accumulation of deposits.
• Using a stove, boiler or fireplace in calm, calm weather with high atmospheric pressure causes a lack of traction. In such a situation, the fuel does not burn, but smolders with the formation of thick smoke, which contributes to clogging the hood.
• Burning various unnecessary things, garbage, waste from chipboard, plywood leads to the appearance of soot on the pipe walls in large quantities. After that, there is nothing left but how to clean the chimney in a private house as a matter of urgency.

Chimney pipe on the roof ridge

• The desire to use cheap fuels leads to the fact that inexpensive coal, firewood from spruce and pine, when burned, form a layer of creosote on the inner surface of the chimney. This substance is difficult to remove. Such cost savings translate into high costs for cleaning the chimney. Hardwood firewood is the ideal fuel in this respect.
• The reason for the rapid overgrowth of the chimney may be the material from which the pipe is made. Brick, due to its roughness, contributes to a large accumulation of soot. Ferrous metal quickly rusts under the influence of acids and acquires high adhesion to soot. The best materials for the manufacture of exhaust pipes are ceramics, glass and stainless steel.

Why does the chimney get clogged?

Chimney clogging is a natural process that occurs as a result of combustion. Only part of the fuel, breaking up into fractions, acquires a gaseous form and goes out into the atmosphere as an emission.

Other fragments with a heavier, denser structure take the form of soot deposits and settle on the inner surface of the pipeline, over time significantly worsening its throughput.

The chimney coming out of the roof must be closed with a special windproof cap. Then, during the period of seasonal downtime, a bird or wasp nest will not be built there, and in winter leaves, branches, ice and other foreign elements will not get inside

The use of firewood from coniferous trees provokes clogging of channels. Viscous resinous substances, contained in excess in the composition, form a powerful adhesive base and help retain soot deposits on it.

Such contamination is difficult to prep clean and requires careful removal by means of mechanical devices.

Household garbage, packaging containers, remnants of old furniture, textiles and other items that are not a fuel resource by definition emit caustic ether complexes, heavy carcinogens and resinous compounds during combustion.

Therefore, burning in the furnace or fireplace of such human waste adversely affects the operation of heating equipment of any class.

All of them in the form of a dense, viscous sediment cover the inner surface of the pipes and create conditions for retaining soot, soot and soot. The channel through which the gaseous elements escape into the atmosphere narrows to a minimum, the draft overturns, and part of the smoke enters the living room.

The temperature in the room drops and the use of heating equipment becomes dangerous due to the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

They accelerate the clogging of the chimney channel with deposits of firewood from a recently sawn, damp forest.

If the current moisture content of a log exceeds 12%, it is strictly forbidden to throw it into the firebox immediately. It is necessary to dry it thoroughly in a warm room for at least 1 week.

A damp log reduces the level of heat transfer by 35%, contributes to the rapid clogging of the smoke exhaust system, and eventually disables it.

The soot, which covers the inside of the pipe in a thick layer, is highly flammable and can suddenly ignite. This is fraught with a fire in the room and the spread of fire to neighboring houses and nearby outbuildings.

Sometimes an active accumulation of soot inside the pipe is provoked by errors that are accidentally or due to inexperience made in the process of laying the firebox and arranging the chimney for a fireplace or stove.

It could be:

• incorrectly calculated angle of inclination of the pipe;
• too thin walls of the drainage system;
• improperly selected chimney pipe;
• increased volume of condensate formed due to insufficient thermal insulation;
• excessive number of bends and turns of the chimney path;
• roughness on the inner surface of the outlet channels.

It is these reasons that accelerate the pollution of chimneys and several times reduce the efficiency of stoves, boilers and fireplaces. Homeowners are advised to be very careful in choosing stove-makers and contact only those who have already confirmed their skills and high qualifications.

Otherwise, with enviable regularity, the question will arise of how to clean a home chimney, giving you a lot of trouble and requiring constant financial costs.

Mechanical way to clean the chimney

Mechanical cleaning consists in removing soot using a metal ruff, which is inserted into the chimney and, making rotational and translational movements, scrape off the soot from the surface of the chimney. The method has several advantages: it is effective against blockages and hard deposits, it is cheap and quite simple, and does not require special knowledge and skills.At the same time, manually cleaning the chimney through the pipe is a rather dangerous task, because you have to climb onto the roof.

What is ersh?

This is a twisted cable with steel wire, equipped with a twisting handle on one side and a wire or plastic nozzle on the other. The length of the cable can be different and depends on the length of the chimney. The ruff is introduced into the pipe forward with a nozzle, while rotating its handle. In this case, the rotation is transferred to the nozzle, and it mechanically scrapes off the soot layer from the pipe walls.

Chimney brush

How to clean a chimney with a ruff:

Fully open all latches and vents that block draft in your stove or fireplace. Place a container for soot under the chimney at the mouth of the stove or in the fireplace insert - there will be quite a lot of it. In order not to stain the furniture and floors in the room, an open fireplace insert can be curtained with an unnecessary cloth.
Observing safety precautions and using a safety belt, climb to the roof. Remove the cap from the pipe

Carefully insert the cleaning cable into the pipe and try to push it some distance. Rotate the handle on the cable at the same time

If the length of the chimney is more than 3 meters, it is more convenient to do it together - one person directs the cable into the pipe, the second rotates the handle, standing at a certain distance.

If the cable does not pass through the gap of the pipe in any place, it is necessary to determine where it is stuck - at a bend in the pipe or in a straight section. If the pipe in this place does not have turns, most likely, a serious blockage has formed there. It can be pierced with a weight tied to a rope, lowering it into the pipe rather sharply.

It is necessary to clean the chimney using this method until the moment when soot stops pouring from the chimney into the furnace. After cleaning, check the draft with a lit newspaper - it should improve significantly.
It is necessary to clean the chimney using this method until the moment when soot stops pouring from the chimney into the furnace. After cleaning, check the draft with a lit newspaper - it should improve significantly.

It is sometimes impossible to clean a Russian stove with a complex chimney, including several turns at an angle of 90 degrees, with a ruff through a pipe from the roof - the length of such a chimney is quite large, and the ruff stubbornly does not want to go through the turns. In this case, it is possible to combine pipe cleaning with mechanical cleaning of the chimney.

Is it possible to clean a complex winding chimney with a ruff?

Of course you can, to do this, follow these instructions clearly:

1. Inspect the oven carefully. On its side and back walls you will find doors designed for cleaning the chimney. They may be smeared or painted over, but they will need to be opened. Place a bucket or other container under each door.

2. Change the standard nozzle on the ruff to a plastic bottle, cut in half and slightly notched around the circumference so that you get a "chamomile". You can fix it like this: the ends of the wire, acting as a ruff, must be collected in a bundle, passed through a cork with a hole previously made in it and bent. Screw the cork onto the bottle. The plastic brush is much softer than the metal brush and goes through the turns better, and by using different bottle sizes you will be able to gradually clear all the turns.

3. Enter the resulting device into the chimney from the side of the firebox and push it as deep as possible, rotating and from time to time extracting it along with the soot that has fallen into the bottle. Clean the chimney until the amount of soot is reduced to negligible. Also clean the chimney from the side of all doors.

4. Open all dampers and clean the chimney from the roof as described above. If you do this before cleaning the chimney, you can seriously clog it, as there is simply nowhere for soot to fall.
5. Once again, clean the chimney from the side of the firebox. Sweep away soot with a brush, including from latches and views. Close all doors on the rear and side walls and check the draft with a newspaper or a torch. With good draft, light the stove with a small amount of wood. If the doors for cleaning the chimney are smoking, cover them with a solution of clay and sand.

Sometimes, instead of doors for cleaning the chimney, stove-makers install removable bricks. It is not recommended to remove and install them yourself without special skills; it is better to contact specialists to clean such an oven.

How to clean the chimney mechanically

The most effective way to clean the chimney is mechanical. With the help of rough exposure, you can achieve much greater results than with the use of salt or potato peelings.

When cleaning the chimney, follow the safety rules so as not to fall off the roof

There are several ways to clean the chimney mechanically. We suggest that you first familiarize yourself in detail with the most common of them - cleaning the chimney with a brush.

Instructions for cleaning the chimney with a brush:

1. First of all, you need to take care of choosing the right brush. A tool with a long and flexible handle, as well as a nylon handle, is suitable for you.Such a brush is not only tough enough to clean the chimney from soot, but also able to penetrate even the most inaccessible corner.
2. Try not to scratch the pipe from the inside. Such damage contributes to a faster and more abundant accumulation of soot.
3. Before cleaning, you need to take care to protect your eyes and respiratory tract from soot. To do this, wear goggles and a protective mask.
4. Furniture, windows and walls in the house also need to be protected. To do this, everything needs to be covered with film or newspapers.
5. Make sure the chimney has completely cooled down. Remove residual fuel, including coal and soot. Remove damper from chimney.
6. Insert a brush into the chimney from the roof side and thoroughly clean the chimney. Do not skip a single section and do everything gradually. Repeat the same for the fireplace.
7. After cleaning the chimney, return the damper to its place. Rinse the brush thoroughly in warm water.
8. Without removing the protective film from furniture, walls and windows, wipe off the soot that has entered the room. After that, remove the protection and carry out a wet cleaning.

This method is considered the most effective and safe. However, there are several other options for mechanical cleaning.

You can take a garden hose to water the plants. To the end that will descend into the chimney, attach a round short brush. Next, the hose must be lowered and removed from the chimney until the soot collects inside it.

The mechanical method of cleaning the chimney is considered the most effective. In addition to the brush and hose, you can use a brush or cane. The most unusual option is a weight on a chain. However, this option is very dangerous and can cause the collapse of the chimney.

Finally

To summarize: how to properly clean the chimney? This is exactly the case when the best means of dealing with violations is their prevention. Therefore, during the heating season, use chemical prevention of soot deposits, and perform autumn-spring maintenance work from above. In order for the first to be effective, and the second not to be a burden, feed the stove / boiler / fireplace with standard high-quality fuel and heat them correctly.

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