Well took a little longer than expected to receive my new toy!! Thanks to Nemo which has really wreaked havoc on my woodpiles 60+ mph. Winds have a way of pushing snow into top covered stacks like no other. Anyway this is my first post,hello everyone, been a lurker for a long time and really enjoy all your expertise on this site. Just got a chance to use the Sooteater and did a remarkable job on my clay tile chimney and single wall pipe!! For those of you still on the fence about buying this tool it works very well, got it on sale at Smarthome for 52.00 not bad!! Worth every penny IMHO!!
Finally got a sooteater!!
- Thread starter Shaggy205
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zogger
Tree Freak
Howdy!
Had to look up what a sooteater is, ya, looks pretty cool!
Had to look up what a sooteater is, ya, looks pretty cool!
Nosmo
Addicted to ArboristSite
Welcome
Welcome to the forums with your first post. Thanks for your report on the sooteater . I'm sure some of us have heard about it and others have not. Go ahead and jump in and post anytime you see a thread going that interests you.
Nosmo
Welcome to the forums with your first post. Thanks for your report on the sooteater . I'm sure some of us have heard about it and others have not. Go ahead and jump in and post anytime you see a thread going that interests you.
Nosmo
andrethegiant70
Addicted to ArboristSite
Good item
I have this item, it works great. I'd have to go out to my shed to see if it's the same manufacturer (pretty toasty here by the wood stove, though!) but the theory is the same for sure. Fiberglass rods connected to a big drill stuffed either up or down the chimney. A "weed wackier" type setup knocks the crud off the inside of the chimney pipe. I did it from the ground and went upwards, it worked like a charm. The only negative complaint that I read about was that someone unseated their chimney cap and had to go up on the roof to fool with it. It cost a hundred bucks or so and at $200 per visit from a chinmey cleaning service, it paid for itself in one go. One more score in being self sufficient from the home heating standpoint.
Yes, use a big half-inch drill if you've got one and do what you can to shield the drill from all the falling carbon. It would be a bummer if some of that abrasive material got into the brushes. It all took me about half an hour including cleanup. It might be faster next time.
I have this item, it works great. I'd have to go out to my shed to see if it's the same manufacturer (pretty toasty here by the wood stove, though!) but the theory is the same for sure. Fiberglass rods connected to a big drill stuffed either up or down the chimney. A "weed wackier" type setup knocks the crud off the inside of the chimney pipe. I did it from the ground and went upwards, it worked like a charm. The only negative complaint that I read about was that someone unseated their chimney cap and had to go up on the roof to fool with it. It cost a hundred bucks or so and at $200 per visit from a chinmey cleaning service, it paid for itself in one go. One more score in being self sufficient from the home heating standpoint.
Yes, use a big half-inch drill if you've got one and do what you can to shield the drill from all the falling carbon. It would be a bummer if some of that abrasive material got into the brushes. It all took me about half an hour including cleanup. It might be faster next time.
Welcome! Can I borrow your new tool?:msp_rolleyes:
MotorSeven
Addicted to ArboristSite
I can sweep my 24' of flue from the basement and it keeps me off the 10/12 metal roof...I like my SootEater
I run 8 sections in my 1/2dr b&d hammerdrill-no problem!!
z50guru
errr..
Sounds like a pretty nice tool.. For years i been climbing on the roof with a dog run cable and log chain. Deep 6 the chain down the flu and violently tug and shake the hell out of it on the way back up. So far so good, but im liking the idea of the sooteater. Actually i thought i might try hooking my drill up to my 25ft plumbing snake.. I'll let ya know how that works out...:msp_biggrin:
Welcome to AS Shaggy!
Welcome to AS Shaggy!
Uncle John
Addicted to ArboristSite
Welcome Shaggy!............:msp_biggrin:
trophyhunter
ArboristSite Guru
Mac the rods that come with these are very thin, weigh almost nothing and are very flexible. I ordered one of these soot eaters and use it on an inexpensive B&D corded drill with a hand chuck and I love this thing! It's much faster and cleans better than the old school heavy rods and poly brushes.
I really can't see any reason to ever use the old rods and brushes again, the cleaner line on the whip head is just heavy duty trimmer line so replacing it is a piece of cake. I've been cleaning alot of chimney's mid season for friends that otherwise only get to it once a year for a top down brushing from the roof, with this system you can just let it rip from the stove up.
Basically there's really no reason anyone can't clean their stove a few times over the course of a heating season with one of these, that's some pretty darn cheap insurance against chimney fires and better stove performance from a clean chimney is a plus.
trophyhunter
ArboristSite Guru
Poke hole in trash bag and insert the first rod and brush head into the top of the stove and add another rod poking through the bag hole with the drill end pointing into the room, use wide painters tape to seal the bag off to the open door area. Clean away, you really do want to seal off the opening!
I actually used one side of a dog food bag last time and cut it to fit the opening first and that worked well, I'm saving the dog food bags now to clean stoves with, they cut to fit with scissors easy and the hole doesn't open up much when your doing a taller chimney.
MotorSeven
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yep and an 18v cordless drill will run the whip just fine...that's all I use. I put together 12' of the sections and start from the other side of the room walking towards the stove while spinning and pushing the SootEater up the flue. Walk back & forth a few times, then add the other 12' and repeat. I found this much easier then adding each section one at a time as it goes up. The whole operation takes about 45 min including clean-up.
Remember these are flexible composite rods but they will not do a 90 degree turn or they will snap. Here a pic of the approx angle I use on my set up:
Mac88
Addicted to ArboristSite
That would probably work for me. I only have to sweep the stack, about 20' of stainless, every couple or 3 years. I check it every year. It always amazes me how clean it is.
I sweep top down. There's a tee on the lower section, with a clean-out cap on the bottom, and the stove feeds from the side. Loosen the cap, wrap a trash bag over the end, pull the cap off, MRS pounds on the side of the stack to loosen anything else, put the cap back on, done. No muss, no mess.
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