How to clean the chimney from soot - an old-fashioned method, 100% result!

Kindling a stove or fireplace can be overshadowed by a lack of draft, and the most common cause of this trouble is clogging of the chimney with products of incomplete combustion of firewood, simply soot. Without proper cleaning of the chimney, the operation of the heater is dangerous for your life, since the smoke simply will not have time to be removed through the system and will accumulate in the living quarters! So how to clean the chimney and is it necessary to resort to the help of professional stove-makers and chimney sweeps? Read about it in our article.

Cleaning the chimney with a ruff

Why does a chimney need to be cleaned at all?

When the logs crackle merrily in the fireplace, it seems to us that they burn out completely, leaving behind only a handful of ash in the furnace and carrying light smoke into the chimney. But this is far from the case: the combustion conditions in the stove and fireplace do not allow the firewood to burn out completely, and soot is carried into the chimney along with the smoke. It has a gray or black color and is similar in composition to coal. Soot particles settle on the pipe walls, especially at the bends, forming a thick layer of loose deposits.

Plaque formed on the walls of the chimney

When using softwood firewood, in addition, water vapor and resin are released, which firmly bind the soot into a hard crust. The lumen of the pipe gradually narrows, the draft worsens, and the soot layer becomes thicker. Sooner or later, the draft disappears completely, and this condition requires immediate cleaning of the chimney.

There are several ways to clean the chimney:

• mechanical, using a ruff;
• chemical, using special tablets or liquids;
• preventive, with the use of folk or modern combustion catalysts.

Which of the methods is right for you will become clear upon further reading of the article.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
   

   Follow the safety rules when cleaning the chimney

3. If the cable does not pass through the gap of the pipe at any point, it is necessary to determine where it is stuck - at the 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.
   

   Chimney brush

4. 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.
5. 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.
   

   Doors on the stove for cleaning the chimney

2. Change the standard nozzle on the brush 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, which act 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.
   

   Cleaning brush made from a plastic bottle and a metal cord

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 decreases to a negligible extent. Also clean the chimney from the side of all doors.
   

   Chimney cleaning process

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.

Chemical method of cleaning the chimney

For regular cleaning of the chimney, it is not necessary to climb on the roof and get your hands dirty. It is enough to buy special products in tablets, granules, or liquid for cleaning the chimney. The principle of its operation is the splitting of soot-binding substances, after which it turns from a hard crust into an easily crumbling powder that burns in the lower part of the furnace.

Special chemicals for chimney cleaning

The method of using these funds is very simple: they are placed on firewood at the next furnace fire and set on fire, carefully heating it for better burning of the soot that has fallen off. In this case, you should follow all the recommendations indicated on the package. The chemical method can also be used to preliminarily soften the soot layer before mechanical cleaning.

Video instruction for working with a chemical soot remover

We clean the chimney from soot with folk remedies

Prevention of blockages and soot deposits in the chimney can be carried out in several ways:

1. Pipe insulation. This method is based on reducing the formation of water vapor condensate in the pipe during combustion. In the cold season, the temperature difference on the inner and outer surface of the pipe can lead to the deposition of moisture and resins on it, which bind the soot into a solid deposit.The use of "sandwich" pipes with non-combustible insulation reduces the formation of condensate.
2. Regular use of combustion catalysts in the form of tablets or special logs of specific wood species with additives designed to clean the chimney will reduce the deposition of soot on its walls.
3. If you heat the stove with wood, add dry aspen logs to them from time to time: the aspen burns with the formation of a strong high flame that destroys the binding elements of the soot and burns it, and with the active rise of smoke, all the soot that has settled in the chimney simply flies out into the chimney. It is better to do this in winter, so that the soot falls on the snow and does not stain the roof much.

aspen logs

Timely cleaning of the chimney using these methods will make the furnace and fireplace a pleasant experience - just bring a match to dry firewood, and now a live fire is dancing in your fireplace, warming and giving comfort.

Video: Cleaning the chimney in the house using the old-fashioned method