Loading…

Wasted $200 on a rotary brush kit that just made things worse | Chimney Sweeps - The Design Community Hub

Wasted $200 on a rotary brush kit that just made things worse

Picked up a fancy rotary cleaning kit from a trade show in Cleveland last spring. Figured it would save me time on heavy creosote jobs, but the brush head snapped off on my third use and got stuck halfway up a flue. Spent two hours fishing the pieces out with a magnet on a rod, plus I still had to hand scrub the job. Anyone else fall for a gimmick tool that just created more work?

3 comments

3 Comments

dylan1245mo ago

Right there with you, I bought a motorized soot vacuum from a guy at a hardware expo and the hose collapsed on the first real job, just sucked everything back out into the room. Ended up having to vacuum the whole house and still scrub the flue by hand, so I know the feeling of dropping good money on something that just makes things worse. That trade show stuff looks great in the booth but sure doesn't hold up when you actually need it to work.

gavin9285mo ago

Gotta call that out though @dylan124, the hose collapsing isn't really a trade show problem specifically. I've seen the same exact thing happen with vacuums from big box stores and online shops too. The REAL issue is that a LOT of those cheaper soot vacs use thin walled hose that just can't handle any heat or sharp debris. I picked up a used commercial one from a guy retiring and even that had a hose that wanted to fold in on itself until I swapped it for a heavy duty model. The booth flash and the salesman's spiel just make it feel worse when you get burned, but weak hose is weak hose no matter where you buy it.

charlie_stone723mo ago

Wait wait wait, you had to fish brush pieces out of a flue with a magnet on a rod? That's honestly terrifying to think about. I mean, I've had tools fail on me before but nothing that literally left a piece of itself trapped inside a chimney like that. You must have been cursing up a storm while you're standing there trying to wrangle a magnet on a stick hoping it catches the right angle. And the worst part is you still had to hand scrub the whole job anyway, so you paid $200 to create an extra two hours of work for yourself. That's the kind of frustration that makes you want to throw the whole kit in the trash and never look at another rotary brush again. I've been burned by fancy looking tools before but usually they just work poorly, not actively sabotage you.