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Stop telling new guys to just use a round brush for everything

Been seeing this advice pop up more and more on here. Round brush has its place but if you're running it through a flue with heavy creosote buildup you're just polishing the problem. I learned that the hard way 3 years ago on a job in Louisville. Customer called me back 2 months later saying smoke was backing up. Went back and looked and the round brush had just glazed the creosote smooth instead of scraping it off. Had to break out the steel wire bristle head and spend an extra hour. Took me forever to win that trust back. Who else has seen this happen?

2 comments

2 Comments

kim19125d ago

Oh come ON, is this REALLY that big of a deal? I've been using round brushes for like 10 years and I've NEVER had this happen. Sounds like maybe the customer had other issues going on or you just got unlucky. I mean how hard is it to actually scrape the creosote off with a round brush if you're doing it right? People make simple stuff way too complicated sometimes.

hill.andrew25d ago

I was on a job in Nashville last month where the homeowner had the same issue from a different company. They used a round brush for years and ended up with a chimney fire because of that glazed creosote. How many callbacks have you actually had from round brush jobs, or do you just assume it’s fine because nobody’s complained yet? Because I bet a lot of people don’t notice until something goes really wrong.