Bought a fancy $60 chimney brush with the swivel head and it got stuck halfway on my third job

Ended up having to cut the rod apart with a hacksaw to pull it back out, so now I'm wondering if the regular wire brushes are just better after all for standard flues, anyone else run into this problem with the swivel kind?

2 comments

2 Comments

lindahunt27d agoMost Upvoted

...and the real kicker is the angle of the flue itself. Most of these swivel heads are designed for perfectly straight drops, but older chimneys have that slight offset or taper after a few feet. I've seen guys swear by the regular wire brush and just running it slow, because the poly or steel rods flex with the curve instead of locking up. If your flue is anything other than a laser straight shot, the swivel head is a gamble.

brookefox26d ago

Wait, @lindahunt, are you saying the swivel head actually causes more problems on those older tapered flues? I've got a 1920s chimney that's definitely not straight, and I was about to buy one. Does it just jam up, or does it mess with the brush head itself? Trying to figure out if I'm better off sticking with the old school rods and a standard brush.