That $400 rotating brush system I bought for my truck rig was a total bust

I finally broke down and bought one of those rotating brush cleaning kits for my truck mounted system. Figured it would make my life easier on those big commercial flues in Denver. Spent $400 on the whole setup with the rods and the brush head. First job I used it on was a restaurant chimney that had about 3 years of buildup. Worked great for the first 10 feet then the brush got stuck and the chain snapped inside the flue. Took me 2 hours to fish everything out with a magnet on a rope. My regular sectional rods and poly brush would have done the same job in 30 minutes flat. Has anyone else had better luck with those rotating systems or am I just using them wrong?

2 comments

2 Comments

ruby_murphy1mo ago

Denver has some of the greasiest commercial exhaust in the state and that brush is made for light residential work, not your job. The chain snapping is a known issue with those kits when you hit heavy crust, the torque just twists everything sideways. A proper chain and maybe a centering cone would have saved your day but $400 is steep for a tool that can't handle restaurant work.

milesrobinson1mo ago

Did you try reaching out to the manufacturer about that chain issue before you gave up on it? @ruby_murphy is right about the grease load in Denver but those chains are supposed to be rated for heavier work than what you described. Might be worth swapping the chain out for a heavier gauge before writing off the whole system.