Safe and comfortable use of stoves and fireplaces is impossible without good draft, which, in turn, depends on the state of the chimney. Read this article to learn how to remove soot from your chimney and prevent clogging.

Why do soot deposits and blockages appear?

At first glance, it seems that after the firewood is burned, the smoke evaporates without a trace, but this is not at all the case. In addition to gaseous combustion products, smoke contains solid particles, it is they that settle on the walls of the smoke channel, forming a gray or black coating. Water vapor, which is also found in smoke, holds the soot together and the plaque becomes thick and hard. Particularly susceptible to clogging are narrow spaces, bends of the smoke channel, as well as rough walls of brick pipes.

Soot deposits in the pipe

In addition, mechanical blockages are possible: debris accidentally caught in the pipe, tree leaves, bird nests or bricks that have fallen out of the masonry. Even a small blockage can impair the draft, and the soot deposited on a foreign object quickly clogs the chimney, making it impossible to further operate the furnace. There are several ways to clean the chimney from soot and blockages, which are described below.

Chimney cleaning methods: which one to choose?

Methods for cleaning chimneys and chimneys are quite diverse, from folk methods, proven for centuries, to modern ones, based on scientific developments. Let's take a closer look at all of them.

Folk remedies

Our ancestors were well aware of the features of different types of wood. Coniferous firewood contains a large amount of tar, which is released with smoke. Poorly dried, raw wood smolders, gives off little heat, and at the same time emits water vapor, which settles on the walls of the pipe, holding the loose soot into a monolith. Dry deciduous firewood is best suited for heating stoves: birch, alder, aspen. They burn with increased heat transfer, practically do not give off soot and soot and do not clog the pipe.

In the old days, aspen firewood was used to clean the chimney, burning with the formation of a high hot flame. When the walls of the chimney are heated, the soot is loosened and burned out, and its remains are carried out through the chimney along with the smoke. Many modern pipe cleaning methods are based on the same principle, which are described below. For prophylaxis and periodic cleaning of the chimney, you can use this old method by throwing a few dry aspen logs into the heated firebox. In this case, it is necessary to observe fire safety and prevent overheating of the pipes.

Another interesting folk chimney cleaning method is to incinerate dried potato peels. When they burn with smoke, substances are released that loosen the soot and allow it to be easily removed through the cleanout holes.

Video - folk method for cleaning the chimney

Folk methods are interesting, but sometimes ineffective, especially when the blockage has already formed. In this case, it is wiser to resort to chemical pipe cleaning agents.

Chimney chemical cleaning

Stove stores offer a large selection of various products that allow you to clean the chimney from soot without unnecessary hassle. These products come in the form of powders, tablets, liquids, or briquettes that mimic logs or pellets. Their use is quite simple: it is necessary to place the package in a stove or fireplace and burn it, together with firewood or separately. Detailed instructions are usually indicated on the package, as well as the dosage.

Powder cleaners are usually packaged in single-dose sachets, depending on how dirty the pipe and chimney is, one or more bags may be needed. They are thrown into the fire after kindling the stove, without opening it. The appearance of a blue or green flame indicates that the product is working and releases chemically active substances that break down soot and plaque.

Chemical chimney cleaning products

Cleansing pellets or logs are more convenient to use, they are simply placed in the fireplace or stove directly in the package and set on fire, after which they continue to fire the stove for one to two hours. During this time, the resins and creosote, which hold the soot together in the chimney, decompose, and small particles are carried out along with the smoke, and large blockages fall down. Therefore, after cleaning and cooling the stove, it is recommended to inspect the flue duct through specially designed doors.

Cleaning the chimney to prevent blockages is carried out several times a year. If the oven is used no more than once a week, it is sufficient to use these products a couple of times a year. With the daily heating of the stove or the use of low-quality firewood, prevention is carried out more often, once every two months, without waiting for the chimney to overgrow with soot.

Mechanical chimney cleaning

For severe blockages caused by severe narrowing of the lumen or debris entering the pipe, chemicals may be powerless. The operation of the stove becomes impossible and very dangerous - deposits on the walls of the chimney ignite when overheated, and sparks or even a flame are emitted from the chimney along with the smoke. This can cause a fire in dry weather. If there is no draft at all in your stove, and the smoke goes inside the room, it must be cleaned mechanically, using a special tool.

Devices designed for cleaning the chimney from soot and soot are very diverse: these are brushes, scrapers, ruffs of various configurations and sizes, as well as cores on a strong cable, which break through dense blockages. They can be purchased at specialized stores or made by hand.

Video - how to make a ruff for cleaning a chimney with your own hands

Chimney cleaning is usually carried out from top to bottom: they break through the blockages in the chimney, clean it with scrapers, brushes and brushes, after which they clean the smoke channels through the cleaning doors, and lastly they clean the dampers and the firebox itself, as well as the ash pan. Simple chimney configurations can be cleaned from below using long-handled brushes. How to mechanically clean the chimney is described below.

Chimney cleaning technology

1. Before taking on the role of a chimney sweep, take care of your own safety. It is necessary to install a comfortable ladder on the roof and take care of the insurance that will not allow you to fall. Use a respirator when cleaning the chimney.

Safety measures at work

2. Open the flaps, otherwise soot will accumulate on them, which can lead to more blockage. But the doors - furnace, ash and cleaning ones - must be tightly closed so as not to stain furniture and floors with soot. It is better to hang open fireplace inserts with a damp cloth, which is not a pity to throw away - most likely, it will not work to wash it.

3. Cleaning starts from the top, from the chimney. Before starting cleaning, you need to remove the head from the pipe, remove the soot with a scraper or a stiff brush at an accessible distance. The tool can be lengthened using the stackable handle.

Cleaning begins with the pipe

4. Inaccessible parts of the chimney are cleaned using a flexible wire brush with a nozzle at one end and a rotating handle at the other. The diameter of the nozzle should be 1.2-1.3 times the diameter of the pipe. The cable is inserted into the chimney and begins to gently advance by rotating the handle.

Flexible pipe brush for soot removal

5. If the ruff gets stuck, it means that a serious blockage has formed in the chimney, and it can only be pierced with the help of a cannonball. The core on the cable is sharply lowered into the chimney, trying not to touch the walls, so as not to chip the brick. After removing the blockage, continue cleaning with a brush.

Pipe cleaning core

6. After cleaning the pipes, proceed to remove soot through the cleaning doors. In a complex furnace, as a rule, there are several of them, and they are located in the places where the smoke channel turns. First, the soot that has fallen from above is raked out, then the smoke channel itself is cleaned with scrapers and a brush. At the same time, they move from top to bottom, to the firebox. In fireplaces with a direct chimney, there may be no cleaning doors at all, and all the soot immediately falls into the firebox.

Cleaning smoke channels from soot

7. The firebox and ash pan are cleaned last. Final cleaning can be done with a vacuum cleaner. If your vacuum cleaner is equipped with a cloth bag for collecting dust, it is better to buy a disposable paper bag for this purpose, since it is impossible to clean it of soot.

Removing soot from the firebox with a vacuum cleaner

8. Heat the stove and check the draft. If cleaning has removed the blockage, then after the oven has cooled down, put the head back on. If the draft has not improved, it is possible that the smoke channel in a hard-to-reach place is clogged, and you cannot do without the help of a qualified stove-operator.

9. In the future, when using the oven, you should not neglect the prevention of blockages using the folk or modern methods described above.

To prevent the chimney from overgrowing with soot, you must adhere to a few simple rules:

• It is better to use dry firewood from deciduous trees as fuel, and at the end of the firebox periodically put aspen or preventive measures into the stove.
• Garbage, especially plastic, polyethylene, wrapping paper, must not be burned in the oven.
• To reduce moisture condensation, the chimney must be insulated, especially if it is made of metal. Usually they use ready-made double pipes of the "sandwich" type with a layer of non-combustible insulation.
• It is imperative to put on a cap on the pipe, which protects it from accidental ingress of debris or precipitation.

With proper use of the stove, the question "how to clean the chimney from soot" will arise very rarely, and you will be able to fully enjoy the bright flame and warmth.