While we were having some building work done at home the other day, which involved removing the top section of the woodburner flue, I took the opportunity to sweep the chimney. I had tried to do this before, but I couldn't get the brush past the "butterfly valve" in the bottom of the flue. This time I was able to put the brush in from above, as is the usual procedure on a boat. It was a successful operation, with a pile of soot landing in the stove. That's a 6-inch ruler in the photo below.
Given the length of the flue, and the period of time since installation - this was its first sweep - there wasn't really very much that came out.
I get more than this every time I sweep the boat chimney, which must be a quarter the length. In the boat, though, half the sweepings seem to consist of rusty metal from the chimney. In the house the flue is twin-walled stainless steel. (Should I admit that the flue was installed 15 years ago? At least it's swept now.)
We'll be back on board very soon - I think I'll sweep the boat's chimney before lighting up ...
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