Stopped fighting old soot and finally switched to a better vacuum setup

I spent last month in Cincinnati trying to clean a chimney that had 3 years of buildup from a wood stove. My old shop vac kept clogging every 15 minutes. So last week I finally grabbed a proper HEPA vacuum with a 5 micron bag and a cyclone separator. It cost me around 400 bucks but I finished the job in half the time. First time I didn't have to stop every 10 minutes to unclog the hose. What do you guys use for heavy soot jobs?

3 comments

3 Comments

morgan_king365d ago

That "stopped fighting old soot" line hits home. I had the exact same problem with a rental property chimney last fall, and swapping to a cyclone separator saved my back and my sanity on that job.

emery2905d ago

Forty seven years of working with old masonry and I never thought about a cyclone separator for sweeping. The original soot and creosote build up in those older flues, it's like concrete sometimes. Most folks just keep scraping at it with wire brushes, but that separator actually goes after the source not just the buildup. You ever notice how the worst soot problems come from chimneys that were built before the 1950s, back when they used different mortar mixes that act like sponges for the smoke particles?

the_hayden5d ago

I used to roll my eyes at the cyclone separator thing, thought it was just another gimmick. But @emery290, you're right about those pre-50s chimneys. I was helping a buddy clean out a 1940s house last month, and the soot was like tar. A wire brush just smeared it around. Tried the separator on a whim, and it actually pulled out chunks I couldn't even reach before. Totally changed my mind on the whole approach.