Spent 4 hours on a clay flue liner that should've taken 90 minutes tops

I was working on a house in the historic district last week and the clay liner was absolutely fused together with old creosote. Tried my regular wire brush setup and got nowhere for 2 hours. Ended up having to use a rotary chain knocker and even then it took another 2 hours to break through all the buildup. Has anyone else dealt with liners that are basically solid blocks of carbon?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona_scott449d ago

Yeah that sounds about right especially in old houses where they burned everything from trash to railroad ties. I had one last fall that was so bad I actually thought the liner had collapsed until I got a camera up there. What finally worked for me was taking a heavy duty shop vac with a long hose and a stiff bristle attachment to suck out as much loose crap as I could first. Then I hit it with a chemical creosote remover and let it soak for an hour before going in with the chain knocker. Still took a solid 3 hours but the chemical softened it up enough that the knocker could actually break through instead of just bouncing off. If you haven't tried the soak method yet give it a shot next time it's a game changer for those solid carbon walls.

the_val8d ago

Funny enough I actually did try that soak method last month and ended up flooding my living room because I forgot to cap the bottom of the flue... classic me. But yeah when I finally got it right the chemical plus vacuum combo made a world of difference compared to just scraping at it like a maniac. That stuff is like magic if you actually remember the basic steps.