Used a leaf blower to clean a flue last week and the homeowner came out screaming
I was at a place in Akron with a flue full of dry soot and my brushes were grabbing more than they cleared, so I grabbed the guy's leaf blower from his garage and hit it from the bottom for maybe 20 seconds. It worked great, soot shot out the top like a geyser, but it also dusted his brand new white siding and his wife's flower beds. He ran out yelling that his grill cover looked like it came out of a coal mine, and I ended up spending 40 minutes with his hose before he calmed down. Lesson learned: never use a customer's tools without asking, even if the job takes twice as long otherwise. Anyone got a trick for clearing heavy soot without turning the yard black?
Did you try a shop vac with a fine dust filter first, or was the soot already too caked on for that? Curious if the mess was really from the blower or if that flue had been ignored for years.