Brush for cleaning oven channels. Homemade brush for cleaning the chimney. How to make a homemade brush

Chimney cleaning

Regular cleaning of the chimney is necessary even for expensive and modern modules. Soot tends to accumulate, this happens even when burning with the best firewood. Combustion products are so small that they can accumulate even on a perfectly smooth surface.
The chimney can be easily cleaned with your own hands using a brush. To clean a chimney, it is not necessary to have special education or have outstanding knowledge in this field. The only thing you have to work on is the process of creating a brush for cleaning.

It is known that without understanding the causes, it is quite difficult to solve a problem. So, in the process of burning wood, two types of waste are released: gas and smoke. There are two types of smoke: white and black. White smoke comes from water vapor in wood, while black smoke comes from coal, soot and creosote. Black smoke causes soot to form inside the chimney. Practice has shown that chimneys built by yourself accumulate soot better than those built by professionals.

What happens if you refuse to clean the chimney? First, soot will begin to accumulate. The accumulation process will continue until the smoke ( gaseous substance) it will not be difficult to squeeze through the pipe into the atmosphere. In this condition, the draft in the chimney and, accordingly, the quality of heating the house are disrupted. If the pipe is severely clogged, there are two types of events: the metal pipe will deteriorate (at best) or the soot residue will catch fire (at worst).

Chimney contamination

Over the long period of operation of fireplaces and stoves, humanity has accumulated enough experience to combat soot in pipes. Most devices are no different complex design and they can be done with your own hands.

The brush is the most proven, and, oddly enough, one of the most effective ways clean the pipe.
Peeling potato peels ( old-fashioned method). This method is quite simple: you need to pour half a bucket into the chimney potato peel and turn on the heating device. When heated, the potatoes will begin to release starch, which decomposes the soot.
Aspen firewood is a simple and dangerous method. For cleansing metal pipe you will need aspen logs. Place them in the stove and light the logs. After a while you will hear a strange hum, this means that the soot in the chimney has caught fire and after a while the metal pipe will clean itself. When using this cleaning method, you endanger the roof and neighboring buildings - hot particles can accidentally fly onto the insulating layer and lead to a fire.
Aluminum cans. Simply burn aluminum cans while firing the stove. Aluminum particles have the same charge as soot. As a result, black smoke will not settle on the protected metal pipe.
Dry cleaning is the most unpopular and unpleasant process. After dry cleaning the soot peels off partially. This process is accompanied unpleasant smell and the formation of soot, which settles on interior items.

Making a chimney brush yourself

A budget brush for cleaning a chimney can be easily made with your own hands. To make it, follow the instructions below:

Go to the market and buy a synthetic round broom, a metal cable the same length as the chimney, two clamps, a pin (8 mm thread) and a few washers.
Unfold the bristles on a synthetic round broom so that they resemble a bouquet. Keep in mind that the villi may not immediately respond to your efforts. To soften the lint, you can place it in boiling water for a few minutes.
The straightened brush is put aside with your own hands. We take the ear and screw a hairpin onto it from both ends. Next you will need a brush for cleaning the chimney and a washer that is attached to the bottom of the brush.
If the diameter of the brush does not suit you, you can tighten the washer more. The more it curls, the more the villi straighten to the sides. Once you have decided that the brush has required diameter– proceed to the next stage.
Press down on the base from above and slowly screw on the second fastener.
The brush turns over. At the bottom you will see the mounting ear. You need to tighten it exactly as much as you want to increase or decrease the diameter of the brush.
Look for a staple or make your own using steel wire. It is necessary to secure the cable to the brush. Before installing the cable, you need to measure the length of the chimney. After this, a part of the required length is cut off from the metal cable and attached to the workpiece. Remember that the brush also has its own length, so do not forget to take this factor into account when making brushes with your own hands.
All that remains is to attach a metal weight to the device (2 kg will be enough).

Brush for cleaning chimneys

Chimney cleaning rules

It's time to try out your homemade contraption. Before cleaning the chimney from the stove, it is necessary to remove any remaining firewood and other flammable materials. We climb onto the roof and remove the damper from the chimney, holding the homemade device tightly in our hand.

Slowly lower the brush into the chimney. As soon as you feel that the brush has completely sunk to the very bottom, lift it towards you as high as possible. The down and up movements must be repeated for several minutes.

After cleaning the metal pipe, you need to remove fallen soot from the fireplace. This is done with a regular broom. The brush is washed warm water and set to dry. After cleaning procedures, the stove must be heated for several hours. Don’t worry about the broken draft; it should stabilize after a few minutes of operation of the heating device.

Video: How to clean a chimney? the most effective way

Stove soot is removed from chimneys as follows:

burning off carbon-rich plaque with just enough complex technology and expensive tools;
dissolving the settled crust using chemicals introduced into the furnace during fuel combustion;
scraping off inner surface and removing it from the outlet channel through pre-equipped hatches for cleaning.

Moreover, the first method of combating is extremely dangerous and is practiced only in the case of cleaning chimneys of industrial heat-generating units. The second method involves the destruction of the body of the outlet pipe, which has survived the effects of chemically active drugs.

The third technology – mechanical cleaning – guarantees high level safety, while ensuring the safety of the chimney itself. Therefore, most household furnace gas exhaust ducts are cleaned only with your own hands using a mechanical method.

Why do you need a brush and how is it used?

This tool works like a scraper or brush, destroying the soot crust and “sweeping” combustion products to the cleaning hatch, for subsequent removal of collected deposits. That is, mechanical cleaning of the canal is carried out precisely with its help.

The chimney sweep inserts the brush into the drainage channel from the roof side and, making reciprocating movements, knocks soot off the inner walls.

Having finished processing the vertical channel, the chimney sweep proceeds to cleaning the horizontal sections, inserting the brush into special hatches and making reciprocating movements in the horizontal plane.

The mass accumulated at the hatch is removed from the channel using a scraper and scoop.

How does a chimney sweep's main tool work?

A typical stove brush consists of the following structural elements:

flexible cable - a spring with a minimum gap between turns;
a spherical or cylindrical brush – a brush – with “working elements” protruding 360°;
suspension - a removable weight at the end of the cable located behind the brush.

When working in a horizontal plane, the suspension is dismantled - in this case we need the flexibility of the spring cable. Cleaning a vertical channel with your own hands involves working with a rigid structure. Therefore in in this case a suspension is fixed at the end of the cable, which neutralizes the flexibility of the spring due to the influence of gravity.

In addition, at professional tool the brush is removed by twisting it from the cable, because the diameters of the chimneys can be different.

How to make a brush for cleaning with your own hands?

To do this we will need the following tools and consumables:

The plumbing cable is the basis for the future brush. However, if only a vertical channel is intended to be processed, then the spring cable can be replaced with a wire analogue or a fine-mesh chain.
A roll of soft wire - this will be used to make a cleaning attachment. If there is no wire, then you can use tire cord after burning out the rubber. Another option for “construction” material for the nozzle is a plastic bottle.
Any small-sized load - a heavy nut, a cast lead blank. A coffee can filled with sand or shot.
Steel stud 8-10 millimeters, two nuts, two carabiner fasteners, copper tube.
Two tiles measuring 5x5 centimeters made of plywood or metal with a thickness of at least 2 mm

The process of making a pipe cleaner with your own hands is as follows:

At the point of intersection of the diagonals of 5-centimeter tiles, we drill through hole diameter like a hairpin.
We cut the cord or wire into measured pieces, the length of which is equal to 2-2.5 times the diameter of the chimney.
We take the pin, fix it in a vice and bend the free end into a loop or weld washers with a large internal diameter to it.
Next, turn the pin over in the vice with the threaded end up, screw on the first nut on this side and put on the first tile.
We bend measured pieces of cord or wire in half, around the pin, forming a ruff. In this case, the wire bristles should be located evenly around the entire circumference for maximum cleaning area.
We put the second tile on the stud and screw on the second nut, fixing the wire sticking out in different directions.
Using welding, attach a second washer to the free end of the pin or make a loop.
We pass the carabiner fasteners through the loops or vertically fixed washers, obtaining a removable attachment for the brush for cleaning.
We weld or solder the mounting ring to the load. If a nut is chosen as a suspension, then this operation can be abandoned.
We attach the weight to one of the carabiners of the assembled attachment.
We put it on the free end of the spring or weeding cable copper tube 4-5 centimeters long. The diameter of the tube is equal to 2-2.5 times the diameter of the cable.
We form a loop at the end of the cable, passing the free section into the tube.
We rivet the copper tube, fixing a loop for hanging the nozzle with a weight.
We fix the cleaning head on the loop using a free carabiner.

That's all. You have made a brush with your own hands for cleaning the vertical channel of a stove or fireplace pipe, and it is ready for use.

But to process horizontal or inclined channels you will need a completely different attachment, which you can also make with your own hands:

Take a 1.5-2 liter plastic bottle and cut off the bottom of this container.
Unravel the body of the bottle into strips 3-4 millimeters wide, cutting them along the vertical axis from the distant bottom to the neck of the container.
Punch a hole in the cover, the diameter of which coincides with the diameter of the cable.

After this, you will have to string a perforated lid onto the cable and, having first removed the “vertical” nozzle from the loop, screw the bottle turned into a scraper onto it. Moreover, to firmly fix the nozzle on the brush, it is necessary to pierce the neck and plug with a self-tapping screw, passing it through the loop on the cable.

When making parts with your own hands, you should consider:

The diameter of the brush is 0.8-1.2 times the diameter of the chimney.
The diameter of the load is 0.3-0.35 of the diameter of the channel being cleaned.
Length of spring or wire rope = length of channel being cleaned + 10-15 percent.

We can say that a chimney brush is the main tool used for the hygiene of this structure. In some ways, the device is similar to a toothbrush for cleaning bottles, the principle and overall appearance are very similar, naturally only the dimensions are much larger. The ruff consists of a main spire (also known as the central perpendicular), on which several circles of large “bristles” are made. Often thin steel wire is used, in some cases only soft types of wire can be used.

How to choose the right chimney brush?

Despite a general understanding of the cleaning procedure and an overview of the entire device, many are unaware of significant factors when purchasing finished products. It should be taken into account that the tool is not suitable for every type of channel. For example, for brick structures, a brush with hard “bristles” is suitable, where the “bitten” soot is “settled” quite tightly on the walls. If you are buying for steel pipe, purchase soft products, with soft wire or plastic, nylon. Otherwise, the rigid wire may damage the structure. As you can see, there are enough nuances in choosing ruffs and it is important to pay attention to them.

Brush for cleaning a brick chimney

Where is it sold and how much does it cost?

You can buy such a device at any hardware store. If you don't have it, you can purchase a brush for your chimney on the Internet; as a rule, the cost does not differ significantly. The average price is within 2,000 rubles.

How to make a homemade brush?

If the price seems too high for you, you can make such products yourself. The main thing is to determine exactly what shape you need and for which pipe. There are three main types of brushes:

The brush is a classic metal brush, shaped like a cylinder. Additional devices included in the kit can be a simple long rope, usually 5 meters, or a weight weighing up to 2 kg. with extension cord.
A regular brush equipped with steel or nylon bristles. Has a special handle.
Scraper. It saves the day when there are soot build-ups on the channels that the two previous options cannot cope with. Can be of any suitable shape.

From a plastic bottle

A homemade brush can be made from an ordinary water bottle. Manufacturing stages:

In the center of the bottom, make a small hole.
A hole of the same diameter is made in the lid.
Next, cut the bottle into small strips and attach a pin with a hook to one side.
On the other side, a pin is also inserted, which are connected together.
Using nuts, compress the bottle and attach a weight to one side.

The process of making a plastic brush

This design is suitable for cleaning metal and ceramic channels.

From the broom

A chimney brush can be made from an ordinary plastic broom, which is now available in almost every household. Manufacturing stage:

Cut off the stalk.
Straighten the “stubble”, you can use a hair dryer. After straightening, we clamp it with a pin and washer.
From the side of the handle we wind a pin with a hook.
The structure is tightened on both sides, then a cable with a sinker is attached.

Excellent for cleaning wide channels.

From a metal brush for an angle grinder

A metal brush or brush can even be made from such a device. At the moment the price is not that high, so we recommend buying a finished product. If you decide to make a chimney brush with your own hands, remember that you will need two sheets, a threaded rod and nuts. Also, do not forget to use stiff wire or, in some cases, nylon wire as “bristles.”

A complex version made of metal cable

A cable can also be used to clean chimneys. The manufacturing process is much more complex and requires certain efforts and skills. You will need a cable, preferably 1 cm in diameter. An edge of about 10 cm dissolves into individual fibers. They bend into different sides, and in order to hold the mold to clean the pipe, two plates are taken and compressed. A counterweight should be attached to the bottom edge to break up lumps and soot build-ups.

When raw wood and household waste are burned in a stove, a large amount of soot is released, which... Because of this, thrust decreases and the intensity of fuel combustion decreases. The result of this phenomenon can be poisoning of people with carbon monoxide, which ceases to be removed from the room. A chimney brush can solve the draft problem. This device is considered the most effective means to resolve such problems. Let's look at what it is, its structure, types, advantages and disadvantages.

Boilers and stoves are installed in almost all private houses and cottages, bathhouses and garages. As a rule, firewood or coal is used to fire them. But, quite often, fireplaces are used to dispose of old tires, household items and construction waste. These objects emit thick smoke, which settles in the form of solid particles on the inner walls of the exhaust pipe. Gradually thickening, the soot completely blocks the exhaust duct.

In addition, chimneys become clogged for the following reasons:

ingress of branches, leaves, small animals and bird nests;
partial or complete destruction of the channel due to wear or improper assembly;
, which upon contact with combustion products forms a viscous and sticky substance.

Signs of clogging chimney is the fallout of soot fragments into the furnace during boiler cleaning, poor combustion of fuel with an open ashpit, poor draft and strong soot when burning fuel.

How can you clean a chimney?

In order to clean the pipe coming from the boiler, stove and fireplace, there are many ways and means.

They are divided into the following categories:

Thermal. The essence of this method is to destroy the blockage with high temperature. An object is placed in the firebox or directly in the chimney, which produces intense heat when burned. Good results provide termite blocks, anthracite and aspen firewood. The carbon deposits are burned off manually with a gas burner.
Chemical. They are available in the form of tablets, granules and powders. The funds are placed on smoldering coals. Under the influence of heat, ingredients are released that turn soot into dust, which completely crumbles into the firebox within a few days.
Mechanical. To remove blockages, scrapers, brooms and brushes are used. Foreign objects are removed with a hook or crowbar. Flexible garden hoses, hoes, logs and weights on a rope, poles and telescopic fishing rods, and other improvised means are used as auxiliary tools.

There are also folk remedies for cleaning chimneys. Carbon deposits are removed by combustion in the firebox potato peelings, pouring water on it, immersing compacted snow in a heated pipe.

Advantages and disadvantages of a brush

The most difficult thing to remove is soot that has filled almost the entire volume of the channel. In addition, the length of the chimney also plays a role. In some buildings it can be ten meters or more. It is simply impossible to work with poles of such length.

A brush on a cable has the following advantages:

light and compact, easy to carry and transport;
no restrictions on pipe height, shape and section size;
the ability to adjust the weight of the load and, accordingly, the applied force.

The disadvantages of this device include its inability to break through solid blockages, remove condensation and remove foreign objects.

How the ruff works

The brush for cleaning chimney pipes consists of the following parts:

Head. It is a hard pile fixed to the base, made of metal or plastic.
Weighting agent. It is made in the shape of a ball or cylinder, made of iron or lead.
Cable. It is the basis for fastening all parts. Made from iron or synthetic fiber.
Hook. Located on the cable between the head and the load.
Tubes They are mounted on a cable and are designed to create a dynamic force when pushing the brush down.
Replaceable nozzles. Performed in the form of a pike or hook. Designed for breaking through obstacles and extracting dense objects.

To clean pipes of certain shapes, brushes with different parameters are used.

Types of ruffs

The selection of these devices is made according to the following criteria:

Diameter. It can be small (up to 100 mm), medium (100 -250 mm) and large (more than 250 mm).
Material of manufacture. Heads are made of copper, iron and polymer plastic.
Form. Round, polygonal, oval, square.
Type of cable. The working part is attached to a rope, plug tubes or cable located inside the tubes.

You should also pay attention to the weight of the sinker. It varies between 5-20 kg.

Make it yourself or buy it

This question invariably faces owners of property heated with coal or wood. If you have the skills to handle household tools, making a brush will not be difficult.

But this will require spending time, which everyone is sorely lacking. It is much easier to purchase a finished product from a factory. Fortunately, today in retail trade There is a wide range of similar products available, and their prices are quite reasonable.

When purchasing chimney cleaning devices, you should not focus on their cost. A cheap purchase may not be effective and will sit in the pantry for years.

The following factors need to be taken into account:

can be processed with any material;
To clean ceramic pipes, only a plastic brush may be used;
steel chimneys can be cleaned with heads with bristles made of copper or brass;

It is better to purchase a weight with two eyes so that you can tie a rope to it and pull it down if it gets stuck.

The most popular brushes are from the following manufacturers:

PCC (Poland) - plastic and metal, with a diameter of 120-400 mm;
Hansa (Lithuania) - universal 150-400 mm;
Chimney sweep (Russia) - set with replaceable nozzles.

Making a ruff with your own hands

This is a creative and interesting activity that you can do in your spare time. personal plot time or in the off-season. Before you start work, you need to prepare everything you need for this.

Required materials and tools

To make a chimney brush with your own hands you will need:

hacksaw or grinder;
pliers;
adjustable wrench;
steel washers;
hard wire;
hairpins;
bolts and nuts;

If you are cleaning a ceramic pipe, you will need scissors for cutting plastic bottles.

Drawing and diagrams

To make the brush convenient, durable and functional, its design needs to be carefully thought out. As a basis for planning, you need to take a scale drawing of the chimney. Based on the available data, diagrams of individual components of the brush and the entire product as a whole are drawn up.

The following details are displayed in detail on paper:

shape and size of the cargo;
carabiner for attaching it;
head device;
carabiner loop;
cable configuration.

After checking the schemes, final calculations are carried out.

Size calculation

The following table will help you make a design for a brush for cleaning a stove chimney:

How to make a ruff

Let's look at how a brush is made from plastic bottles.

We take 5-6 containers of the same size, remove the lids from them and cut off the bottom at the same distance.
Using scissors, cut strips 4-5 mm wide from the bottom to the neck.
We join the resulting blanks together. We fix them with wide washers, a nut and a bolt with a head made in the shape of a loop.
We make a weighting agent from an iron can, lead and a thick steel pond. We attach a durable carabiner to the ring.
We string thin steel or aluminum tubes 80-100 cm long onto a plumbing cable. The cable is using an adapter with internal thread screw it to the head.

The chimney brush is ready.

Production video

Frequent mistakes and problems when making brushes

The main difficulty in making a brush is finding suitable material. The most difficult thing to make is the head of the device. At this stage, precision and considerable effort are required.

Most masters make the following mistakes:

Short cable length. As a result, the brush does not reach the end of the pipe. As a result, the most inaccessible area near the firebox remains clogged.
Poor tightening of the wire between the washers. This leads to the destruction of the homemade brush during the process of cleaning the chimney.
The pole or plugs are not strong enough. When loaded, these parts bend, preventing the brush from advancing. In the worst case, the handle breaks and its fragments get stuck in the pipe.
Selecting a cleaning material that does not match the internal surface of the chimney. Thus, a metal brush can hopelessly ruin ceramics.
The head width does not match the channel parameters. The head either does not fit into it or does not reach the walls.

Rules for cleaning a chimney with a brush

Since access to the pipe is only possible from the roof, it is necessary to pay attention Special attention security measures. The worker must use a safety line; it is advisable to set up a temporary barrier.

Before starting cleaning, tightly close the firebox and vent.
Check the tool for serviceability. Test all parts for strength.
After passing each meter of pipe, remove the crumbled soot from the firebox.
After completing the passage of the pipe, use a hard brush to replace it with a soft one for final polishing of its walls.

Professional chimney sweeps know the secrets of quickly and efficiently removing blockages of any complexity.

When using any solid fuel products of incomplete combustion accumulate in the chimney, which settle on the walls in the form of a soft coating. If cleaning is not carried out in time, the clearance will decrease, which will significantly worsen traction. And so much so that smoke will go into the room. In the worst case, the soot can catch fire, which can lead to pipe destruction or even fire. Chimney cleaning is practically the only way to avoid this. It is necessary to inspect the condition of the pipe twice a year - before heating season and after it. How often you will have to clean depends on whether you use preventative chimney cleaning methods or not.

This is the result of soot igniting

There are two types of chimney cleaning:

Chimney sweeps have been cleaning soot this way for centuries. Cleaning is carried out from the roof. A special projectile is lowered into the pipe - a core, to the center of which a flexible cable is welded/attached. Above the core there is a brush that brushes away soot, and the core is a weighting element that simultaneously checks the permeability of the pipe. When working, you need to be careful: if the traction is good, soot and other debris will fly into your face. Therefore, first put on goggles and a respirator, and also stay attached to the pipe: with a sudden release in the face, a person involuntarily makes a sudden movement. You can probably imagine how this could end up on the roof.

This design- a ruff with a core on a cable - you can make it yourself, but the main catch is in the correct load. It should be round and centered. No ordinary weights or heavy pieces of iron are suitable. They work for the time being, and then the tied load becomes “stupid” in the pipe and cannot be removed from there by any effort. Often, in order to remove the projectile, disassembling a fragment of the chimney is required. If you are going to clean the chimney yourself, either make or buy a “correct projectile” that will under no circumstances get stuck in the chimney. Wrapping a brush, making it out of metal or synthetic bristles - these are details that usually do not cause difficulties.

Sometimes the pipe is too high to be reached even from the roof. In this case, the chimney is cleaned from below. If the chimney is metal and there is a cleaning glass, unscrew it and insert a brush on a flexible rod into the pipe. In some cases, not rods are used, but rigid wire. If there is no glass, maybe there is a cleaning hole, but if there is none, then you will either have to disassemble the beginning of the chimney, or clean it through the firebox, which is completely inconvenient.

There is one more point: if the pipe is metal, cleaning with a brush is not enough - a large amount of plaque remains on the walls. To ensure high-quality cleaning, instead of a brush, wrap a ball of rags around a wire or rod. This chimney cleaning leaves behind almost perfectly clean walls.

Homemade brush for cleaning the chimney

One option is to make a cleaning brush from polypropylene pipes. The pipes are cut into fragments of approximately 1.5 meters. Threaded fittings are installed at the ends. A metal brush for an angle grinder is attached to one of them.

First, the wire on the brush is fluffed using pliers or pliers. It turns out to be a homemade cleaner telescopic rod for the chimney.

How to make a chimney cleaner from plastic bottle look in the video.

How to clean a very tall or curved chimney

Sometimes the pipe rises very high above the ridge. Why not call a special machine with a lifting platform every time to clean the chimney? The issue is resolved with the help of a very long cable, in the middle of which a brush of a suitable diameter is attached.

Attached to the end of the cable small size load, throw it into the pipe, pull it out from the other end. The cable remains inside, and its other end hangs outside. When the need arises to shake the soot, simply pull first one end, then the other, moving the brush tied to the cable. The total length of the cable is three pipe heights.

The problem of a pipe with a bend is solved in the same way - you only have to somehow pull the cable through the bend the first time, and then you only need to pull the ends of the cable.

Chemicals for cleaning soot

Any chemicals are only preventive measures and a way to make mechanical cleaning less frequent. Can handle it without mechanical removal Plaque is possible only if you have a stainless steel or ceramic chimney, and then only with regular use of one or more products from this category.

Keep in mind that if you haven't had your chimney cleaned in a while and you start using one of the chemicals, there is a chance that you will completely “shut up” the cravings. These substances do not remove or dissolve deposits, but only soften them. The softened soot and soot either flies away in the form of flakes into the chimney or falls down. If the stove is reversible, with long curved smoke channels, soot can clog the clearance. It will be necessary to open the cleaning windows, rake out the soot and everything that has fallen there. If the pipe is straight, after using these products you need to clean the firebox - within a few days the fallen sediment will fall into it.

Folk chemicals

Let's start with “folk” remedies for dissolving soot. Our grandmothers also periodically sprinkled some salt on burning wood. To ensure that the soot flies into the chimney and does not fall inside, the chimney is heated very well, with the fireman at full power for some time. Then half a kilogram or a kilogram of salt is poured into the fire and the fire continues for another hour and a half. If the pipe is hot enough, gray or black flakes begin to fly out into the pipe. Over the course of several days, residues may fall inside, but the bulk burns in the pipe.

Many people are well familiar with the effects of potato starch. In the same way, with a well-heated oven, pour about a bucket of potato peelings onto the firewood (you can use chopped potatoes, or you can use starch). The effect is almost the same, with the only difference being that almost everything falls inside.

Another option for “folk” chemicals for cleaning chimneys is burning several aluminum cans. In this case, the fire must be really hot: you need firewood with high heat capacity. Then the aluminum really burns - the can disappears in 5-7 minutes. If it just darkens, there will be no effect.

Store-bought drugs

Available in stores different means for cleaning the chimney. Some of them are produced in the form of powder packaged in bags, others - in the form of logs or briquettes. Please read the instructions before purchasing. There are preparations intended for open fireboxes, such as a fireplace, and others for closed ones, such as bathhouses or heating stoves. It is not recommended to replace them - after all, chemistry...

The range of chemicals for cleaning chimneys is constantly updated, but there are drugs that have existed for decades. Their effects have already been well studied. Below we will talk about the most popular and common ones.

The composition of these products, of course, is not disclosed; the principle of operation is described rather poorly: under the influence of gases released during combustion (safe for humans), the soot dries out, burns out, becomes brittle and flies out into the chimney or crumbles down. For an overview of the Chimney Sweep Sazhinet chimney cleaning log, watch the video.

Thermal chimney cleaning methods

The action of this method is based on the fact that soot is a high-calorie combustible substance. The temperature in the chimney is brought to the point where it flares up and burns out. The problem is that the combustion temperature of soot is about 1100°C and few chimneys and fire stops (when passing through a ceiling or roof) are able to withstand such heat.

Its one very unpleasant and dangerous feature is that if a lot of soot has accumulated, the moment of ignition is very similar to an explosion. Almost the same sound is heard, and the air wave is noticeable. So to the utmost high temperatures a significant shock load is also added. There were cases when even rough stoves fell apart. So this method is a dangerous undertaking.

Thermal cleaning is simple: take dry aspen firewood and heat the stove. Their combustion temperature is very high, and after a while the soot ignites. If you burn aspen periodically, the deposits simply do not have time to be deposited in sufficient quantities to cause any noticeable harm during combustion. But it is dangerous to use this method on a clogged chimney.