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That old sweep who told me to skip the rotary tool was right all along
Veteran guy named Frank at a trade meet in Dayton told me last year that hand brushing was the only way to go for delicate terra cotta flues. I thought he was just being stubborn, but after I chipped a $400 liner using my new drill attachment, I realized he knew what he was talking about. Anyone else find that older sweeps give advice that actually holds up better than the new gear?
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blaked7927d agoMost Upvoted
Shop vac vs HEPA thing is actually backwards in my book. A shop vac blows half the fines right back into the room unless you rig a filter bag, while a real HEPA with a pre-separator handles heavy soot way better. Frank's point about hand brushing for terra cotta still stands though. Drills spin too fast for old clay, they grab and gouge. The old guys know the material before they know the tool. That part about marketing brochures, yeah, you got it right there.
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wendyw711mo ago
Frank sounds like the kind of guy who's been burned a few times and learned the hard way. I had an old timer named Joe tell me the same thing about using a shop vac instead of a fancy HEPA for certain jobs, and sure enough my expensive filter clogged up on the first heavy soot job. It's funny how the simple methods usually don't come with a marketing brochure.
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