Old timer near Harrisburg told me to sweep from the top down, not the bottom up

My first year sweeping I always went from the bottom up because it felt more natural to push soot ahead of me. He said I was just packing debris into the smoke shelf and making a mess for later. Anyone else get told the same thing early on and have to unlearn their approach?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthews211d ago

Yeah I had the same habit, took me a full season to break it. What finally clicked for me was realizing every time I swept bottom up I'd end up with a pile of soot sitting right on the smoke shelf that I'd have to go back and clean out by hand anyway. Now I always take a couple extra seconds at the top to scrape the smoke shelf clean before I start the downward passes, saves a ton of hassle later. Have you noticed any difference in how clean your flue stays since switching?

fisher.adam1d ago

Another thing nobody talks about is how bottom-up sweeping can mask a cracked flue tile. When you go top-down, you feel that brush catching on every little ridge or gap because you're pulling against it. Going up from the bottom you're pushing past those same cracks and they can close up or just not catch the same way. I missed a hairline crack for two seasons doing it the old way, found it first pass going top-down. Saved myself a much bigger repair bill catching it early like that.