Just realized I should have gone with a poly brush over wire for clay flue tiles

Tbh I had to make a call last week on a house built in 1952. I was staring at this clay flue liner with heavy creosote buildup. Wire brush seemed like the obvious choice for scraping hard deposits. But I went with the poly brush after talking to an old timer. It took me about 45 extra minutes to get the same level of clean. The thing is, I didn't gouge or scratch the flue tile at all. Has anyone else switched over from wire to poly and noticed less damage long term?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryan_ellis29d ago

I wonder if the poly brush actually helps slow down future creosote buildup too.

victorb7429d ago

Had a buddy who swore by using a poly brush every season, said it left a slick coating that junk slid right off of. He did have less buildup than me the next time we both cleaned our pipes, but he also burned nothing but kiln-dried wood. Could be the wood doing most of the work, but the brush didn't hurt none.

kim19127d ago

That poly brush might just be polishing the pipe wall to the point where it's smoother than it was from the factory. But think about it this way - if the coating is slick, what's actually keeping the creosote from sticking in the first place? The real culprit is moisture in the wood, not the pipe surface. Your buddy's kiln-dried wood is probably doing 80% of the work there. I've seen guys use poly brushes and still end up with a sticky mess because they were burning softwood with high moisture. The brush might give you a false sense of security.