Shoutout to the old timer in Cleveland who told me to stop talking and just watch the smoke

Ryan Hayes · 2026-10-09T23:45:04.805602+00:00

I was up on a roof in Cleveland a few weeks back and this guy who has been sweeping for 40 years told me to quit chatting and just watch the smoke for a minute. He said if it curls back down at the top of the flue, you have a draft problem no brush will fix. I stood there for maybe 30 seconds and sure enough it was rolling back into the room. I have been running a camera and a flashlight up every flue for years and never once thought to just look at the smoke itself. Now I do that check before I even pull a brush out of the van, and I have caught 3 bad caps this month alone. Any of you old school sweepers still use the smoke trick or am I late to this?

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Shoutout to the old timer in Cleveland who told me to stop talking and just watch the smoke | Chimney Sweeps - Rigidtalk