Tried a premium creosote log for $18 instead of sweeping manually

I bought a $18 creosote log from the hardware store to break up buildup in a customer's chimney that was too tight for my brushes to fully reach. It flaked off a ton of crusty stuff, but some chunks fell and blocked the damper, costing me an extra hour to fish them out with a shop vac. Has anyone else had creosote logs cause more trouble than they saved?

2 comments

2 Comments

juliagonzalez10d ago

Sandra mentioning running the vac before dropping the log in is smart, but I'm wondering how you keep the vac hose from just pulling the log apart too fast. Did you have to babysit it the whole time to make sure chunks didn't fly loose and jam things up before they even hit the damper? That's always been my worry with trying to stay ahead of the mess.

sandra91610d ago

Yeah, was the shop vac hooked up before you dropped the log in? I always run a vac with a narrow crevice tool right at the damper opening when I use those things, saves the headache.