Tried the plastic sheet trick on a stubborn flue and it worked, but is it cheating?
Had a nasty creosote clog on a 6 inch liner out in Fort Collins last month. A buddy told me to tape a clear plastic sheet over the firebox opening and run a shop vac on blow mode for 20 minutes. I tried it and the sheet puffed up like a balloon, then about a cup of soot dropped right into the bag. Some sweeps I know say this is a hack that just masks a bad brush job, while others swear it saves them an hour of rodding. What do you all think, does this trick actually clear the flue or am I fooling myself?
If taping plastic over a firebox is cheating then I've been cheating on every flue I've cleaned since 2015, which honestly tracks with the rest of my life choices. The vac-on-blow trick isn't magic, it just loosens what your brush couldn't reach, so brush again after and you're fine.