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Which brush?


JohnRoss
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There seem to be two types of brush available in Bricos for sweeping the chimney. One with nylon bristles and the other with metal ones. Which would be best for a metal liner. I would have thought the metal type would scratch the surface of the liner but maybe not...............JR
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[quote user="woolybanana"]Your chimney needs to be swept at least once a year (if in use) by a legal sweep if you are to fulfil the conditions of your house and fire insurance policy.[/quote]

You know, I knew you were going to say that ?

its not true,,,,,,,

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Hi Jr

There is no requirement to pay for chimney sweeping, in general terms, if your insured with some oddball insurer that does require it, then I suggest you change insurer :)

As to the brush, you state correctly, a metal and a nylon one,,

If the house is old and the flue has been installed into an existing chimney breast, then I would guess the chances of it being circular all the way to the top are remote, in this case a nylon brush is the best option, it can be easily cut down to allow easy passage from top to bottom.

On balance I dont see the neccesity for a metal one in any event, prior to sweeping you should burn the cleaning blocks to loosen the debris inside the flue liner.

 

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It is enough to say that you swept it!

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I have heard this so often, and certainly my insurer, Macif, do not require it.

When we first arrived and were renting, the agent made us do it, but thats french estate agents for you ( as%^&**'s, but in any event its only 50 euro's, so what ever makes you sleep comfortably :)

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That would NOT have been enough for one of our neighbours! They had a large chimney fire that almost took out their mezannine and the first thing the pompiers asked for after they had made it safe was the facture for the ramonneur. Without it they would have had to pay for the pompier and their insurance would have been invalid too! That is also the same with ours and it is NOT a little back street firm either.

So, you pays yer money and you takes yer chance and if you want to chance your home and all of the belongings then I wish you luck 'cause I like to be able to sleep at night!

Get a brush, oh yes while I think about it you could also get a buche ramonneur too. I wouldn't, but you can if you like taking chances. The pompier also said to our neighbours that the buche ramoneurs are about as much good as an ashtray on a motorbike. Not their words, but their intonation!

We pay 56€ for a very professional job and have the peace of mind to go with it. 56€ is a cheap price for that, 1€/week as near as damn it.

I'm with you Wooly!

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Ok folks and thanks for the replies. I guess I will carry on with the Nylon brush then. We do burn a chemical log a couple of times during the winter and also sweep the flue twice as well. The log may not do any good but I assume it does no harm either.............................JR
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For loose soot, a nylon or any other stiff brush is fine, but if you have resin and sticky stuff, then you need a hedgehog metal brush. The chemical logs are supposed to turn the hard stuff into soft powder which falls down or you can scrape off but whether they actually work, nobody has ever been able to tell me. Remember too that high temperature burning deposits much less muck in the chimney, which is why manufacturers of French stoves advise one not to burn at low temperature or try to keep the stove in over night.
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