Keeping your wood-burning appliance’s chimney clean is vital. Not only will it curtail and prevent the buildup of creosote, but it will also keep your fireplace, wood stove, pellet stove, or wood furnace operating efficiently and safely.
Not all chimneys are created equally, though — and neither are the chimney cleaning kits designed for them.
At HY-C, we manufacture a line of chimney cleaning kits called SootEater. These rotary cleaning tools connect to your drill, using its rotating power to clean your chimney from top to bottom.
The collection consists of three distinct kits designed for three different types of chimney systems:
- Masonry chimneys
- Chimney liners
- Pellet stoves
In this guide, we’re going to take you through the ins and outs of each kit. We’ll cover what comes with each one, how they’re different from one another, and how their design allows them to clean the type of chimney for which they were made.
By the time you’re finished here, you’ll know exactly which SootEater kit you’ll need to clean your chimney.
SootEater Chimney Cleaning Kit for Masonry Chimneys
First in the line is the SootEater for masonry chimneys. This kit is used to clean fireplace chimneys and other masonry chimneys that have been retrofitted to service a wood stove or wood furnace. Its black-colored rods distinguish it from the other two kits in the line.
The kit itself includes:
- Six 3-foot rods
- A whip head (with a whip line installed)
- A drill bit adapter
The six rods combine to provide 18 total feet of reach, which is sufficiently long enough for most chimneys. Should that still not be enough length, though, an additional pair of 3-foot rods are available (to provide 6 additional feet of reach for a total of 24 feet).
The rods connect to each other via button links. This allows for a tight, uncompromising, spring-loaded fit that won’t come apart while you’re running the kit. The SootEater also comes with a pointed allen-key-style tool that allows you to separate the rods when you’re finished.
The star of the show, though, is the whip head. It utilizes 2.7-millimeter-thick trimmer line (similar to a string trimmer). The material is thick and strong enough to remove soot, ash, and creosote from chimney walls yet delicate enough not to damage fragile clay flue tiles.
If the whip head is too long, it can be trimmed down to accommodate nearly any masonry flue size. At 18 inches in diameter, it’s able to clean:
- Circular flues up to 18 inches in diameter
- Square flues up to 12” x 12”
- Rectangular flues up to 12” x 8”
Aside from the drill that powers it, the kit comes with everything you need to keep your masonry chimney flue clean in order to ensure a safe burn and a proper draft.
Discover the SootEater Masonry Chimney Cleaning Kit
SootEater Chimney Cleaning Kit for Chimney Liners
Because they deteriorate with time and weathering, it’s not uncommon to have a masonry chimney lined to ensure its proper operation. Since lined chimneys are common, we developed a SootEater kit just for them.
This kit is also great to use for appliances that utilize rigid pipe for their flues (like wood stoves and wood furnaces) as opposed to an unlined masonry chimney. The kit comes with:
- Eight 3-foot rods
- A bullet whip head (with the whip line installed)
- A drill bit adapter
The eight 3-foot rods combine to provide 24 total feet of reach — plenty for most fireplaces and stove flues. Should you need some additional reach, though, additional 3-foot rods are available to purchase in pairs (for 6 feet of additional length).
Like the masonry chimney cleaning kit, the SootEater for chimney liners utilizes a button-style connection. This ensures that the rods stay firmly affixed to one another during use while also maximizing the torque of the chimney whip line and head.
The whip head in the liner kit is similar to the one included in the masonry kit; the only difference is its smaller diameter. At 9 inches across, the whip head of the SootEater liner kit can clean:
- Chimney liners up to 9 inches in diameter
- Class A chimney pipe up to 9 inches in diameter
The whip head line in this kit can be trimmed to fit the specific diameter of your chimney liner. Besides a drill, the SootEater chimney liner cleaning kit comes with everything you need to keep your lined masonry flue in top shape.
Discover the SootEater Chimney Liner Cleaning Kit
SootEater Chimney Cleaning Kit for Pellet Stoves
The flues of pellet stoves are unique. Unlike, say, a 13” x 13” masonry flue or a 6” wood furnace or wood stove flue, pellet stove flues are small. They typically measure 3 or 4 inches in diameter. As a result, we developed a SootEater kit specifically designed for use with pellet stoves.
This particular kit comes with a few pellet-stove-specific tools:
- Three 3-foot rods
- A 4” diameter brush head
- A 3” diameter brush head
- A long-handle cleaning brush
The three rods provide a total of 9 feet of reach. This length is shorter than the other two SootEater kits, but it’s normally long enough for pellet stoves, which tend to have shorter flues. Should you need more, additional 3-foot rods are available to purchase in pairs.
Unlike the masonry and liner SootEater kits, the SootEater pellet stove cleaning kit utilizes rods that screw together (as opposed to the button-link style). Because they’re used in shorter flues, you shouldn’t have to worry about the rods becoming unscrewed while in use.
Because virtually every pellet stove utilizes either a 3-inch or a 4-inch flue, the SootEater pellet stove cleaning kit comes with both a 3-inch and 4-inch brush head. With both options available, you’ll be able to clean any pellet stove flue you’re likely to come across.
The brush included in the kit is a great addition, too. The bristle end can be used to scrub ash and soot off of the walls of the firebox, while the scraper end is good for removing any solid, sticky byproducts that may be present in the stove.
Discover the SootEater Pellet Stove Cleaning Kit
Where Can You Find a SootEater Chimney Cleaning Kit?
This has been a look at our lineup of SootEater chimney cleaning kits. By now, you should know not what each kit includes and how to use it, and which one is right for your heating appliance.
But where can you find one for yourself?
SootEaters are available at home improvement stores, hearth stores, and farm and home stores across the country. They’re also available at major online retailers.
You can use our product locator to find a SootEater in stores or online near you. And, after you make your purchase, you’ll be well on your way to ensuring safe burning and a clean, efficient wood heating appliance that performs at its best.
