My neighbor's 1950s fireplace taught me a new way to spot cracked flue tiles

I was helping an older lady in Denver last week clean out a chimney that hadn't been used in 20 years. When I ran my camera down, I could barely see anything because of all the soot and debris buildup. On a hunch I brought a cheap shop vac with a narrow attachment and sucked out the loose stuff first before trying to inspect. That cleared up the view enough that I spotted two hairline cracks I would have missed otherwise. Has anyone else tried vacuuming out a flue before a camera inspection, or is that just common sense I was late to?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby_wilson511mo ago

That shop vac trick work on heavily creosoted flues too?

margaret3041mo ago

Hang on, you might want to be careful with that shop vac idea on a heavily creosoted flue. Creosote can be super flammable, and sucking it up with a regular vacuum creates a fire risk inside the canister. You're better off using a specialized chimney vacuum or just hand-scraping the worst of it out before you go in with a camera. I've seen guys cause small fires that way, so it's not just common sense - it's a safety thing.