The short story on this chimney sweep kit is that it is a bargain and does a really good job. The two main reasons I bought this kit was: 1) My parents have a full size brick fireplace that in over 40 years they had never cleaned.2) I called for a chimney sweep to service the chimney and tatter inspection their quote went up from their advertised rate of $99 to $950. I love this kit because it is simple, has its own storage bag and includes a lot of helpful accessories that are needed for the job. For those who complain that the goggles are hard to see through- they have a protective film on both sides of the lens plate which you must remove- then they are crystal clear. Tip- the cleaning head does come tied down sort of like some Christmas trees can be wrapped and netted. Even after you remove the binding materials the stiff nylon bristles have developed a memory. The best way to get them fully extended straight out from the head is to use a hot air or heat gun to warm them up and bend them in the opposite direction of the storage folds. Wearing the provided gloves helps during this process. In less than 5 min. you will have a rounded spider looking bristle head! The flexible connecting rods snap into place easily. Just be certain to tap on that union with something to ensure that the locking button of one rod fully pops up into the cutout section of the other rod’s coupling. This is important because during operation there is a lot of rotational torque and if that button is partially depressed it could allow it to slip. To clean the firebox and wider section that funnels into the flue I used a standard wood handled steel brush and also a metal tipped vacuum hose that captured the majority of the debris.Note: Before I tackled the cleaning I did use another product that I found on Amazon, Cre-Away. It’s a powder that you disperse into the chimney and then run a fire to help it break down the creosote deposits. Once the lowered/wider section was cleaned I assembled the sweep and inserted it fully to the top of the chimney. Then, wearing leather gloves, I held onto the rod and helped guide it and move it around in the flue while my father ran a 20v cordless drill on the ‘1’ speed setting. To me the ‘2’ setting was harder to handle and probably overkill, at least for our application. During the sweep process we also had taped the plastic to the face of the fireplace with gorilla tape, leaving the bottom loose enough for me to be able to reach in and work the flexible rods as needed. Pulling it down slowly we cleaned and rotated the head through the chimney, removing a connecting rod once it was fully in the living room. The result was a wonderfully clean chimney ( around 18ft of flue) from 10min with the bristle head. Summary: Pros- Super reasonable price, nice assembly of accessories, decent build quality and convenient storage bag with a very efficient and functional design. Cons- The snap coupling interlock could be smoother and more positive. Depending on your fireplace, stove, insert, etc, you most likely will need two people to operate- one for the drill and one for handling the flexible rods.

My husband and I decided to clean the pipe of our wood stove ourselves. We have a Vermont Castings Encore, our home is two years old. We thought it was probably in need of cleaning after two winters. The kit came with everything we needed, we bought the 33 foot one. It was easy to put together and the bristles are very stiff and seemed good for cleaning. I was able to push it up into the space that leads to the pipe, after removing the refractory access cover, inner access cover and the catalyst so no soot got down in it. I was able to push the brush all the way up to the cap of the pipe on our roof, my husband confirmed this by going outside and looking up at the pipe. It easily maneuvered through the pipe even with the angled pipes it has on it way up. We attached the drill to the bottom piece and spun the brush while moving the brush up and down as the directions stated. And soot started falling down into the stove! It was so easy I was impressed! We did this all the way down and after inspecting the soot that came out, decided to do it again. We continued until no more soot fell out. Once finished, we vacuumed it all up with our ash vacuum (Snow Joe) put everything back and wala! Stove was ready for another winter! This kit made it so easy. The poles are very durable, they fit together perfect, click into place with little pegs that keep them together so they don’t separate during cleaning. It’s a very functional kit and I recommend it!

This will definitely save you money just cleaning your chimney flues compared to expensive chimney cleaning services. The design idea is great. However, the attaching clip ends broke on a couple of rods for us resulting in it getting stuck for a bit in the chimney. It could use a sturdier clasp for connecting rods together. Otherwise, this was a good product since we will be able to use this again next year as well.