young.emma•9d agoProlific Poster

Old timer told me I was over-scraping my flues - changed my whole approach

I had this guy named Larry come look at my work after I did a job on Elm Street. He said I was scraping the liner way too hard and actually risking damage. Turns out I was trying to get every last speck of soot off when a light brush is plenty for glass-smooth liners. Has anyone else had to unlearn the 'scrub it clean' mentality?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencerw729d agoMost Upvoted

Eric, I feel you man, that buildup crust is a real nightmare to deal with later.

eric_carr9d ago

I gotta push back on the "light brush is plenty" thing. I've been doing this 12 years and I've seen too many jobs where someone didn't scrape hard enough and the next inspection flagged it for buildup. If you're using a glass-smooth liner and just dusting it, you're leaving a film that turns into hard crust over time. I scrape until I see bare glossy liner, not just "clean enough." Larry might be right about not gouging the metal, but there's a big gap between gouging and gentle. I've had callbacks from homeowners who said their stove smoked because the previous guy "lightly brushed." You gotta find your own middle ground.