Heard a guy at the hardware store say he just cleans the flue with a shop vac now

I was picking up some new brush rods in Springfield last week and this guy in line was telling the clerk he hasn't used a proper sweep set in years, just hooks a shop vac hose up to the cleanout. It made me think about how the job feels different now, less hands-on. Do you think that kind of shortcut is cutting corners, or just keeping up with the times?

2 comments

2 Comments

uma_patel1914d ago

My uncle in Branson tried that shop vac trick on his wood stove flue last fall. He sent me a video of the dust cloud it made in his living room, it was insane. The thing is, a vacuum just pulls out the loose stuff, it doesn't scrape the walls like a proper brush does. You're gonna leave behind all that baked-on creosote crust. It feels like we're trading a real, skilled job for a quick fix that doesn't actually fix the whole problem. That crust is what catches fire.

alicebarnes13d ago

Oh man, that story about the dust cloud is exactly what I'm talking about. It really does feel like we're losing the craft of it. You're right, a vacuum just gets the surface dust and leaves the dangerous stuff behind. That shortcut isn't just lazy, it's giving people a false sense of safety. I miss when a job meant doing it right, not just doing it fast.