When I Found the Soot Eater, I Didn’t Need a Chimney Sweep

I got a call from a telemarketer just after I’d washed my hands.  He wanted to sell me a chimney sweep, but I’d just finished cleaning my chimney using a clever gadget I saw on TV.   Really.  We were watching the PBS show “This Old House,” and at the end of the show they always have a segment called “What is It?”

The hosts held up something that looked like a cheerleader’s pom-pom…which we discovered attaches to a series of rubber extensions and then to your  power drill.  The tassles spin and you can clean your chimney from the bottom up, avoiding the most hazardous part of this dirty job…balancing up on a ladder.

I went to Amazon and found the product, made by Gardus, and ordered it. Voila, now I”ve got a clean chimney and no need to listen to the guy on the phone selling me a chimney cleaning for a discounted price of just $70. Y ou cut the bristles to fit your chimney, they even provide a guide to show you how  long the tassles should be.

The Soot Eater by Gardus is comprised of four 4-foot rubber tubes, a head that looks like a pom-pom, and the little attachment needed to spin it with your drill.   I had to order an additional set of two more tubes, and this brought my sweeper all the way to the very top of my chimney.  It worked like a charm!

I attached six of the four-foot flexible hoses together and began pushing it up my chimney,  using the exterior hatch at the bottom of the chimney.  The set comes with a big plastic sheet to cover up your fireplace or stove, I think I was lucky to have such easy access with the outside hatch.

I am doing more and more of my own home improvements and repairs, and this sure felt good, just before I got our new wood stove installed the same day.