Bizarre way to clean a flue

[Arbgirl]

Anyone ever used one of those fire imps?

 

 

I think its saltpetre in a packet that you light and it is supposed to clean the chimney?

 

I used one years ago when I couldnt afford a sweep and landlord didnt bother to get it swept - having said that I didnt have the chimney swept ever in the 8 years I lived there.......

 

What?? It was FINE!!

[Stereo]

I can remember doing this as a kid maybe 30 years ago. We were told to chuck a coke can in every other day. No idea what effect it had or what emmisions it released into the atmosphere.

[Hodge]

Did it last night but dunno what effect it had:confused1:

[grumpydavesmith]

Santa does mine on Dec 24th for a bottle of whiskey!

[Stereo]

Just to ressurect this, we have an Esse stove in the kitchen with (in my humble opinion) far too much enamled pipe before it converts to SS double wall. This has always been a problem as the Esse can sometimes burn cool and create a lot of cresoste if you are not careful or use damp wood. The SS pipe cleans easily but the enamled pipe gets a coating of thick gunk which is impossible to remove without taking the whoe thing down and doing it mechanically.

 

Anyway, I bought some flue cleaner from eBay made by 'The Gallery' as far as I can see. You chuck a couple scoops on a low fire every fortnight or so and it's supposed to weaken the tar and make it brittle.

 

My god, it works! I've just swept out the stove as it was getting sluggish and the reason for this is that all the years of accumulated tar which I have never been able to remove with a brush have hardened and fallen off in flakes. I stuck the brush up the pipe and it was literally shining inside afterwards and half a ton of hard flaky tar came tumbling down.

 

I'm totally gob-smacked as I didn't expect this to work. The biggest downside it appears is that you are initially going to get a lot of stuff falling back down into the stove which may be a problem, depending on the design.

 

Worth a mention I thought.

[gensetsteve]

My next door neigbour once mention putting a chicken up the chimney. I tried it it didnt work but I think it may have still been frozen in the middle

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

Funny, slightly off topic but a mate told me today to slightly open a can of guiness, put it inside a chicken and cook in a bucket on the top of the wood burner!!! Guiness flavoured chicken! Maybe not eh.

[Dean Lofthouse]

I have witnessed the chicken down the chimney method, he took a crate full up and chucked them down one at once.

 

I dont think it would be pc to do it now

[twistedhicap]

I have witnessed the chicken down the chimney method, he took a crate full up and chucked them down one at once.

 

I dont think it would be pc to do it now

 

I would almost pay money to see that !!!! :thumbup:

[the crafty weasel]

I would almost pay money to see that !!!! :thumbup:

 

This week's shopping list-

 

Light refreshments

Beer

Popcorn

1x bank of cinema seats

Crate of chickens