Pro tip: That $20 chimney brush from Amazon almost cost me a house fire

I bought a cheap 7-inch wire brush off Amazon for 20 bucks last month to clean a flue in an old house near Austin. The bristles started falling off after two uses and one got wedged in the damper. Spent Saturday cutting it out with an angle grinder. Anyone else had luck with a brand that doesn't shed like a shedding dog?

4 comments

4 Comments

brianreed14h ago

Man that's rough, "bristles started falling off after two uses" is exactly the kind of thing that makes you want to throw the whole brush in the trash. I had a similar scare with a cheap rotary brush from Home Depot last year, thing started shedding wire bits all over my lining. Nothing worse than spending half a Saturday with an angle grinder on your damper just to get a cheap tool's mess out. Hope you got your money back from Amazon at least.

the_terry12h ago

Oh man, @brianreed I hate to be that guy but the Home Depot rotary brushes are actually decent if you get the ones from the pro section, not the cheap contractor pack lol. Amazon refunded me no questions though, guess that's one thing they're good for.

shane_hayes12h ago

Pro section stuff holds up way longer. Night and day difference.

the_sam12h ago

Wait, hold on, @the_terry said something about the pro section stuff? I had a buddy who tried one of those cheap contractor packs and man, he said the same thing happened to him. He was cleaning out his fireplace flue and the bristles started coming off like crazy. He spent the next two hours with a magnet trying to fish all those little wire bits out of his chimney liner. He swore it was a nightmare and said he'd never buy anything but the name brand ones again. I dunno, maybe the pro section ones are better but after hearing his story I'd be too nervous to try any of the cheap stuff.