# Anyone heard of the Chimney Sweeping Log? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2001, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266 "2001-10-29T08:42:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266/1 "2001-10-29T08:42:35Z")
[http://www.cleanyourchimney.com/](http://www.cleanyourchimney.com/) Just came across this thing this evening. My grandfather is the poster child for Things One is NOT to Do with One’s Chimney". OTOH, and despite once watching the fireplace doors blowing off due to an errant shaving cream can, nothing serious has come of his misuse of the fireplace. What kind of miuse? Um. Newspaper, wrapping paper, butcher paper, bills…at least after a couple of mistakes he’s stopped burning plastic and styrofoam in the thing. I shudder to think of what kind of safety hazard the fireplace is, but chimney sweeps are rare not available up in our neck of the woods. Is this thing a good substitute, or should I make him bite the bullet and pay for a sweep’s mileage? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266/2 "2001-10-29T12:52:26Z")
While I can’t say it doesn’t/will not work, I recommend caution. I did not have much time to examine the site, but it does set off the Anthracite Bullshit Alarm (ABA). Some of the claims seem odd and unverifiable, there is a lot of advertising speak, and this “catalytic action” that they speak of being able to make the creosote fall out of the chimney…it just sounds wrong. They make an overly big deal about being “UL approved” and “OMNI-Test” approved, but these “approvals” have nothing whatsoever to do with their effectiveness. All they mean is that they won’t release phosgene or cyanide when you burn them. They also make a lot of unverifiable claims on their site. I like this one: > [@](#): > > **Q)When I checked my chimney 2 weeks after using CSL, I could still see black sooty material.Did CSL not work?** > A) Yes it worked. But CSL is designed to remove the dangerous creosote that is the cause of chimney fires. It will not always remove loose dust that often forms further up the chimney. That would require a mechanical cleaning that you should consider doing when it builds up to levels that interfere with the draft of your fireplace. They can’t just make a claim that “yes it worked”, regardless of the situation. And so on… There is also NO evidence on their site whatsoever as to the details of ANY testing done, either by them or an “independent” laboratory. Like I said - it looks suspicious. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266/3 "2001-10-29T15:29:56Z")
It sets off the DDG-BA too. 😉 These kind of legal scams always leave themselves an out, for when you come back and protest, “Hey, it didn’t work”, and I found theirs. [http://www.cleanyourchimney.com/CSLhowtouse.htm](http://www.cleanyourchimney.com/CSLhowtouse.htm) > [@](#): > > The treatment will continue for 15 days.The creosote will be rendered less flammable and may begin to fall. > > Burning small fires over the next 15 days will continue to cause the creosote to become more brittle and break away from your chimney walls. The particles will either fall back into your fireplace or be lifted away during your next fires. First of all, it “may begin” to fall–or then again, it may not. Also (and here’s their “out”)–if you don’t burn small fires over the next 15 days, they can say, with perfect truth, “You didn’t follow the instructions, of course it didn’t work, we’re sorry your house burned down from a chimney fire but it’s not our fault.” > [@](#): > > The Chimney Sweeping Log is designed to work on any kind of chimney, including stainless steel & wood/oil burning furnaces. This means nothing. Legally, all it says is, “This log will burn in any kind of chimney.” But it is clearly meant to imply that it will “work”, i.e. “remove creosote”, in any kind of chimney. Here’s another website selling the same type of product. [http://www.sweepinglog.com/innovation.htm#feux](http://www.sweepinglog.com/innovation.htm#feux) > [@](#): > > How Does it Work : The Catalytic Action > > The Sweeping Log has a composition that creates a “catalytic” action (it is non-corrosive.) > > During the Sweeping Log burning process, active elements diffuse and deposit themselves in a homogenous manner on the inside of your chimney. > > These elements dry out, and soften residual tar. > > The tar will then breakaway from the chimney’s walls and fall in the fireplace. > > The catalytic action modifies the molecular structure of the creosote that is treated, and becomes nonflammable. > > The remaining residue is no longer a danger. > > Your house and your family are safe. This is just a lot of pseudo-scientific gibberish, coupled with a lot of advertising hype. Never a trustworthy combination. The [Consumer Product Safety Commission](http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5017.html) would like to point out that there are other reasons to have your chimney swept once a year besides creosote removal. And if you won’t listen to them, maybe you’ll take the word of the [Waterloo, Ontario Fire Chief.](http://www.trooperco.com/chimneysweepinglog.htm)😃 ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266/4 "2001-10-29T15:53:45Z")
…And while I do have a professional sweep come out every couple of years to be sure I haven’t developed a leak in the system, I’ve been cleaning my own chimney for 15 years, or so, and I can get the creosote off all by myself. (If you’re acrophobic or have a hard time standing on a roof, I don’t suggest it, but the equipment is not that expensive and the basic cleaning technique simply to run the brush up and down the shaft, let the dust settle, and check the shaft with your strongest flashlight. None of my chimneys are two-stories high, so I might find something higher more difficult to clean, but I would suggest considering doing the job yourself.) ---
**Author:** ![sirjamesp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@sirjamesp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirjamesp)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266/5 "2001-10-29T16:09:32Z")
Jeez, you people and your “logs”. It’s “log this” and “log that”. You disgust me. Also, to add to what **Duck Duck Goose** says - I work for a chemical company that sells, amongst other stuff obviously, catalyst. If we described what our products do in the wishy-washy terms quoted on the Chimney Turd website, no other company would buy it. My motto number #132 - if big companies wouldn’t trust it, neither will I. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266/6 "2001-10-29T23:08:35Z")
I just get on the roof & clean it myself. I was thinking of using water & soap next time cause it just seems so much more fun. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266/7 "2001-11-22T21:49:07Z")
Since I saw this subject I noticed that Kmart has tv ads for this almost every day. Why would Kmart sell something that they can’t stand behind? Anyway, maybe someone would give it a shot & try one. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266/8 "2001-11-22T22:01:38Z")
kmart sells a lot of useless crap. or semi-useless, at least. the fact that kmart sells it means absolutely dip. ---
**Author:** ![tisiphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tisiphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tisiphone)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266/9 "2001-11-23T00:40:37Z")
I’ve lived in homes heated primarily by wood almost all my life. This doesn’t just set off the BS detectors, but the DANGER, WILL ROBINSON detectors, too. In my childhood, there was a chemical product called Red Devil that we used for a while. This was a powder that you sprinkled on an already briskly burning fire. Supposedly, it worked just like this product. It was also damn dangerous. People believed that they didn’t have to clean their chimneys anymore, and stuff built up anyway. Not to mention the goobers that would wait until their chimney was almost glued shut, THEN try to use the product. There were, apparently, a number of house fires related to this, which is why it isn’t available in the stores up here anymore. Nobody I’ve talked to up here has been able to find a reliable, safe alternative to the good ol’ chimney brush. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266/10 "2001-11-23T03:25:22Z")
Handy, it isn’t K-Mart’s problem if a product they sell doesn’t work exactly as advertised. If you buy a power drill and get it home and it doesn’t work, you take it back to K-Mart and they either give you a refund or they give you a new drill. But they don’t go, “Oh, my goodness, this MachoMan[sup]R[/sup] power drill didn’t work right, we should stop carrying them!” No, they keep right on selling them. And if you complain, “Hey, this MachoMan[sup]R[/sup] power drill didn’t enable me to complete my bookshelves in half the time of ordinary drills, like the infomercial said it would!”, all you get from the girl at the Office counter is a blank look and a shrug. It’s not K-Mart’s problem–take it up with MachoMan. She’ll give you a refund if you really insist, but K-Mart isn’t going to stop carrying MachoMan[sup]R[/sup] power drills just because the product doesn’t live up to its hype. Now, if K-Mart starts getting a LOT of people returning their MachoMan[sup]R[/sup] power drills, all over the country, and K-Mart Top Management starts seeing a pattern there (“hmm, people from California to the New York Island say that the MachoMan[sup]R[/sup] power drill sucks, and we keep having to give them refunds…”), THEN they start thinking about dropping it from their product line. And this is especially true of products like beauty aids, pharmaceuticals, and things like the Chimney Sweeping Logs, which are all products that don’t really promise to do anything at all, in a legalistic sense. If you buy some St. John’s Wort at the K-Mart Pharmacy and it doesn’t pep you up the way St. John’s Wort is supposed to, you’re out of luck. But as far as “standing behind everything they sell”, that must be some _other_ discount chain you’re thinking of… 😃 [sub]K-Mart also sells cigarettes, which cause lung cancer, and I haven’t heard anything about them being asked to “stand behind their product” in all the lung cancer lawsuits[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266/11 "2001-11-24T21:54:35Z")
Awhile back, in reference to a thread asking about a folk cure that supposedly did what the CSL claims it does, I asked my friend Ray. He had worked for several years as “the Tallest Chimney Sweep in the USA.” Ray says nothing you can burn in your fireplace or stove can clean the chimney to any useful degree. If you really live where there aren’t any sweeps, you can buy your own brushes and do it yourself. Naturally, I urge caution if you do. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-heard-of-the-chimney-sweeping-log/90266/12 "2001-11-25T08:01:50Z")
Hey, that thread sounds familiar, must have been my [first](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60425) one 🙂