Hack for cleaning pipe in awkward places

The cleanout on my bench (12 feet) is very close to the wall, on both sides, so my chimney sweep pole could not reach in there. I just happen to have a 10 foot length of pex, which is bendable, and was just perfect. I stuck an empty bottle of “monkey tea“ from the recycle bin on the end of the pex pipe, so that it was wider, and put a rag around the end of that with a rubber band around part to keep it from falling off entirely.  I simply pushed the rag all the way through, adding in the length of my arm extended into the space, and a lot of ash fell out the other side into a bowl. It’s not clean enough to eat out of, but it doesn’t need to be. (Also, I realized that the rope that I had left in there the previous year—to be able to pull a rag through— disintegrated entirely without a trace, so I guess that hack did not work. It must’ve ignited.)

Now, for any purists out there, who would want to clean their rocket mass heater with all natural materials, I suppose you could use a length of willow instead, or maybe three braided together. And instead of the monkey tea thing you could use a mason jar.

But if you use plastic for this purpose, I won’t tell.

Love it. There's always a way!