posted 2 hours ago
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.
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