Below you will find details of the types of equipment you will need to clean a chimney and my personal review of the products.

If you are interested in any of the equipment listed below please fill out the form on the right and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Alternatively if you choose to purchase equipment from the suppliers mentioned on this page please mention you got their details from my website and use code Dave Essex UK

Vacuum Cleaner

Product Details

• Conforms to BS3928
• 99.997% efficiency filtration system for particles to 0.6microns

More details about the chimney sweep vacuum
Most chimney sweeps use a vacuum cleaner to clean up the flue debris.  Some use industrial vacuum cleaners and adapt them for sweeping flues e.g.  they make, or have made, filters to cope with the debris as I did.  Some may buy vacuum cleaners, which are used by the chemical or asbestos industries, which have a far higher specification than is required for flue debris, which is reflected in the cost.  Some sweeps have even bought vacuums from abroad.


At the beginning of 2008 I decided to try to have a vacuum cleaner made or assembled in the UK for British sweeps.  After risk assessing chimney sweeping I came up with a set of specifications:


The vacuum should be able to take a disposable bag in which the flue debris is captured (the machine should be able to run with or without a disposable bag);


It should have at least a three or four stage filtration system.  The last stage should be a HEPA filter.

Good manual handling was also considered.  (The weight where handles are fitted, if a trolley is required and even the length of the hose and cables).

With these requirements and specifications I visited several vacuum machine manufacturers.  After about three months a company said they would be prepared to assemble a vacuum cleaner to my requirements.  With the help of the company engineer who configured the filtration stages we now have a vacuum cleaner with filters that confirms to BS 3928 and whose filtration system has a 99.997% efficiency on particles to 0.6 microns.  This vacuum cleaner is a lot less expensive than similar vacuum cleaners with the same filtration specifications.

If you require more information on this vacuum cleaner please contact myself or Sturdyvac.com

Dave - The Chimney Sweeper