On Sat, 01 Aug 2009 23:20:22 GMT, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Something like a pressure washer drain cleaning end, but with
compressed air instead of water?

Commercial kitchen extractor ducting is cleaned by something similar
using steam rather that HP water.

Yeah but soot is dry and crumbly not a thick, sticky, greasy, gunk.

TBH the thought of stuffing a pressure washer drain cleaning head fed
with compressed air(*) seem to me to be a very good way of filling
the house with soot. Even with a soot proof sheet taped over the
opening and a proper entry for the manual poles and a vacum you still
get soot into the house.

As for the OP's problem. I think short of going up onto the roof and
looking down from the top to see what that is like. Does it need a
sweep? Don't forget rain might clean the top few feet. A set of more
flexable rods or bringing in a sweep is the best bet. For a pro-sweep
it's only a couple of hours so I'd expect change from £100. If he has
to travel over 20/30 miles it might be worth getting in touch with
others nearby and arranging to all have your chimneys done on the
same day.

(*) Getting a high enough volume at suitable pressure supply of
compressed air might be a problem. I doubt yer average 2 or 3hp
compressor would manage it.

--
Cheers
Dave.