Stainless chimney liner?

[Wayne02]

Howdy,

40 year old rambler with mostly enclosed fireplace chimney. Chimney (concrete block) is in garage and protected from the elements. This part of the chimney looks excellent, I've done a complete visual inspection and don't see any cracks or erosion present. About 2.5-3 feet stick out above the roof top and this part is brick. This part is weathered of course, and has two spots where a 2" long piece of motor has fallen out. Other than that it seems to be in good shape. Inspection with a flashlight of the inside chimney liner (if that is the right term) shows that it needs to be cleaned (I clean it once per year) but other than that I don't see any cracks or structural issues. There is no cap on this chimney.

Wood stove insert is a Lopi that we just love, it works really well and takes a halfway decent sized piece of wood (unlike my shop stove but that is another story). Other than replacing the sealing rope around the doors once in its lifetime it has provided very good service. I'm guessing it is about 25 years or old or better.

I'm told I can buy some sort of stainless steel chimney liner kit that is placed inside my existing chimney and it may improve the efficiency of the system? How do these work? I assume it is just a round or oval pipe, probably with a flex pipe to hook to the top of the stove? Supposedly about 100- $150?

Thanks
Wayne

 

[jeeptj19992001]

ooohhhhh loook google still works

http://www.chimneylinerdepot.com/?gclid=CM66vui5opUCFQgKGgodbg2Vkw

 

[RatchetJaw]

I use Liners with my lopi's

I use the liners on my pipes i used metal bestos in 2 houses which was a pretty penny a stainless liner isnt cheap either I use a liner in my big house up through a masonry chiminy it is just basically a singal wall peice of pipe the fits inside the concrete flue and connects via jack to the stove I opted for this because my chiminey is wrapped in a wood suround im still not sure of the Guy that thought that idea up not to mention its red cedar he must have been on somthing at the time anyways I used stainless to gain more footage above that soround and improve drafting in my case it was worth the money you could however just opt to repair the chimney you have just use a piping bag and fire mortar other options include a stucco skim coat on top and maybe a clay liner.

 

[Rookie1]

I have 1920s house with big 12"x12" unlined brick chimney. When I put in woodburner I had HVAC man put in 5" stainless for oil furnace and 6" liner for stove. I never burned wood in that big of chimney but I was told it wouldnt get hot enough to keep cresote from building.I have no probs with liner it is single wall too.

 

[Echo-man]

Howdy,

40 year old rambler with mostly enclosed fireplace chimney. Chimney (concrete block) is in garage and protected from the elements. This part of the chimney looks excellent, I've done a complete visual inspection and don't see any cracks or erosion present. About 2.5-3 feet stick out above the roof top and this part is brick. This part is weathered of course, and has two spots where a 2" long piece of motor has fallen out. Other than that it seems to be in good shape. Inspection with a flashlight of the inside chimney liner (if that is the right term) shows that it needs to be cleaned (I clean it once per year) but other than that I don't see any cracks or structural issues. There is no cap on this chimney.

Wood stove insert is a Lopi that we just love, it works really well and takes a halfway decent sized piece of wood (unlike my shop stove but that is another story). Other than replacing the sealing rope around the doors once in its lifetime it has provided very good service. I'm guessing it is about 25 years or old or better.

I'm told I can buy some sort of stainless steel chimney liner kit that is placed inside my existing chimney and it may improve the efficiency of the system? How do these work? I assume it is just a round or oval pipe, probably with a flex pipe to hook to the top of the stove? Supposedly about 100- $150?

Thanks
Wayne

Gonna cost you more than $150. But I have the same set up you just described, right down to the Lopi. I had a liner put in years ago, it works great.

 

[Wayne02]

Thanks for the replies. I now have the insert removed and this is the situation...

House: 40 year old rambler with concrete/brick fireplace chimney. The concrete portion of the chimney is in the garage which is a semi-heated space (about 45-50 degrees in winter). The top 2-3 feet are of course above the roof and is brick/motor. Inspection of concrete portion seems to indicate it is in excellent shape, I can find no cracks or erosion. The outside brick portion is of course aged and weathered but looks structurally ‘ok’. There is some motor that has fallen out of the cracks in places, some cracks in the concrete top cap, and the flashing has seen better days cosmetically, though there are no leaks. Near as I can tell there is no type of “cleanout” on this chimney unless it may be at the base of the chimney in the crawlspace. There is no rain cap on the chimney. I have included a couple of pictures.

The dimensions of the chimney are as follows:
ID = 13.75” x 9.75”
Height/Length from “bottom” wherever that is? Hard to see down there… = 109.5” or I was able to slip the tape into a gap towards the front or woodstove side of the chimney and it measured 122”. I assume the 122” may have been through the original damper and to the top of the stove?

Wood Stove = Old Lopi that was in the house when we purchased it in about 1985. The serial plate on the stove says model = “Extended fireplace insert”. We REALLY like this stove and it has worked very well for us to date and would very much like to continue using it. It has a fan that draws air in from the bottom, circulates it around the back, up over the top and out to the room. The faceplates are not shown in the picture, they are 6-8” in width, have insulation in them and serve to “seal” the wood stove against the surface of the fireplace rock.

The damper on the stove is a sliding horizontal plate as you can see in the pictures. The opening of the damper looks to be about 8” in diameter at the top surface of the stove. There is no collar sticking up above the top surface of the stove. The collar which spans the space from the primary stove body to the outer stove body (the cavity that the fan pushes airy through) looks to be about 7” in diameter. The bricks that you see through the damper can be removed inside the stove I assume. The stove is 20 7/8” tall; the fireplace opening is 22 7/8” tall at best.

Goals:
- Install stainless chimney liner with the thought that is may improve the efficiency of the stove? Be easier to clean? Have a more positive path for the smoke to exhaust/better draw? I would be nice to improve the draw, but to be honest it seems to work “ok” as is, yet the fact that there is no positive connection between the top of the insert and the chimney has always bothered me a bit. It certainly doesn’t draw as well as the freestanding wood stove in my shop that has a 6” straight pipe to the roof.
- Remove rust from top of stove and damper, and repaint. (rain cap will help to prevent this in the future)

Question:

1. Can I expect better performance out of the system with a stainless liner pipe installed?


2. I understand the concept of using a stainless pipe sized to fit inside the existing chimney tile but I am confused as to how that pipe ultimately connects to the insert? The opening in the original chimney damper does not look very big to me. Will the original chimney damper need to be torched off? And even after that will the opening be enough to get a pipe through? I assume some sort of flex pipe is used to connect the straight piece of stainless pipe to the insert?


3. How does the flex pipe get fastened to the insert damper/hole? There is no collar on top of the stove and there is 2” at maximum space between the top of the stove and the opening of the fireplace so I don’t understand how this gets done? Does it get fastened from inside the stove maybe?


Any insights you can provide on this issue would be much appreciated. I'll contact a supplier with these questions of course but wondered if any members have had experience with this type of situation?

Thanks
Wayne

 

[coog]

I don't know if I can answer all your questions, but I've been through some of this before.Your set-up, as is, is not legal or conforming to code.You need to have a liner from the stove to the top of the chimney.The reason for this is that in the case of a chimney fire you can shut the air down with a liner,; you can't without one.The good thing is that your stove will work much better with the liner.I think you will be able to put a stainless steel thimble into the top of your stove that will connect it to the flex S.S liner.You will need to remove any damper components in your way.Oh, the liner comes either insulated or not, and I have heard the insulated is better.I used non-insulated connected to a jotul with good results.
Good Luck

 

[kevin j]

I added a liner many years back when installed the stove into an unlined concrete chimney (was a natural gas flue).
-keeps acids from corroding the mortor and tile/brick
-smaller diameter, better drafting
-keeps the temperature up, better drafting, reduces condensation/ice/acid condenstation in the flue.
-The mass of the chimney never heats up otherwise, and causes lots of problems.
-I have no idea if more efficient, but I run mostly throttled down and could never do that with large cold chimney.

One mistake I dearly regret. I ran a triple wall stove thimble mudded into the brick wall, then single wall stainless in the chimney, elbow upwards in flue to top. Functions great, but I should have had a tee there, going down also to a cleanout in basement or outside. Then I could inspect and clean from ground level. As is, I have to do it from the roof, and I am getting tired of that.

kcj