Tell me about chimney liners

[mellow]

If I was in your shoes I would bust out the terracotta chimney to have enough room to install a 6" insulated rigid liner from Magnaflex.

That is if you are buying a wood stove that vents to 6", I don't recall seeing what wood stove you are installing.

 

[dwd902]

Hello guys. This thread got me thinking. Do you need a liner? I was reading another thread about a indoor wood furnace that basically is smokeless and doesn't build up creosote. so would you have to line your chimney if you buy a furnace like that? Thanks guys and sorry.

 

[CTYank]

Steve,
About all the creosote you've been collecting, I'll wager that once you get a clean-burning stove going there, you won't see that. If there's no poo being generated (complete combustion) there's nothing to condense in the flue.
(Some of Richard Hill's heating systems had an effluent of water and carbon dioxide.)
Just so long as the flue can be heated to establish a draft. What were they thinking with a chimney exposed on 4 sides in WI? I'd consider building an insulated chase around it, up to the exterior wall. Lotsa luck.
Happy New Year.

 

[taskswap]

Hello guys. This thread got me thinking. Do you need a liner? I was reading another thread about a indoor wood furnace that basically is smokeless and doesn't build up creosote. so would you have to line your chimney if you buy a furnace like that? Thanks guys and sorry.

Code varies by region. You may "need" a liner if your chimney isn't up to spec for what you're using it for. Usually that decision is made when you install a new appliance and depends on what the appliance is - gas, oil, wood, and others have different requirements.

But the other reason to install a liner is to improve a chimney's performance. I have an exterior chimney and my wood boiler is in my basement. It's a very tall stack and the lack of insulation made for a poor draft. It was also a real problem to clean - I have a clay tile liner, but the masonry work was low quality and they had lots of 1/2" offsets from one tile to the next. It was creosote-heaven, lots of places for it to latch onto, and hard to clean.

So... technically my chimney was up to code and I didn't "need" the liner. But installing one gave me an insulated chimney with a much better draft, reducing my creosote buildup. And it's also a lot easier to clean. I think between the liner kit, insulation, longer snout, tools and mortar to repair the hole I had to bust in the chimney to get the durned thing down, etc etc I have maybe $1000 in it all, and I don't regret a penny of it. (Well, maybe those two bricks I broke, I coulda gone a LITTLE slower... I was cursing the mason that built my old chimney a lot by then.)

 

[stihl023/5]

Steve, my brother had a set up similar to yours and we removed the blocks and tiles. Ran up a dbl. insulated 6" then boxed it in and sided it. Has worked great ever since.