Brand new chase - to insulate or not insulate?

I'm installing a Quadrafire 7100 fp soon. Right now, I getting a chase built to house the flue. When getting estimates from contractor I asked them to insulate the chase.

Just got a call from my contractor who said the only way the inspector will allow the chase to be insulated is if he encloses the chase with drywall and at least 1 coat of tape/mud. The chase is about 4.5 feet wide and about 2 feet deep. My contractor said its pretty much impossible to get drywall on it and get at least 1 coat of mud on it.

So my question is....does my chase need to be insualted? I live in Eastern PA between Philadelphia and Allentown.

If it does need to be insulated, how would my contractor do it?

Thanks in advanced for all of your help!!

The flue I'll be using is double-walled SL300 pipe

BeGreen said:

I'm not understanding where the inspector is coming from. It sounds like he is ok with raw stud, no protection in the chase. But he wants a drywall shield if it is insulated? I don't get it.

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I think he is worried that a piece of insulation might come loose and fall out and on to the flue......but I really don't know. I haven't talked to him, only my contractor has.

JerseyWreckDiver said:

They're typically not insulated but going through an unconditioned space it has to be a double walled vent pipe.

You could upgrade to an insulated pipe which will be very pricey.

Or you can get your contractor to "think OUTSIDE the box" literally, Sheath the chase and then put rigid foam insulation over the sheathing/under the siding... He could even sheath the framed chase with drywall if he wants.

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Thanks JWD for the suggestion. I mentioned it to the contractor and he liked it. He ran it by the inspector and he is good with it too.

He's going to put a small cleat on the inside of the framing and put the 2" rigid foam insulation board in between the studs. The cleat should prevent any movement of the board towards the flue pipe. The inspector liked that!!

Thanks again!!