Chimney too tight to bend 6" SS flex for direct connection

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mark10

New Member
Dec 2, 2005
4
I am still wrestling with a way to retrofit my chimney to accomodate a new liner.
My chimney sweep inspected & said there is absolutely no way a 6" SS flex liner will bend/curve to a 90 deg angle to fit into the horizontal run so that we can attach the liner to the new wood burning insert.
He said we would have to tear appart the fireplace hearth, smoke chamber et al to accomodate a new liner.
Here is what I am thinking....
1. Insert a the new SS flex down the chimney
2. From the outside, remove the exterior chimney brick at the point where the 90 deg bend is located
3. Drill thru the terra cotta liner to punch out an access hole
4. Connect a 90 deg elbow to fit the vertical SS flex liner
If the liner will rotate, I should be able to attach 3 screws.... otherwise ?
5. Insert a 5' horizontal SS flex from the fireplace to the 90 deg elbow in the chimney
6. Connect elbow from the access hole & caulk, cement etc the elbow ( 3 screws could be a problem ??? )
7. Reparge interior terra as much as possible & replace exterior bricks
8. Connect another elbow from the horizontal run to the insert.

Any comments & as always...thank you.

Mark10
 
Well, if I follow your older posts, you have an older insert which had a 7" flue collar and you are stepping down to 6" liner, then adding two 90 degree bends plus a 5 foot horizontal section? I don't recall seeing how tall the chimney is, but I would suspect that if it is under 30 feet or so, you will have troubles with poor drafting of this set-up.

I can't really see why you would need to tear out the hearth for a liner of any type? I am not a big fan of tearing out large holes in a chimney. I can tell you that in my instance, the insert I chose was 1/2" taller than the fireplace opening so I wound up taking out one course of brick over the opening and replacing the steel angle iron that acted as the lentil for the brick. I also wound up taking out the fireplace damper and some bricks from the smoke shelf to fit my liner. As I understand, this is somewhat common, and seemed much preferred to me rather than tearing holes in the exterior of the chimney. If it were me, I would definitely consider other options than what you posted above. I suspect it may lead to an ugly, structurally compromized install that will leave you with serious draft and smoking issues.


Maybe there are more details of the install that I am unaware of?

Corey
 
Corey,
I am replacing the existing FP insert with a new one that would have a 6" flue.
The chimney is 25' high with an interior area of 6" x 10". I believe installing a round 6" liner will improve the draft due to a smaller flue dimensions.
A new flex SS liner will not "bend" from the vertical run into the horizontal run with the existing chimney/ smoke chamber junction. Hence, my thoughts on a exterior entry of the chimney to connect a 90 deg elbow.
Then repairing interior with cement then replacing the bricks that were taken out.

Yes, I agree with tearing out the damper to connect the new liner horizontal run to the new fireplace insert...should not be a major challenge for this part of the install.

Thanks
Mark10
 
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