You are right but ,don't you worry about creosote buildup?I have a brick lined chimney and back in the day my NC 30 would draw and sound like a freight train,got a liner when I switched to BK's and noticed a difference in draft,and this is only with just about 13 feet from stovetop to chimney cap. Not a big deal but without the stainless liner I know the performance would increase.
Thats a stove!! I saw one at the dealer and thought that King would run me out of my little house!
Then honestly your liner was not installed correctly of it was sized wrong. There is no reason a properly installed and sized liner should reduce you draft.
Read the above post what possible reason do you have to think the lack of liner would cause an increase in performance?
That is not even the slightest bit true. You can have tons of creosote buildup with dry wood and you can have relatively little with wet wood. It is all in how the stove is run. Yes dry wood will always be better but you can still do it wrong with even the best wood.
That is about the max it will handle e/w. I'm more comfortable with 21" though.
when was the last time you had the liners inspected? Are the joints between them still tight and full of mortar? Do you have the required clearance from the outside of the chimney to combustible materials? There are many reasons for a liner other than draft.
Why not tiles could have cracked with the first fire you had in it or they could have been cracked when installed for that matter. If the mason used standard mortar between the tiles it is likely gone at this point. 14 years of burning is allot of hot and cold cycles and could easily have damaged the tiles even without a chimney fire. And if you had any fires in that time then the chances of the tiles being damaged is very good. Do you have the required clearance from the outside of the masonry structure?
I am by no means saying that clay liners are bad just that there are lots of factors that go into determining if a clay liner is still a safe liner. And draft is one of the least important
Every one should. Not necessarily with every cleaning though. We do it after the first cleaning on a chimney then every 5 years or so after that or if there are any indications something may have happened. Some companies scan every one every time but I don't see a need for that. Beleive me there is no way to do a thorough inspection of the inside of the chimney just with a light.
No one said you need to rip your chimney down. But for an external chimney you need to have 1" of clearance from the outside of the masonry structure to any combustible material. For an internal one that goes up to 2". Here is a copy of the code requirements.As for the clearances, I have no idea. What I do know is I'm not ripping my chimney down...
