Chimney flue / clean-out question

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Richard Poor

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Oct 7, 2013
17
New member question here.
Background info: We are reconstructing a recently purchased house and are building two side-by-side chimneys to replace one that failed and was torn down. The house is two stories over a full basement, with a basement kick-out space on an outer wall designed for chimneys. We are bringing the chimneys into the insulated envelope of the house with additional framing/insulation.

The side-by-side chimneys will be constructed of 16x16x8 concrete block (9-1/2” ID), starting in the basement and extending through the roof for a total height of 34’. Chimney One will service a first floor wood stove (PE Summit) which we will use this winter, and Chimney Two will be built for a possible whole-house wood furnace installed at a later date. We would like both clean-out doors to be located in the basement.

Though having a personal preference for traditional clay flue, we have decided to go with an insulated 6” stainless steel liner (Forever Flex) for the first chimney installed by the dealer. Cost is about $800 for a 19’ run from thimble to cap, plus some additional labor cost.

When the dealer installs the first-floor liner, he is planning to simply leave the bottom cap off of the T connector, allowing the creosote to fall into the empty cavity of the 16x16 block where the clean-out door is located. My question is whether this is the best approach, both for potential drafting issues and cleaning? Two other options include: A) extending the stainless down an additional 15’ to the clean out door (expensive) or B) running 7” round clay flue up from the clean-out door to the bottom of the stainless T connector. Or... just leave it open as the dealer suggested?

On Chimney Two, we are debating whether to simply leave the 16x16 block flueless for now and go with a stainless steel liner when we add a wood furnace, or build a flue now, using 7” round clay. The estimate for installing the clay flue is about 35% the cost of putting in an insulated stainless steel liner later. One advantage of finishing the second flue now is that we could experiment a bit this winter to see how the old, existing behemoth steel stove sitting in the basement might work. Thoughts??? TIA for your help.
 
Over the years I've seen several people come to this site with stove problems who, after a long string of questions checking wood quality, operating procedures, etc, etc, the problem ended up being a liner installed w/out a cap on the bottom.

I would think a cleanout door that is hidden behind the stove would look fine (or placed outside even if that means you'd need to access it with a ladder) would be a better option than leaving it open or running liner down to the basement.

After using both clay lined chimneys (interior and exterior) as well as SS lined ones, there's no way I would install anything new that used clay liners. Even my uncle who scoffed me when I lined my chimney, wound up doing his several years ago and can't believe the difference. This is especially true if you are considering installing an old dragon for testing purposes.

I say go SS and don't look back!

Welcome to the site!

pen
 
Over the years I've seen several people come to this site with stove problems who, after a long string of questions checking wood quality, operating procedures, etc, etc, the problem ended up being a liner installed w/out a cap on the bottom.

I would think a cleanout door that is hidden behind the stove would look fine (or placed outside even if that means you'd need to access it with a ladder) would be a better option than leaving it open or running liner down to the basement.
pen



Thanks much for the information and welcome. I suspected that leaving the cap off would create drafting issues. I'm not getting as complete an answer as I would like from the dealer, which is a 25-year-old Amish company. Nice people, but I prefer to have a better understanding of the details than what they're providing, especially since I'm a newbie.

Putting a clean-out door behind the stove will be problematic given the finished masonry work that is planned for the hearth area (it's complicated :) ) Out the backside presents even more problems, though there may be a small chance to get to it from the side. In either case, I expect I would need an extension of some small length from the T bottom to the clean out door. The other option, which is what is looking more likely, is that I would need to pull the stove pipe and clean out the T from there. If there is an easy way to temporarily remove the cap (don't know how Forever Flex attaches it) and let it drop to a basement clean-out door, that might be preferred, though no less work than cleaning out at the T.

One other concern I have is that the whole system meets / exceeds code. I have no doubt my insurance company will be sending inspectors on this project - as they have on major renovations of other buildings I own. The insulated (1/2") SS liner will be dropped into the 16x16 concrete block cavity, and then we plan to maintain a 2" clearance from the block to all combustibles from there. I believe this meets most codes. Is that correct?

I'm also curious as to whether anyone knows what the temperature of the exterior insulated sleeve can get up to when you've got a decent burn going?

Lots to learn yet. Really appreciate the input and insights of the forum members here. Thanks again.
 
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1/2 inch insulated liner w/ masonry that has that air gap will exceed NFPA 211 guidelines. Don't forget about the 10-3-2 rule for chimney height as well.

I have to pull the chimney pipe to clean my liner as well as my chimney design couldn't permit me to remove the base cap from the T and still use the cleanout door. It's an extra step removing the stove pipe if all I want to do is check the chimney, but it's all I could manage so it's what I do.
 
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