Chimney Liner Advice

[adrianrog]

So I bought a house about 10 years ago, lined the chimney (uninsulated, stainless flex) and it was a pretty easy job. It was an older house, a very short run with a fairly flat roof. Worked out well, I got up there and swept the chimney once per year and always had half to a full gallon of junk come out into the insert.

Fast forward to today. We just closed on a new(to us) 20 year old house. There is a fireplace in the living room that I'm not planning to use any time soon. The previous owner was a very good fabricator and built his own version of a Fisher Papa Bear stove and it's in the basement. It's a big heavy stove and I'd like to at least try it out before replacing it. Wood is plentiful and free, so I'm not concerned with burining a little less in a newer stove. I'm also in the country where my smoke won't disturb my neighbors.

Now, what to line the chimney with. There is a bend in the chimney to get around the upstairs fireplace. There's also a damper to get through. I'm estimating a 35' run and it's on a steep roof plus I'm a chicken about heights. I'd love to be able to sweep every two or three years instead of every one, is that even reasonable? If it is, what could I do to avoid sweeping so often. Would purchasing a smooth wall or an insulated liner be more effective at keeping creosote buildups down? The two seem to be mutually exclusive. I can either get insulated, or smooth, but not both. Straight wall is out, because of tee bend in the chimney.

The chimney is not even at the edge of the house, so I'll have to borrow scaffolding and build them, then run boards over to the roof to walk on. it's a lot more trouble than where I could almost get on the roof with a 6ft ladder and walk over to the chimney.

Also, should I ovalize the pipe by hand to get it through the damper and then bend it back into a circle, or cut out the damper?

Thanks a million,
Adrian

 

[bholler]

I'd love to be able to sweep every two or three years instead of every one, is that even reasonable? If it is, what could I do to avoid sweeping so often.

Not gonna happen with that stove if you run it right with a good setup you can probably get away with once a year.

Would purchasing a smooth wall or an insulated liner be more effective at keeping creosote buildups down? The two seem to be mutually exclusive. I can either get insulated, or smooth, but not both. Straight wall is out, because of tee bend in the chimney.

For that stove I would recommend a heavy wall liner which is smooth interior and yes it can be insulated like any liner. I don't know of any that are sold preinsulated but there may be some.

Also, should I ovalize the pipe by hand to get it through the damper and then bend it back into a circle, or cut out the damper?

Cut the damper out absolutly.

Another thing to think about is what size outlet is on your stove? You liner needs to match that. So if it is 8" you need an 8" liner which means when you do put in a new stove you will probably need a 6" liner for it.

 

[Heatsource]

clean it with a soot eater!
no need to get up on roof very often

 

[bcrtops]

I am neither a sweep, nor current installer, but I can give you my opinion, based on my experience. I would not recommend running an old "smoke dragon" stove like a Fisher or similar on a non-insulated stack. The only way you can keep it from soot/creosote buildup is to run the stove wide-open (or nearly so), & even then with that tall a stack probably be problematic towards the top. I ran a Fisher to a non-insulated triple wall that they used to sell as "Good" product in the 60's & 70's. I put up with it for over 30 years, until we updated. It was a constant source of soot/creosote buildup -- I cleaned the chimney every month or two at least, just to keep some kind of semblance of safety! The chimney just ran too cold, unless you had a constant very hot fire in the Fisher. And...........this with a very short stack of ~14' total.

My opinion is to put that stove in a shop someplace (if legally able to do so) & get yourself a newer EPA stove & install an insulated liner even with a new stove. It would be a real good idea to get some local & wise advice about that installation no matter what you decide to do.

(We have never been sorry for updating our stove & chimney--the newer system being 100x safer & more efficient as well.)