Chimney Liner Question

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wildeyes

New Member
Sep 27, 2010
4
Southern Appalachians
Hey all,

Back in June I had my old masonry chimney relined with a stainless steel liner. The local chimney sweep said this was the best route, and so I hired him to do the install. Now, a few months later I finally pull off the cover over the thimble and discover a couple of things about the install that makes me a little nervous. I should have checked this out when the chimney sweep was working on it, but didn't. Live and learn.

Anyway, I'd like to know if what he did is actually safe. First off, he stuffed fiberglass insulation around the thimble, so that there's a 2" layer of insulation between it and the drywall. I've read that putting anything between the thimble and combustibles is not recommended.

Also, because of the angle going from the thimble to chimney, he seems to have left a gap between where the horizontal piece enters the flue. This gap, too, has been stuffed with fiberglass insulation. Now, I can reason that the draft will pull all gases through the stainless steel and that maybe the fiberglass will melt but is backed by masonry anyway so there's little danger in this, but that's largely just me trying to convince myself it will work.

I'd like to know from folks more experienced in this realm if this sort of thing is standard practice, or if I hired an incompetent chimney sweep?

I'll try to post pictures as soon as I can find my digital camera. That might help clarify the situation a little better.

thanks!
~wildeyes
 
The gap where the snout meets the tee should be filled with furnace cement. As to the fiberglass insulation burning, it ain't gonna happen. Fiberglass insulation has no true melting point. It does start getting soft up around 2,000 degrees F but is not gonna catch fire.
 
I agree w/ BB.

However, it's always good if you could post a few pics that might be easier to evaluate visually.

pen
 
The fiberglass may stink a bit once it gets hot the first few times, but it won't burn your house down. That said, if the thimble is supposed to have an air gap, then it should have one. any air sealing of the thimble should happen at it's edges - you are right to read the instructions.

I'll wait for some pics.
 
At long last, here are the pictures. Thanks to y'all who've replied, you're making me feel safer about this, but I appreciate any more thoughts now that the pictures are up. The stove goes in this week, so I hope it's ok! :)
 

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:ahhh: Need I say more. I'd definitely look for some who knows what they are doing. A proper installer might be able to repair it unless the snout is badly bent. You might want to have the rest of the install inspected so you can sleep at night.

Looks like the liner was rotated a shade clockwise to much. If it can get rotated back, it looks like it may line up well.
 
Any suggested ways to fix this... filling in that gap with furnace cement as someone suggested? What are the dangers here? Where could things go wrong and what should I look to change?
 
For some reason he wasn't able to get the snout over the lip of the tee. Pull out that fiberglass and loosen the band and work the lip into the snout. That will get rid of most of those gaps.

Then fill the much smaller gaps with furnace cement. But I agree, looking at that makes me wonder about the rest of the installation.
 
Thats why I do things myself. I'm no pro, but there isn't a thimble in the pictures, just a snout. Once I figured out whats behind the drywall, I would remove the snout and try to line things up so that gap could be eliminated like already said. Thats a piss poor job, and its a shame people do shotty work like that and charge people. I wouldn't burn it until fixed properly.
 
CleanBurnin said:
You need a proper wall thimble on that chimney - you can't just bring the liner thru a normal wall into the room. Make sure they fix it for sure.

From the OP:

"later I finally pull off the cover over the thimble"
 
I'd fix the mess then slash the tires on that guys truck. NO professional should leave a mess like that and say it's safe for use. It is jobs like this that just make me lose faith in members of the "pro" world.

pen
 
my thanks to all y'all for replying. you can imagine how i feel about this, a mixture of anger and disappointment for certain -- that chimney sweep will get an earful from me -- but i also know i'd feel a lot worse if my house burned down. i'm calling around in the morning to find someone to come out and try to fix this mess.
 
Have you called the sweep back to see if he'll make his own work right? (then you can slash his tires in your drive if he doesn't cooperate ;-)

pen
 
BrotherBart said:
CleanBurnin said:
You need a proper wall thimble on that chimney - you can't just bring the liner thru a normal wall into the room. Make sure they fix it for sure.

From the OP:

"later I finally pull off the cover over the thimble"

I can read Bart - I can also look at the pic. The only thing that was on all that was a cover - think round ring to dress up the hole. Wildeyes hasn't removed an entire wall pass thru from that pic.

I suspect that Wildeyes is referring to the short horizontal snout of the liner tee as a thimble.

From that picture, there was no wall pass thru installed.
 
Actually, passing a flat blade screw driver around the inside of the snout after you loosen the clamp to pull the lip of that tee into the pipe is easier than kicking that idiot's ass. Well, unless he is really little and you would still end up fixing it yourself.
 
CleanBurnin said:
BrotherBart said:
CleanBurnin said:
You need a proper wall thimble on that chimney - you can't just bring the liner thru a normal wall into the room. Make sure they fix it for sure.

From the OP:

"later I finally pull off the cover over the thimble"

I can read Bart - I can also look at the pic. The only thing that was on all that was a cover - think round ring to dress up the hole. Wildeyes hasn't removed an entire wall pass thru from that pic.

I suspect that Wildeyes is referring to the short horizontal snout of the liner tee as a thimble.

From that picture, there was no wall pass thru installed.

I hear ya. If that is a combustible wall there is a whole nother issue.
 
wildeyes said:
Hey all,
snip

..., so that there's a 2" layer of insulation between it and the drywall. I've read that putting anything between the thimble and combustibles is not recommended.
...snip

thanks!
~wildeyes
It's a combustible wall. It has drywall. He said it in his post up there. :)
 
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