Chimney Sweep's Advice

[babzog]

You should enlarge it to six inches.

 

[thechimneysweep]

...Acting on a sweep’s advice is like stopping in Newark and asking a crack head for driving directions to Giants Stadium…

I'm sure some of the crack heads on the forum will be chiming in eventually, but in the meantime...

Giants Stadium was demolished in 2010. The new facility is called MetLife Stadium. Here's driving directions from Newark:

Take I-280E, and merge onto I-95N. Take Exit 16W onto NJ-3. Left onto Road H Plaza, then Rt on Road D to the Meadowlands Sports Complex.

Would be happy to help out with any chimney-related questions you might have as well.

 

[BrowningBAR]

After waiting 5 weeks, I finally got my appointment with a chimney sweep today. Hooray, I thought: no more worrying about whatever creosote my be lurking up in the upper recesses of my chimney.

However, the sweep said that I really should reline my chimney with a stainless steel liner. And that wasn't all. Since the 6" collar coming out of the back of my Jotul F400 goes through a 5" thimble into the chimney, he said that I needed (not should, but needed) to expand the thimble to 6". And -- here's the kicker -- the new 6" pipe wouldn't fit in the existing clay lined flue, so the existing flue tiles would have to all be removed before the stainless steel liner could be put in.

The proposed cost? "Three thousand, maybe three and a half thousand."

Obviously I'm not going to do it. But one thing about it did worry me a little -- reducing the pipe from 6" to 5" for the thimble. So I'm asking the group wisdom -- is reducing the pipe size through the thimble an issue or a risk?

Acting on a sweep's advice is like stopping in Newark and asking a crack head for driving directions to Giants Stadium...

Well, I think it's necessary to add a disclaimer that some sweeps know their stuff! BUT being a sweep doesn't mean that you do!

Yes, the sweep I use also does chimney repairs, restorations, and really knows his stuff.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Acting on a sweep's advice is like stopping in Newark and asking a crack head for driving directions to Giants Stadium...

Well, I think it's necessary to add a disclaimer that some sweeps know their stuff! BUT being a sweep doesn't mean that you do![/quote]

Really. If the sweep is also an installer and has all the various professional certifications, that's a whole different deal than the guy on the next block who just cleans chimneys.

FWIW, I had a badly cracked clay liner removed and a stainless liner put into my existing chimney through which the oil boiler in the basement vents a few years ago (pre-woodstove) and the work cost me about $800. This is rural Vermont, so less expensive to have stuff like this done than metro suburbs.