Clay flue tile alternatives ?

[dvellone]

Noticing allot of chimnies today.
One thing I noted is most flue tiles are the standard Red Clay, but a few are the yellow cream color.
What is the material of the yellow-cream flue tiles ?

For interior chimnies:
Benefit of the all masonry is that it warms up and stays warm, helping avoid "tail out" at the end of your burn, plus it warms the house.
Benefit of putting a double wall S.S. liner in a masonry "chimney structure", is that it can be replaced in a few hours 15-20-25 years down the road.

Nick

Right but, there's no way you should have to replace your ceramic clay liner in that time, or many years thereafter. You can also drop a flex liner in if you had to.The yellow cream color is most likely resultant from a difference in where the clay came from and it's color difference. I've never seen that color.

 

[BJN644]

Noticing allot of chimnies today.
One thing I noted is most flue tiles are the standard Red Clay, but a few are the yellow cream color.
What is the material of the yellow-cream flue tiles ?

For interior chimnies:
Benefit of the all masonry is that it warms up and stays warm, helping avoid "tail out" at the end of your burn, plus it warms the house.
Benefit of putting a double wall S.S. liner in a masonry "chimney structure", is that it can be replaced in a few hours 15-20-25 years down the road.

Nick

Right but, there's no way you should have to replace your ceramic clay liner in that time, or many years thereafter. You can also drop a flex liner in if you had to.The yellow cream color is most likely resultant from a difference in where the clay came from and it's color difference. I've never seen that color.

See my earlier post, web even said it, clay sucks and will crack.

I can tell you from having both, that a masonry chimney with an insulated stainless steel liner will draft better. It will also more than likely be functional after a chimney fire, unlike a clay liner that will be certainly cracked.

 

[dvellone]

Noticing allot of chimnies today.
One thing I noted is most flue tiles are the standard Red Clay, but a few are the yellow cream color.
What is the material of the yellow-cream flue tiles ?

For interior chimnies:
Benefit of the all masonry is that it warms up and stays warm, helping avoid "tail out" at the end of your burn, plus it warms the house.
Benefit of putting a double wall S.S. liner in a masonry "chimney structure", is that it can be replaced in a few hours 15-20-25 years down the road.

Nick

Right but, there's no way you should have to replace your ceramic clay liner in that time, or many years thereafter. You can also drop a flex liner in if you had to.The yellow cream color is most likely resultant from a difference in where the clay came from and it's color difference. I've never seen that color.

See my earlier post, web even said it, clay sucks and will crack.

I can tell you from having both, that a masonry chimney with an insulated stainless steel liner will draft better. It will also more than likely be functional after a chimney fire, unlike a clay liner that will be certainly cracked.

Craig's "suck" comment was a sweeping generalization at best. I think you'll find find plenty of folks - even right here on this forum- who are owners of properly constructed masonry chimneys and can report that these chimneys, which were of the ones constructed properly, draft as well as any prefab and have been used for years with no problems. I've seen and repaired/replaced countless damaged and also poorly constructed masonry chimneys so I don't disagree that the problems exist unlike the problem-free guarantee of a factory-fabricated SS chimney. But ceramic clay liners won't crack unless they're subjected to the stresses resulting from improper construction or temperatures exceeding the temps they were fired at - 2000*f If your chimney fire gets much above that you might want to consider changing out your steel liner too. Selkirks ultra high temp chimney has only been tested to 2100*f You're guaranteed a quality chimney with ss but masonry chimneys have been around for a long time and the bad examples certainly aren't representative of their quality.