Flex King Pro or Standard Flex King Liner, Insulation or no?

[backld]

Should I go with Flex King Pro or standard? Should I insulate? My chimney is tile and inside dimensions are 6 1/2 x 10 3/4. My Chimney is 14 foot tall and is inside the garage. Do I have enough space for insulation and do I really need it? If I oval the liner will it fit?

Thanks

 

[Todd]

If the clay tiles inside your chimney are in good shape you don't need insulation but the only way to know for sure is to get it inspected. Prolly best to just go ahead and insulate and go with the smooth pro liner since your chimney is a little on the short side. You won't get a 6" round down that chimney without busting out the tiles, ovalizing may be a good option. I think there may be some insulated oval liners out there that could work?

 

[btuser]

How long would it take to bust out the tiles? I've never even considered it, I thought it was a non-starter but apparently it can be done.

I had the same size flue and went with a 5.5" liner insulated, and it was still too tight to go down on its own so I had to "ovalize it myself. At 14' you're going to need all the help you can get so I'd consider insulation.

 

[jerseykat1]

mine is 15' and just a bit over 6" maybe 7", it was a tight fit but i was able to get my liner in. the hardest part was getting it past the damper area where i had to do some cutting with an angle grinder, a steel cutting bit, and a small hammer. Very slight ovalization (is that a word) at the very end to get it through. My chimney is in the center of my house, tiles were in good shape, so i said the hell with insulating it. My stove seems to work just fine, i dont think i have any drafting issues.

Most stove manufactures recommend at least 15' of chimney, Just have a 1 or 2 foot extension installed. it may look a bit awkward but it should help.

 

[ansehnlich1]

flexking pro, insulate with thermix, burn happy!

 

[leeave96]

How long would it take to bust out the tiles? I've never even considered it, I thought it was a non-starter but apparently it can be done.

I had the same size flue and went with a 5.5" liner insulated, and it was still too tight to go down on its own so I had to "ovalize it myself. At 14' you're going to need all the help you can get so I'd consider insulation.

My chimney was 8x8 outside the tile and about 6-5/8 inside so a 6 inch liner with 1/2 insulation wasn't going to fit - nor would a 5.5 either. In as much as my clay tiles just above the thimble were cracked, and I wanted a 6 inch liner from the get go, I asked that the tiles come out. The hardest part of my liner install was knocking a hole into the side of the chimney to make for a rear vent (from a top vent install) and chipping away at the bottom of the chimney for a new clean out door. Once that stuff was out of the way, the sweep set about knocking out the liner. They had a little rectangle block that threaded to rods and then into a cordless drill with a guy on the roof. Little by little, they hit the liner and it busted into small pieces and down to the clean out - pretty much rolling out and into a waiting wheelbarrow. They took some measurements, riveted the pipe together (mine is a rigid liner), insulated it, carried the whole thing up on the roof (two guys), dropped it into my chimney, screwed on the tee/thimble, insulated the thimble and put a cap on the bottom of the pipe - pretty slick and fast. To answer your question, it took them about 30 minutes to knock the liner out and they took their time doing it.

Now the reason they could carry the liner up on the roof is that from top to bottom at the cleanout is about 18 ft. Moving to a rear exit gave me about 5 to 6 more feet of chimney draft to get me something on the order of a 15 foot chimney. The thing draws like crazy.

I think a flex liner is fine, but since someone else was doing the installing and charging me for it AND my chimney was a straight shot up, I wanted the rigid pipe. I also did not want the pour-in insulation as one of these days I may have a need to remove the liner - can't imagine doing that, but that's what I wanted.

Lots ramble, but I would opt for the Pro flex liner with the heavier gauge metal and more smooth insides.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[leeave96]

Should I go with Flex King Pro or standard? Should I insulate? My chimney is tile and inside dimensions are 6 1/2 x 10 3/4. My Chimney is 14 foot tall and is inside the garage. Do I have enough space for insulation and do I really need it? If I oval the liner will it fit?

Thanks

I forgot one thing and that is you can buy ovalized liner too. In as much as you have 10-3/4 width, you have plenty of room for it.

Good luck,
Bill