Installed 6 in liner today. What a difference

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pen

There are some who call me...mod.
Staff member
Aug 2, 2007
7,968
N.E. Penna
I can't get over the difference I am seeing already.

I have an Englander 30 that used to feed into a 8 in thimble up through a 7 in sq chimney. I ordered a 6 in liner from theheatelement and installed it today.

Before, w/ any temps above the mid 30's, it was tough getting a good fire started as I just didn't have that much draft. Today, I had no problem getting things heated up to burn in the new paint I put on the stove a while back and give the chimney a test fire even though it was 65 degrees.

The inside diameter of my chimney was 6.75 x 6.75. I debated not trying use the 6 in and going for 5.5 since some of my tiles are out of line, but in the end I chose the 6 in and it went down w/out too much incident. I wound up having to tie a rope to a towel, stuff the towel in the bottom of the flex liner, then secure w/ duct tape. Worked like a charm.

The biggest challenge was finding vermiculite in my vicinity. The only place I found to have it was an old lumber yard in my area that I generally don't even consider because they **** you on any sale less than materials for a whole garage. But, today they saved my rear and surprised me w/ a price of 14.95 per 4 cubic feet.

Regardless, I'll be able to sleep a bit easier knowing the chimney has an extra layer of protection there.

This site has changed my ideas of burning significantly over the past few years and I'm glad to say it's in a positive direction. It's great to be able to enjoy this hobby w/ so many great people who enjoy sharing their knowledge and experiences.

pen
 
Good to hear you are getting the full responsiveness out of the stove pen. You should be in for a cozy house this winter.
 
I'm really anxious to see how my cleaning schedule will be affected. Since I had damaged chimney tiles, I never went more than 4 weeks between cleanings the last few years. I'd never get more than about a soda can of creosote cleaning at that frequency. I'm anxious to see what happens now that it's a correct size liner for the stove and it's insulated.

pen
 
Glad to hear your liner installation went well. I'd love to see a 30 in action in person some time!
 
Osm3um said:
Sorry, but what is the vermiculite for?

Thanks,
Bob

the vermiculite is to insulate the liner to keep it warmer. The better insulated the chimney is, the less creosote build up.

pen
 
Pen you ain't gonna believe how little is in that pipe after cord after cord. I was amazed after I lined these chimneys and went with the EPA burners.

I finally got around to climbing up there yesterday and I am gonna brush it before I start burning but it really does not need it after three+ cords last season. As hot as you burn that 30 you won't have squat in that pipe at the end of the season.
 
Would not a rigid SS liner be better than a flexible SS liner It seems a lot thicker and has a lifetime warranty?
 
You'd never get a rigid liner down my chimney. It was a damn miracle that I got the flex liner to fit considering my flue tiles are not straight and I only had 3/8 of an inch on either side of the liner to wiggle in.

pen
 
cmonSTART said:
Glad it's working for you, pen. A good liner makes a huge difference!!

At the very least it's a heck of a lot of piece of mind and insurance for just a couple of hundred bucks. I'd been planning on doing this for several years and my chimney tiles are cracked in some spots. I started by getting rid of my old fisher that required an 8in outlet and went to this englander 30 that uses a 6 so I had room for a liner. Last winter was a test run to make sure I liked the new stove. For years I've cleaned the chimney EVERY 4 weeks. I have never had much buildup but knowing my liner wasn't good before I always felt the least I could do was keep it clean so that if I did have a fire I could minimize the risk by it being only a small one.

Since I've got easy access I am sure I'll still be looking down the pipe monthly for a while, but am just glad to be able to have one less thing to worry about.

Since I've been around on this site over the last few years, I've read about a bunch of chimney fires. Some w/ and some w/out a modern stainless liner. To date, I can't think of an example of a fire in a modern SS chimney that resulted in a house fire.

pen
 
pen said:
At the very least it's a heck of a lot of piece of mind and insurance for just a couple of hundred bucks. I'd been planning on doing this for several years and my chimney tiles are cracked in some spots. I started by getting rid of my old fisher that required an 8in outlet and went to this englander 30 that uses a 6 so I had room for a liner. Last winter was a test run to make sure I liked the new stove. For years I've cleaned the chimney EVERY 4 weeks. I have never had much buildup but knowing my liner wasn't good before I always felt the least I could do was keep it clean so that if I did have a fire I could minimize the risk by it being only a small one.

Since I've got easy access I am sure I'll still be looking down the pipe monthly for a while, but am just glad to be able to have one less thing to worry about.

Since I've been around on this site over the last few years, I've read about a bunch of chimney fires. Some w/ and some w/out a modern stainless liner. To date, I can't think of an example of a fire in a modern SS chimney that resulted in a house fire.

pen
That's exactly the same reason I lined mine! I probably would have been OK without it, but it was cheap insurance. Your install sounds a lot like mine, tight quarters with a 6" liner. I burned for two years with just the liner in the clay tiles and now this year I added some perlite. Not sure how much I got down there, but every little bit helps I think.
 
Glad everything is working out for you.. we dipped into low 50's and im' thinking about burning as well
 
How is the insulation applied? Do you just dump it down the chimney so it fills the empty space? What is the material like?

My clay lined interior chimney works fine but since the flu is 11"x7" I've thought about putting a 6" liner in at some point.
 
Yes, I made a large dunce hate funnel out of some old metal flashing material and just dumped it down to fill in the area between the SS liner and the clay tile liner.

vermiculite.jpg
 
Exactly. Perlite is very light weight. It's consistency ranges (in the bag I had at least) between baking powder and a finely crushed styrofoam. Dump it in and it fills all around and in voids. Shake the liner a little to make sure it is settling in all the voids and you should be fine.
 
Perlite and vermiculite would do the same job and have a similar origin.

Here is what the former looks like.

perlite.jpg


I also left some room at the top of the liner and filled that w/ rock wool instead of vermiculite. This way, if the vermiculite settles the rock wool will still work as an air lock / blockoff at the top of the chimney

pen
 
I bought vermiculite at WalMart or Lowe's or Home Depot (forget which) in their garden department. It's used to mix with soil in gardens (as well as to insulate chimney liners).
 
All of this gets me to thinking about re-re-lining our flue.
There already is a 6" x 9" nominal rectangular liner, but I think it
is too much volume for our existing setup. It drafts OK, but does
have some creosote build-up near the top over time.
I would have to go with 5 1/2" liner to get the job done at reasonable cost.
Any feelings on this??
 
Is it an exterior chimney? With the draft improvement you experienced, a couple hundred bucks sounds like a no brainer over demoing and putting Class A in a chase.
 
SolarAndWood said:
Is it an exterior chimney? With the draft improvement you experienced, a couple hundred bucks sounds like a no brainer over demoing and putting Class A in a chase.

No, it is an internal flue, running up the middle of our house.
It would be like putting a smaller liner inside of an existing larger liner.
Why the previous owners chose this odd-shaped, larger liner I'll never know.....
 
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