installing a chimney liner... ?

[OhioBurner©]

Ok I have talked about the chimney a few times in the past and getting ready to pull the trigger on a 5.5" liner. The existing chimney is clay lined with ID of about 6.5x11.25.

My question is about the Tee / cleaning. All the kits I have seen include a Tee thats terminated on the bottom. How are you suppose to access that in a masonry chimney? My cleanout is 10'6" down from the thimble. I've read on some other posts folks say to run liner from the bottom of the Tee down to the cleanout, but the Tees in the kits have clamps at the top to connect the liner to but I havent seen any that have a clamp on the bottom too?

So where does one find a Tee that I can run more liner down to cleanout? Or do you just leave it terminated at Tee and let the creosote accumulate in there, and scoop out whatever you can from inside the house(that sounds messy)?

 

[Todd]

Some people terminate and cap the tee bottom at the thimble while others install another section down to the cleanout and cap it there. Sounds like you have a long run down to your clean out so it might be easiest and less expensive to terminate it right at the thimble and after you sweep just disconnect the stove pipe at the thimble to clean it out.

 

[Milton Findley]

A lot of us have a Rigid shop vac from Home Depot with a dry wall filter in it. It stops soot too. It will get most of the detritus out of the tee, and with a little imagination and a piece of flexible hose, it will get all of it.

 

[laynes69]

I came from burning an old woodfurnace into an exterior masonry chimney. Every month pulling at least a couple gallons of gunk from the chimney. When I installed our EPA woodfurnace, I was worried about eliminating the cleanout due to creosote. I relined the chimney and eliminated the cleanout. We haven't had a bit of problems doing so. I just use a small shop vac to remove whatever has fell from the sweeping. The stove shouldn't produce enough gunk in the chimney to worry. It would be convenient to have the cleanout, but its not needed. Our snout is 32" deep so it can be tricky removing the stuff.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

The EPA stoves, along with dry wood will eliminate alot of what used to collect from "the old days". In my yearly chimney sweep I only get maybe 1.5-2 inches of debris collected at the bottom of the tee and as Milt mentioned, shop vac it out...done deal

 

[OhioBurner©]

It would be cheaper and simplify the installation if I didnt have to mess with lining it all the way into the basement cleanout. I though a shop vac would put the soot into the air, I'll have to test it out or look for a finer filter for it. I guess the amount of creosote to cleanup should be small - like laynes said I am just so used to cleaning out half of a 5 gallon bucket full multiple times. My Jotul Rockland with a duraliner produced maybe about a cup both times I cleaned it, and some of that wasnt as seasoned as most of you guys like (all within a year).

Does anyone recommend a good Tee kit and seller? I found this kit, anyone ordered from them before?
http://www.chimneylinerdepot.com/st...g-PRO-Chimney-Liner-5.5X20-316ti-Tee-Kit.html

I would need to add a terra cotta top plate since thats what I have now, yes?

It will be a somewhat tight fit I think so perhaps a pulling cone would be of help? Anyone use one before?

I need to get back to 6" at the stove so one of these should fit on the end of the Tee snout right?
http://www.chimneylinerdepot.com/store/4730/product/ReducerIncreaser-6in(F)-to-5.5in(F).html <-forum doesnt like link, manually copy and past whole thing into address bar.

And finally since my thimble is 8" and I'll have 6" pipe going in I'll need some kind of skirt. I didnt see any on that website, any recommendations?

Did I miss anything?

 

[Milton Findley]

Most if my stuff is from that supplier, and it is all stainless steel and good stuff, heavy and sized to fit. I have some Rockford components as well, and they were certainly equivalent. I have the reducer and use it as an expander at the chimney cap. Top plates can be stainless as well, and I would go with that option if it were available or I could fabricate one.

The pulling cone is a choice, but I used what was recommended in a old thread, a towel with a rope tied around it, stuffed into the flex pipe, and duct taped in place. Worked like a champ, and the biggest hassle was removing the duct tape.

The ring for the thimble can be purchased at Menards, or Ace or at any fireplace store. It can be as fancy or as plain as you wish.

 

[kingquad]

I purchased a pulling cone and it was a waste. My flue size is the same as yours and the cone, which is slightly oversized, wouldn't fit. My solution was what's in this picture. It's a section of stainless steel track for steel wall stud systems and an I bolt. These were pieces I had laying around the house, so it was free. It would cost less than $10 to make though. I formed the track to fit inside the liner and attached it with sheet metal screws. Took me less than 5 minutes to pull my liner down once I started. Had a friend in the basement pulling and I while I fed the liner down the chimney.

 

[Milton Findley]

There is another thing or two to consider as well. Depending on how high your chimney is above the level of the roof, you might need some way to raise the liner high enough to lower it straight down. I built a jib crane out of two by three lumber, fastened it to the existing chimney and used a pulley and some shroud line to lift the liner. A straight shot down makes life much easier, and flex liner is not flexible, just bendy.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Thanks for the advice fellas.

I just realized the pulling cone probably wont work with a Tee anyhow - thats just for pulling liner without anything on the bottom correct?

This will be my first liner install and plan on doing it solo with maybe some help from the wife. I did watch closely when they installed the duraliner on my fireplace insert. Hopefully this will be easier without having to knock out a pile of bricks and such - but the Tee might be a little tricky. I hadnt thought about how inflexable it would be requiring the liner to be pretty high above the roof, I could rig up a 2x4 platform for working on and maybe have some tall posts with a round cross piece that the liner could roll over from above. Anyone have any pics of anything special they used to aid in the install?

Oh and any comments about which rain cap to use?
Standard:

Deluxe:

The delux looks like it includes the top plate as well, but net is still a $40 increase. I'm not really sure what advantage it has over the standard?