Hi All!
I've been lurking for months, and finally tackled my installation over the past weekend. All went great! I really have to thank everyone on the forums, I've read so much great information on here that I went from total noob to comfortable picking equipment and doing the install by myself.
Brief history, we bought the house this year and it has a beautiful fireplace, and on that fireplace was a VC vigilant that was well beyond a useful condition. That's actually how I found the site- looking for info on rebuilding the VC. I decided against that however, and we agreed that an insert would be the correct equipment.
INSERT SHOPPING. So many options. Go deep and spend big dollars?? Go cheap and be happy?? I read. And read. And read. Initially I decided on a Drolet Escape, but after an issue with Lowes, my order got dropped and by the time I figured that out- the Drolet was well into back order. My second choice was the Vogelzang Colonial, and lowes could source it for me- so we changed the order and they refunded me a bit of money for the trouble. I wasn't too upset with that.
LINER!! Chimney liner depot. Great people. Answered all my questions and shipped the 25' flex king and all necessary parts super fast.
INSTALL DAY! So, our driveway starts to slope at the chimney base, and our roof is steepest at the chimney. Although I used to paint professionally, I hate ladders. The cost of the aerial lift is only a little more than my hospital deductible, so I'll get the lift every time.
I'll do a quick pictorial of the install, since I'm already a bit wordy.
Three flues; oil burner, fireplace, empty to basement (future pellet stove??). I made a little cap for the third flue, and modified the supplied screen/cap to fit under the slate topper.
Liner up!! The pull went WAY easier than I expected. My wife fed it up the bottom and I pulled from the top. Done in about 10 minutes.
All set on the topside!
I made a block off plate, again thanks for the wealth of information on here. I used a modified 8" HVAC duct "starter" section, sized down to just slightly larger than the chimney liner, as my pass through. I knew I wasn't going to be able to cut a nice round hole and cut pretty tabs around that hole. The starter worked well, I modified it a bit and gave it a front to rear oval to help the liner come down through it easier. Also stuffed above the plate with plenty of roxul for good measure.
Cutting the liner was actually the most nerve wracking part. I measured and measured, got it close, then took off 1/2" at a time and test fit for perfection. Got it cut, test fit, and happy, then applied a bit of flue goo around the damper plate at the liner penetration, then some onto the appliance adapter. Probably overkill, definitely overkill, but I had a whole gallon at my disposal, and only used about half in the end.
FIRST BURN!!
All installed (minus the silver trim, there's a debate on that- I think it'll get painted black).
Massive success. Very happy with the whole setup, cold weather coming this week so we'll be testing it good! I've got two ton of envi blocks- of anyone has pointers on burning them, I'm all ears, thanks again to the community here, I'm humbled by the amount of great information on these forums.
I've been lurking for months, and finally tackled my installation over the past weekend. All went great! I really have to thank everyone on the forums, I've read so much great information on here that I went from total noob to comfortable picking equipment and doing the install by myself.
Brief history, we bought the house this year and it has a beautiful fireplace, and on that fireplace was a VC vigilant that was well beyond a useful condition. That's actually how I found the site- looking for info on rebuilding the VC. I decided against that however, and we agreed that an insert would be the correct equipment.
INSERT SHOPPING. So many options. Go deep and spend big dollars?? Go cheap and be happy?? I read. And read. And read. Initially I decided on a Drolet Escape, but after an issue with Lowes, my order got dropped and by the time I figured that out- the Drolet was well into back order. My second choice was the Vogelzang Colonial, and lowes could source it for me- so we changed the order and they refunded me a bit of money for the trouble. I wasn't too upset with that.
LINER!! Chimney liner depot. Great people. Answered all my questions and shipped the 25' flex king and all necessary parts super fast.
INSTALL DAY! So, our driveway starts to slope at the chimney base, and our roof is steepest at the chimney. Although I used to paint professionally, I hate ladders. The cost of the aerial lift is only a little more than my hospital deductible, so I'll get the lift every time.
I'll do a quick pictorial of the install, since I'm already a bit wordy.
Three flues; oil burner, fireplace, empty to basement (future pellet stove??). I made a little cap for the third flue, and modified the supplied screen/cap to fit under the slate topper.
Liner up!! The pull went WAY easier than I expected. My wife fed it up the bottom and I pulled from the top. Done in about 10 minutes.
All set on the topside!
I made a block off plate, again thanks for the wealth of information on here. I used a modified 8" HVAC duct "starter" section, sized down to just slightly larger than the chimney liner, as my pass through. I knew I wasn't going to be able to cut a nice round hole and cut pretty tabs around that hole. The starter worked well, I modified it a bit and gave it a front to rear oval to help the liner come down through it easier. Also stuffed above the plate with plenty of roxul for good measure.
Cutting the liner was actually the most nerve wracking part. I measured and measured, got it close, then took off 1/2" at a time and test fit for perfection. Got it cut, test fit, and happy, then applied a bit of flue goo around the damper plate at the liner penetration, then some onto the appliance adapter. Probably overkill, definitely overkill, but I had a whole gallon at my disposal, and only used about half in the end.
FIRST BURN!!
All installed (minus the silver trim, there's a debate on that- I think it'll get painted black).
Massive success. Very happy with the whole setup, cold weather coming this week so we'll be testing it good! I've got two ton of envi blocks- of anyone has pointers on burning them, I'm all ears, thanks again to the community here, I'm humbled by the amount of great information on these forums.
Last edited:
