Old Clay Chimney Pots and Liner(s) w/PICS

[delp]

Greetings and wood warmth to all,

I have two questions, first I've attached some photos of my chimney. It has six old clay pots, one for each of the flues in the crazy triangular masonry structure that sits from the basement of the house, though the first floor, continuing up through the second floor, and then flattens out on the 3rd floor and emerges through the roof.

My first question is about whether I'll need an additional cap at the top end of the liner if I have these pots. In terms of sparks and safety, I'd venture a yes, but wanted to see what folks here think. I have a thick, stone top plate on the chimney and the pots sit on that.

Second question is about liners, and whether there's a critical quality difference between the brands available on-line? I've got about 35' of not straight up and down flue to line and am concerned that a liner of lesser quality may rip at the seams with the inevitable twisting and pushing that's going to have to happen to get the thing down a flue.

I've been looking at all the usual suspects: chimneylinerdepot - Flex King pro; Northern Express - Simpson Duraflex; Stovepipes(dot)com - Magna Flex; Rockford - Rock Flex Deluxe; efireplace(dot)com - Homesaver Ultra Pro.

I'm driving myself pretty nuts trying to figure out which one to get, so any help would be much appreciated. Also, I'm assuming that a smooth interior will be better, especially since I may need to go down to a 5 1/2" liner from the 6" called for by the stove, especially if I blanket insulate the liner...my brain is going to explode. I know that getting recommendations on specific products is tricky, but this 115 year old chimney has some special needs. Thank you!

 

[WNCburner]

Nice group of chimney pots. I've got one five foot tall one that I shoved an insulated liner into last year. Although some people burn without a chimney cap, I like to have one to keep the rain and critters out. I went with the insulflex liner from Magnaflex, it is a flexible stainless steel liner with a layer of insulation and then another layer of flex on the outside...it is rugged and stood up to quite a bit of rubbing and abuse during the installation. I also did not have enough room to use the blanket insulation, and the insulflex was a good fit through my chimney and chimney pot. I got in contact with the company through a Hearth.com member who uses the screen name The Heat Element. He was very helpful, and even custom fabricated a cap to fit my chimney pot. You can contact him through Hearth.com by using the Private Message button. Good luck with your liner install, looks like a cool old home you have there. WNCburner

 

[delp]

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, WNC! Whao, I had totally missed that Insulflex, that may well be the ticket! So, did you put the Insulflex kit's cap on the end of your liner and then replaced the old pot? I guess I'll have to measure (twice) and make sure the pot fits over the cap.

 

[WNCburner]

My chimney pot doesn't have an integrated cap, it looks like a clay cannon barrel or a factory smokestack. It's not the prettiest thing but it gave me the extra five feet of flue height I was looking for.