running a stainless liner through the fireplace damper ??

[trx680]

The old fireplace has what appears to be a damper that is being propped opened by a piece of ceramic tile.
I'm looking to put a woodstove insert in and will need to have a liner. I'll do the stainless liner, most likely a 6".

My questions are.... do I just prop open this damper and run the liner through it?

How hard is it to remove a damper?

It there a special damper I can install with a 6" opening for the liner?

here's a pic of the damper....pic is upside-down

 

[mhrischuk]

We cut enough away to clear the liner. Most cases the fireplace will never be converted back to a heat losing open one again. When I did mine I removed all of the loose parts and cut the cast iron with a radiac.

 

[zzr7ky]

Hi -

I did a similar thing. I had a steel Heat-A-Lator fireplace. I bolted the damper linkage shut and caulked it with silicone. Then I used a cut-off wheel, Sawz-All, and hammer to cut out an oval clearance hole for the 6" rigid liner to go straight up the chimney flue. Worked like a champ. Took about an hour to cut, and an hour to clean up.

ATB,
Mike

 

[fireview2788]

They cut mine away enough to get the pipe up when they installed. Go to the This Old House website and search for fireplace insert install or something like that and you will find a video of them putting in an insert from start to finish. They completely tear it out on this one.



f v

 

[EJL923]

Im not sure what my installers did, but they were able to remove my damper as well as fit the liner thru without any cutting or other mods. The liner is slightly ovalized (barely), but most manuals say that is ok, as a flex liner is ovalized to begin with. From looking at it, it looks like a pretty standard damper size, not oversized.