They tapped into steel liner without a tee!

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Jan 10, 2022
131
Northeastern Vermont
Instead of placing a tee, there seems to be just a snout with a strap.
A hole is cut in the 7" stainless steel liner.
Is this remotely normal?

I should make this part of my "clown show" series!

My previous posts have shown:
- Burnt spray foam that I pulled out from behind the bricks of my fireplace. Combustibles in smoke shelf is now in trend!
- 8 inch round liner put on an old fireplace. You too can use your living room as a sausage smoker!
- Horizontal stove pipe on a furnace with three 90 degree bends (who doesn't love 9 gallons of creosote after half a season?!)

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And what about the 7" to 6" adapter/reducer?
it doesn't seem to be normal black stove pipe.
It is PAINTED. It looks like it might be galvanized steel.... like something used to vent gas appliance... though I am not sure.
Is this a problem?

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And what about the 7" to 6" adapter/reducer?
it doesn't seem to be normal black stove pipe.
It is PAINTED. It looks like it might be galvanized steel.... like something used to vent gas appliance... though I am not sure.
Is this a problem?

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Uhh yeah a few problems. Sadly that isn't the first time I have seen that type of connection.
 
Uhh yeah a few problems. Sadly that isn't the first time I have seen that type of connection.
The connection is actually not TOO bad (considering)... It sort of connects the same way as a tee fitting. Although it is clearly not standard. Why would they do this? To save material cost after quoting a flat rate on the project?? How would they end up with just an extra snout and no tee? It is bizarre.

The hole is smaller than the 7 in liner (as well as irregular shape), as you can see. The 7" snout is pretty short and the stove pipe is 6" so the exhaust pushes through that hole okay.... but it makes quite a lot of sound, especially when first firing up when there is a lot of air flow.

It looks like there is some fiberglass in some places. I just stuck the camera up there to get the phones... and now that I am looking at them again I wonder... could that possibly be SPRAY FOAM again, around the snout??

Then there is no insulation (obviously). It is an internal chimney, so it is not as critical as external chimney.... but still.

This, as well as all the photos on my other posts, have been done by a licensed "pro".
 
Then there is no insulation (obviously). It is an internal chimney, so it is not as critical as external chimney.... but still.
It is actually far more critical from a safety standpoint
 
There is no way for me to know
If I want to clean it (masonry chimney), you think it should be hand brushes, and not rotary? It is solid but very old.

And what about that steel liner? Is it possible to tell from the photos if it is junk? The guy didn't use a tee, so I wonder how much confidence I can have in the materials in general.

I cleaned the steel liner with a sooteater. It is way better, but I wonder if it has gazed deposits on it. You see where I am going with this... it is not insulated, there is tee situation, it may require pro cleaning, etc. I am wondering if it can be corrected, or if it is not even worth using that metal liner.
 
If I want to clean it (masonry chimney), you think it should be hand brushes, and not rotary? It is solid but very old.

And what about that steel liner? Is it possible to tell from the photos if it is junk? The guy didn't use a tee, so I wonder how much confidence I can have in the materials in general.

I cleaned the steel liner with a sooteater. It is way better, but I wonder if it has gazed deposits on it. You see where I am going with this... it is not insulated, there is tee situation, it may require pro cleaning, etc. I am wondering if it can be corrected, or if it is not even worth using that metal liner.
There really is no way for me to tell just from pics
 
There really is no way for me to tell just from pics
I guess I am asking if I can fix the problems with the liner, or if it is a complete write off.
If the latter, I may be inclined to fix up the masonry chimney, and think about also having a separate metal chimney.

It is actually far more critical from a safety standpoint
And if it were an exterior chimney the insulation would be more critical from a functional standpoint, right?

It seems like the insulation is always recommended for one reason or another. I am just trying to deal with the mess that this Einstein of a chimney guy did on this house before I bought it.
 
I guess I am asking if I can fix the problems with the liner, or if it is a complete write off.
If the latter, I may be inclined to fix up the masonry chimney, and think about also having a separate metal chimney.


And if it were an exterior chimney the insulation would be more critical from a functional standpoint, right?

It seems like the insulation is always recommended for one reason or another. I am just trying to deal with the mess that this Einstein of a chimney guy did on this house before I bought it.
Yes an exterior chimney insulation will help more with performance.

It generally isn't a matter of recommendation. In most cases insulation is required by code.