Another liner question.

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Andyshine77

New Member
Sep 17, 2024
12
Cincinnati Ohio
I recently had a SS flex liner installed inside my existing chimney clay liner, there wasn't enough room to insulated the SS liner. It hasn't been really cold and the draft seems fine. The chimney is on the outside of the house. They also extended the chimney hight to get it up to code. Will I be alright, or did I get ripped off because it cost quite a lot of money to get this done.

[Hearth.com] Another liner question.
 
It’s a little hard to say if you got ripped off, or will you be fine with the info given.

Typically you would want an insulated liner. It’s very hard to verify that a chimney has the required clearance to combustibles like house framing. Insulating the liner is a way around this step of verification. Often they need to break out the clay liner to make room for the insulation.

Insulation also helps keep creosote formation down as the liner stays warmer and water with creosote forming soot particles is less likely to condense onto them.

Labor and stoves are expensive, the cost goes up quickly.
 
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Better if insulated but the real importance of the insulation is protection from chimney fire. Regularly sweep/inspect that chimney and you drastically decrease that risk.
 
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It’s a little hard to say if you got ripped off, or will you be fine with the info given.

Typically you would want an insulated liner. It’s very hard to verify that a chimney has the required clearance to combustibles like house framing. Insulating the liner is a way around this step of verification. Often they need to break out the clay liner to make room for the insulation.

Insulation also helps keep creosote formation down as the liner stays warmer and water with creosote forming soot particles is less likely to condense onto them.

Labor and stoves are expensive, the cost goes up quickly.
Yeah they should have removed the old clay liner for insulation. They did clean the old clay liner before installation. I should have done more research, hindsight always 20/20. Should I call them to come back and do this correctly?

The chimney was in use until this past spring without issue, if that's any help.

I suppose I will be alright for now? maybe next year buy a pre-insulated 6" liner that would fit? Will I have any issues with heating up any residual creosote?

Sorry for all the questions, im just concerned. I intend on cleaning the chimney every year at minimum.
 
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Good that flue was cleaned before install of current liner.
Regarding residual creosote- there is hopefully only minimal creosote that was missed by the cleaning this time around, so that temp from liner doesn’t ignite a fire. Cleaning near the old damper can be easily missed or done incompletely and perhaps targeted for inspection/cleaning if you re-install insulated liner in future. If so, I’d advocate they remove the old metal damper to allow access to tight spots in order to make sure clean.
 
No worries, I should have mentioned that in the first place. I just feel stupid for not doing my homework, I was in too much of a hurry to get my wood heat back before the cold hits, like it has today.
Grew up in Cincy. Are you in the city proper or the burbs? I grew up West of the city just a bit. I miss my hometown! What sort of temps are you looking at? We're at the the mid fifties with a cool off on Tuesday morning to the high 20's.
 
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I grew up right down the street from Price Hill Chili, so if you're a west side or you're familiar with that.

I now live about five miles west of there, definitely out in the suburbs with six acres of land. In total I'm about 10 miles from downtown Cincinnati.
 
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It's in the low 40's right now, but we are expecting mid 20's at night the next few.
I grew up right down the street from Price Hill Chili, so if you're a west side or you're familiar with that.

I now live about five miles west of there, definitely out in the suburbs with six acres of land. In total I'm about 10 miles from downtown Cincinnati.
My mom grew up in Fairmount. I might have been to PHC a time or two! I grew up 4 miles NW of there. Straight down Glenway to the end and about a mile West from there beyond the Skyline Chili. You know you're from Cincy if you use chili "parlors" in your directions.

I know the whole Queen City/ Tri-State area very well. I was well traveled, lol. My people settled in Harrison and SE Indiana back in the day.
 
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Good deal! So you're from my stomping grounds, it's a small world.

So do to think I'm alright with my setup. Even if I am I'm still very aggravated that it wasn't installed correctly. It's really getting hard to find good knowledgeable companies.
 
Good deal! So you're from my stomping grounds, it's a small world.

So do to think I'm alright with my setup. Even if I am I'm still very aggravated that it wasn't installed correctly. It's really getting hard to find good knowledgeable companies.
Well... Lets get a tad more info on what you've got there.

First, my eyes aren't as good as the used to be. What model of Buck Stove is it? What stove pipe are you running from stove top to the thimble. Is it single or double wall? Do you have the make/ model number and approx length of the liner that runs inside your chimney? And is the hearth and chimney made or whole real bricks or are they some sort of veneer? Do you know what size the clay liner is inside the chimney?

I know it's a lot of questions, but the best way is to make an informed decision.

After this look, all over, if there is an issue, you can call the township or county and ask them what their codes require. It also might be posted online. Check the codes. If the chimney isn't up to code then that's an issue that your insurance company won't like.
 
I recently had a SS flex liner installed inside my existing chimney clay liner, there wasn't enough room to insulated the SS liner. It hasn't been really cold and the draft seems fine. The chimney is on the outside of the house. They also extended the chimney hight to get it up to code. Will I be alright, or did I get ripped off because it cost quite a lot of money to get this done.

View attachment 341919
If the chimney does not have 1" clearance from combustibles then it requires an insulated liner. The only exception is the edge trim.
 
Well... Lets get a tad more info on what you've got there.

First, my eyes aren't as good as the used to be. What model of Buck Stove is it? What stove pipe are you running from stove top to the thimble. Is it single or double wall? Do you have the make/ model number and approx length of the liner that runs inside your chimney? And is the hearth and chimney made or whole real bricks or are they some sort of veneer? Do you know what size the clay liner is inside the chimney?

I know it's a lot of questions, but the best way is to make an informed decision.

After this look, all over, if there is an issue, you can call the township or county and ask them what their codes require. It also might be posted online. Check the codes. If the chimney isn't up to code then that's an issue that your insurance company won't like.
Buck model 81. Real brick and stone. The Hearth is marble on top of concrete. The liner is made by Olympic it's 6" about 25' long, not sure fo the model. Single wall pipe in the house, that is connecting directly to the liner extension which goes into the liner T. The clay liner is rectangular about 6 1/2 x 7 1/2
 
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