chimney questions for wood insert

[Wondering]

Hi everyone. I'm planning to put a wood insert in my old masonry fireplace at our cottage in cold Canada. We just use the place on weekends in the winter so we'll have to start the fire in the cold. I've just learned that my chimney is made of stone with no clay liner. The chimney is on the outside of the house. The insert calls for a 6 inch stainless steel liner in the chimney. My question is, will a chimney with no clay liner cause a problem? Will it be necessary to insulate either the stainless steel liner or the chimney?
Fyi the house is made of logs--flamable.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

While the pros will chime in here, no clay in the chimney is alright when installing a wood insert with full stainless liner. However your stainless steel liner will almost certainly need to be insulated due to vast majority of chimneys not being built with proper clearances to combustibles, like your logs. The insulation will protect you in the event you have a chimney fire, in that much less heat would transfer from liner through the masonry to your combustibles. As a added benefit your insert will perform slightly better with insulated liner and the insulation will cut down on creosote buildup to begin with. Also, with not having the clay in chimney, you will likely have the room for the insulation so definitely do it.
Very important, make sure your chimney is swept very thorough before installing insert and new liner. I imagine a lot of installers skimp out on this step. Especially in the harder to reach knooks and crannies of chimney, like the smoke chamber. Well worth the one time cost to have the chimney sweep you hire spend some good time on that step, even if you have to check his or her work with that prior to install being then installed.

 

[jetsam]

You need to insulate the liner for safety and performance. Just buy insulated liner and be done with it.

You also should install a blockoff plate for performance. There are lots of threads on the subject here.

If you want to be warm before the end of the weekend, get the biggest insert you can possibly fit in there- or better yet switch to a large freestander. It takes a lot of BTUs to heat up a cold structure, and it sounds like maybe your insulation level is "log"?

If Cold Canada is north of regular Canada, maybe you should consider building a large insulated house around the cabin and then burning the cabin for warmth...

 

[Wondering]

Thanks jetsam and Ctwoodtick. I'm hoping to get the Pacific Energy neo 2.5 insert. its firebox is 2.5 cubic. ft. and btu output 80,000. The main room is about 400 sq. ft. with lots of windows. There are 2 bedrooms off to the side where I can put space heaters if necessary. The cottage is about an hour north of Toronto so it's not the far north. Do you think the neo 2.5 will work?