Chimney reline vs demolish

[3363030]

Hello everyone,
The other day I went to install my new Englander 30 to replace the smaller Pyropak we were running. I went on the roof to give a pre season cleaning and noticed I have a few cracked clay tiles. I will need to remove the old liner in order to fit a six inch flex liner and am having trouble finding a tile breaker for rent or purchase, I do have a welder and figure I could make one myself. But now I am now thinking would it be a ridiculous idea to just remove the masonry chimney entirely and install a new insulated stainless system. Has anyone gone this route instead of going with the liner?
Thanks

 

[Doc C]

Hello everyone,
The other day I went to install my new Englander 30 to replace the smaller Pyropak we were running. I went on the roof to give a pre season cleaning and noticed I have a few cracked clay tiles. I will need to remove the old liner in order to fit a six inch flex liner and am having trouble finding a tile breaker for rent or purchase, I do have a welder and figure I could make one myself. But now I am now thinking would it be a ridiculous idea to just remove the masonry chimney entirely and install a new insulated stainless system. Has anyone gone this route instead of going with the liner?
Thanks

What size is your chimney now? 5"x9"?

Also how solid is the brick?

 

[3363030]

It is an interior chimney. It is an 8x12 flue with 1 inch liner so the inside dimension is shy of 6x10. It isn't perfectly straight and the brick is fairly solid, could use repointing and new crown.

 

[begreen]

Your call. It is a good day or two's worth of work. A new metal chimney does make the stove happy. When we raised the house I took out both masonry chimneys and then put in a straight up one in the house envelope. It works great. My decision was pretty easy because we were lifting the house up 6 ft in order to build a new foundation under it. The fireplace was old and suspect due to earthquakes. It came out pretty easily, though a messy job. The other chimney was newer for an oil furnace. The mortar was still good and it took a bit longer, but came down in a day and a half.

 

[Highbeam]

I knocked down my masonry chimney and fireplace to be replaced by a class A pipe. There are so many reasons to do this that made sense to me. I haven't regretted it for an instant.

Mine was only a single story and it took two guys half a day and was dusty. They weren't careful about the dust.

Yes it is possible and the finished product provides excellent performance.

 

[bholler]

Done properly either one will perform very well. The benefit of class a is that you can easily come straight off the top of the stove and out. But a lined masonry chimney can work very well also. If you are planning on going through the wall with the class a then there would be no performance difference. Now bg and highbeam ate from an area where earthquakes are a concern so class a makes more sense for them without question. So basically either way will be just fine it is up to your personal preference. If you are going through the wall or it will be sticking out of the roof far personally I don't like the look of class a. But that is just my preference. And on the right house class a looks better.

 

[begreen]

Yes, on our house prior to the remodel the F602 was in the entry. You saw the shiny stack first thing. Not a great look for an old house. That is gone now. The new stack is taller and on a much less visible side of the house. Much better. Most people don't know it's there. It's also a straight up chimney which to me is preferable to the pair of 90º turns with a thru the wall install, masonry or metal.

 

[3363030]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I ended up deciding on a liner, its hunting season and I figured the liner would take me less time. I finished today knocking out the clay liner. I read that some have had trouble with this process.
If anyone is interested, what I did was first cut a piece of 1/2" steel plate to a 4" by 4" square. I cut the male fitting off of my 6x10 chimney brush(won't need it anymore) and welded the fitting to the centre of the plate. I cut the male and female ends off of a few fibreglass sweeping rods, drilled the fibreglass that remained inside them out and then welded them onto 3/8" steel round bar. Not sure what kind of steel those made in China fittings are, but 7018 worked perfect. I also made another short rod with just a female fitting on one end and put the other end into a half inch hammer drill.
I started at the top and worked my way down. Had to make frequent trips down the ladder and to the basement to clean out the rubble, but overall went smooth and quick.
Prior to going with the steel rods I did try and use the fibreglass but they crack and come apart.
Now its just a matter of fitting my new liner and firing up the stove so I can complain about the heat.
Hope someone finds this helpful.

 

[3363030]

One other thing I forgot. I had a 6 foot long piece of 1 inch round bar that I tied a 25' length of rope to. Any time I had chunks of liner get jammed up on me I'd just drop the bar down and knock out the clog, worked great.

 

[trx680]

Hello everyone,
The other day I went to install my new Englander 30 to replace the smaller Pyropak we were running. I went on the roof to give a pre season cleaning and noticed I have a few cracked clay tiles. I will need to remove the old liner in order to fit a six inch flex liner and am having trouble finding a tile breaker for rent or purchase, I do have a welder and figure I could make one myself. But now I am now thinking would it be a ridiculous idea to just remove the masonry chimney entirely and install a new insulated stainless system. Has anyone gone this route instead of going with the liner?
Thanks

I needed to bust out the clay liner to make for for an 8" insulated liner. I bought the flue buster and rods and attempted to bust them out. Well, that didnt go well. Not as easy as I thought. I got nowhere. I hired a guy to bust it out. He had all the right equipment. What he used most was a very long heavy steel chisel type bar to break off the even more stubborn pieces. Anyway, what I paid for the flue buster and rods I could of paid this guy to do the job. Lesson learned.

 

[Highbeam]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I ended up deciding on a liner, its hunting season and I figured the liner would take me less time. I finished today knocking out the clay liner. I read that some have had trouble with this process.
If anyone is interested, what I did was first cut a piece of 1/2" steel plate to a 4" by 4" square. I cut the male fitting off of my 6x10 chimney brush(won't need it anymore) and welded the fitting to the centre of the plate. I cut the male and female ends off of a few fibreglass sweeping rods, drilled the fibreglass that remained inside them out and then welded them onto 3/8" steel round bar. Not sure what kind of steel those made in China fittings are, but 7018 worked perfect. I also made another short rod with just a female fitting on one end and put the other end into a half inch hammer drill.
I started at the top and worked my way down. Had to make frequent trips down the ladder and to the basement to clean out the rubble, but overall went smooth and quick.
Prior to going with the steel rods I did try and use the fibreglass but they crack and come apart.
Now its just a matter of fitting my new liner and firing up the stove so I can complain about the heat.
Hope someone finds this helpful.

Good job. I have a pile of 7018 rods next to my Lincoln tombstone in the shop. Not many folks know what we're talking about anymore. Bunch of wirefeed sissies!