Clay liners anyone?

[2broke2ride]

Just a curiosity question, how many of you are still running a wood stove on a clay lined chimney? It seems 95% or better of people around here, me included,are still using clay lined chimneys. Kinda wondering if it's a regional thing............ It seems, based on the clouds, that most are still running smoke dragons too, again, me included.

 

[bholler]

There is nothing wrong with clay liners if they are sized right installed properly and in good condition. But you would be amazed by the reactions of most people when we put in an insulated stainless liner. The most common reaction is they had no idea there stove could work like that. In our area i would say it is close to 50% have stainless

 

[BrotherBart]

All of my neighbors still burn into clay tile chimneys. Thank heavens I discovered this place and steel liners back in 2005. I had been trying to figure out a way to shove something down those chimneys for 25 years and didn't know somebody had invented liners.

 

[2broke2ride]

Oh, I want to do stainless believe me, it just hasn't been in the budget yet. My clay liner is probably as close to matched as you can get....... Smoke dragon furnace with a 4+cu ft fire box and a 6in. Pipe into a 7x7 nominal liner. I wanna do stainless for piece of mind (no seams) and ease of cleaning.

 

[bholler]

6" into a 7x7 is not matched well at all. But i understand the budget issue

 

[2broke2ride]

6" into a 7x7 is not matched well at all. But i understand the budget issue

Agree, but better than 8x13 or 13x13 like my buddies do. Is there anything smaller than 7x7? Just out of curiosity, I've never seen one smaller than that.

 

[bholler]

Agree, but better than 8x13 or 13x13 like my buddies do. Is there anything smaller than 7x7? Just out of curiosity, I've never seen one smaller than that.

Yeah there is 4" 5" 6" 7" and 8" round clay tiles. But they are not common. They are also impossible to break out if they ever need to be removed and replaced. But round liners are much less prone to cracking and draft much better.

 

[2broke2ride]

Interesting...... I've never seen that but I've certainly not seen everything....... Only seen square and rectangular.

 

[bholler]

Interesting...... I've never seen that but I've certainly not seen everything....... Only seen square and rectangular.

They are out there but masons hate them because they roll off of scaffolding.

 

[2broke2ride]

Haha.... Good reason, plus I would think the whole round peg in a square hole thing

 

[bholler]

Haha.... Good reason, plus I would think the whole round peg in a square hole thing

Well regardless there shoud be air space around the liners round or square so it doesnt really matter. Another benifit of round tiles is that they have a half lap joint on the ends so they are not as reliant on the mortar in the joints. They really are much better than square tiles. But still not as good as stainless

 

[firefighterjake]

Running Class A myself . . . but if I had to hazard a guess I would say about 85-90% of the folks burning wood in my area still are using clay/concrete block chimneys . . . some in very good repair and some are just a chimney fire away from the house burning to the ground.

 

[brikkijim]

I'm a mason and would suggest a round flue (tongue and groove if available) with vermiculite filled around flue. The insulation helps reduce the rapid heat loss and possible cracking from cooling/heating too fast.

 

[bholler]

I'm a mason and would suggest a round flue (tongue and groove if available) with vermiculite filled around flue. The insulation helps reduce the rapid heat loss and possible cracking from cooling/heating too fast.

Yes that is the best clay lined system availabe but stainless is still better. You also should not use loose fill vermiculite it will settle and pack in at the bottom and leave the top uninsulated.

 

[brikkijim]

Yes that is the best clay lined system availabe but stainless is still better. You also should not use loose fill vermiculite it will settle and pack in at the bottom and leave the top uninsulated.

I fill as I go not all at once because of that reason. Sometimes I have to use perlite because vermiculite is not available. I've done repairs on chimneys with the settling of insulation. If one could afford both a SS liner inside flu would be tops..

 

[bholler]

I fill as I go not all at once because of that reason.

That is much better than filling from the top but over time with the expansion and contraction of that liner it will still settle some. We see allot where the vermiculite or perlite is packed in as hard as concrete at the bottom and there is a few feet at the top bare. Some of those are stainless some are square tiles. I have never seen it on round liners but i have never removed them either because they are next to impossible to remove. You do sound allot more contientious than most masons I have worked with though

 

[2broke2ride]

There's gotta be a few more still using them, maybe that's why so many around here are........ Because they aren't on hearth lol

 

[Squisher]

I just switched from only ever having burned through clay liners to a SS liner. I also switched to my first modern stove at the same time so I can't really say if the chimney seems better or what. Overall things are way better for me now. My wood consumption has easily been cut in half at least it seems. I never had any issues in either of my homes burning with my old fire breathing dragons but I was certainly pumping a lot of smoke and heat up the pipe.

 

[2broke2ride]

I plan to go stainless as soon as money and time allow, I'm worried about the space in my 7x7 flue and I really don't want to break it out, but the flue also has an offset in it further complicating things so I'm still weighing options currently.