Cleaning dirty chimney before liner install

[rg-ri-burn]

I bought a house with a wood stove and burned last year without sweeping first (major shame one me, but here to learn and fix my mistakes) and ending up with a chimney fire at the end of last winter. I had a chimney sweep come to asses the clay liner and he said it looked like it had never been swept and had stage 3 creosote.

The diagnosis was to rotary sweep the chimney and they install a 2 ply smooth wall flue liner, $2900 quote.

I am planning on doing the install myself, using a Rockford smooth wall kit including blanket insulation. My question is in cleaning of the current flue prior to install. Is a rotary sweep sufficient for this or is something more involved required? I am going to rotary sweep this weekend and can post after pictures. Attached is the before picture.

 

[bholler]

I bought a house with a wood stove and burned last year without sweeping first (major shame one me, but here to learn and fix my mistakes) and ending up with a chimney fire at the end of last winter. I had a chimney sweep come to asses the clay liner and he said it looked like it had never been swept and had stage 3 creosote.

The diagnosis was to rotary sweep the chimney and they install a 2 ply smooth wall flue liner, $2900 quote.

I am planning on doing the install myself, using a Rockford smooth wall kit including blanket insulation. My question is in cleaning of the current flue prior to install. Is a rotary sweep sufficient for this or is something more involved required? I am going to rotary sweep this weekend and can post after pictures. Attached is the before picture.

View attachment 298965

First don't get the smooth wall crap. It's not durable at all. As far as cleaning I doubt a simple rotary cleaning will be anywhere near enough. It's likely the clay liners will need to be removed to get it clean

 

[rg-ri-burn]

Using one of those rotary tile busters hooked up to a drill seems simple enough to remove the clay liner, any advice there?

 

[bholler]

Using one of those rotary tile busters hooked up to a drill seems simple enough to remove the clay liner, any advice there?

Don't let it break your wrist or knock you off the roof. And hope the liners aren't mortared. Keep it moving if you run too long in one spot you can destroy the chimney.

And insulate the liner as well

 

[rg-ri-burn]

I appreciate the feedback. I have a cleanout in the basement, the woodstove is on the first floor. Should I remove the liner the entire way, or just from the woodstove to the top of the chimney seeing as once the new SS liner connects from woodstove to top, the cleanout will be rendered useless

 

[bholler]

I appreciate the feedback. I have a cleanout in the basement, the woodstove is on the first floor. Should I remove the liner the entire way, or just from the woodstove to the top of the chimney seeing as once the new SS liner connects from woodstove to top, the cleanout will be rendered useless

I always run liner down to a clean out with a second tee.

 

[tlougee]

Three Questions:

1. What do you do if the liners are mortared in place?
2. I was also thinking about going with a smooth wall liner as it seemed like it would draw better and be easier to clean. Why don't they hold up?
3. What liner would you recommend? What about the flex liners that are pre-insulated?

 

[bholler]

Three Questions:

1. What do you do if the liners are mortared in place?
2. I was also thinking about going with a smooth wall liner as it seemed like it would draw better and be easier to clean. Why don't they hold up?
3. What liner would you recommend? What about the flex liners that are pre-insulated?

1. A combination of a grinder on rods an air chisel on rods and the tile breaker.

2. Go with midweight or heavy wall liner it's still smooth but doesn't have the crappy thin unsupported inner layer.

3 pre insulated is fine. We generally just wrap ours but we do it all the time so it only takes us 20 mins or so

 

[tlougee]

Thanks for that information bholler! I have a outside chimney with a clay flue lining with ID of 6"x10" so I am trying to figure out if I should try an break the clay liners out myself or go with an oval or rectangular metal liner. The last thing I want to do is start breaking out the clay liners and then encounter problems such that the chimney is unusable. The problem with the oval and rectangular liners is I am not sure I will have enough room to insulate them and at least with the Duraliner the Tee connecter measures 6 and 7/16" at its widest so I don't see how I can fit that down my chimney with the clay liners in there.

 

[Supersurvey]

I bought a house with a wood stove and burned last year without sweeping first (major shame one me, but here to learn and fix my mistakes) and ending up with a chimney fire at the end of last winter. I had a chimney sweep come to asses the clay liner and he said it looked like it had never been swept and had stage 3 creosote.

The diagnosis was to rotary sweep the chimney and they install a 2 ply smooth wall flue liner, $2900 quote.

I am planning on doing the install myself, using a Rockford smooth wall kit including blanket insulation. My question is in cleaning of the current flue prior to install. Is a rotary sweep sufficient for this or is something more involved required? I am going to rotary sweep this weekend and can post after pictures. Attached is the before picture.

View attachment 298965

Why not give cleaning a try first?

 

[Woebegone]

Related question. I bought a home with a 12 in clay liner above a 1989 installed masonry fireplace. Home inspector noted chimney needed cleaning but indicated flue liner and firebox was to code.

My plan was to install a 6in stainless liner and a quadrafire insert. Talked to permit office and they indicate cleaning required prior to install of liner. This seemed obvious so I grabbed brush and rotary whip and cleaned chimney.

I noted some glazing (stage 3 creosote) on the top 1.5-2 feet of flu and removed with a putty knife. The rest of the clay looks ok with a few glazed spots but nothing major.

Firebox and bottom of the flu is a different story. There’s significant stage 3 glazing from the damper to the first 3-4 feet of clay.

What is the most cost effective way to ready this for a SS liner and insert? I’d prefer a diy chemical spray or dry chem treatment that would convert the glazing to make brushing more effective. Saw some products out there but figured this forum was the best place to start.

 

[andertrack753]

Related question. I bought a home with a 12 in clay liner above a 1989 installed masonry fireplace. Home inspector noted chimney needed cleaning but indicated flue liner and firebox was to code.

My plan was to install a 6in stainless liner and a quadrafire insert. Talked to permit office and they indicate cleaning required prior to install of liner. This seemed obvious so I grabbed brush and rotary whip and cleaned chimney.

I noted some glazing (stage 3 creosote) on the top 1.5-2 feet of flu and removed with a putty knife. The rest of the clay looks ok with a few glazed spots but nothing major.

Firebox and bottom of the flu is a different story. There’s significant stage 3 glazing from the damper to the first 3-4 feet of clay.

What is the most cost effective way to ready this for a SS liner and insert? I’d prefer a diy chemical spray or dry chem treatment that would convert the glazing to make brushing more effective. Saw some products out there but figured this forum was the best place to start.

Our chimney sweep recommended this product. We used it over a season and it really helped (spraying up chimney once fireplace was warmed up): https://chimneysaver.com/product/cre-away-creosote-remover/

They sell professional grade stuff too that seems like it would work faster

 

[electrathon]

Thanks for that information bholler! I have a outside chimney with a clay flue lining with ID of 6"x10" so I am trying to figure out if I should try an break the clay liners out myself or go with an oval or rectangular metal liner. The last thing I want to do is start breaking out the clay liners and then encounter problems such that the chimney is unusable. The problem with the oval and rectangular liners is I am not sure I will have enough room to insulate them and at least with the Duraliner the Tee connecter measures 6 and 7/16" at its widest so I don't see how I can fit that down my chimney with the clay liners in there.

Just so you know (you are new here) bholler is a pro. Trust what he tells you over any salesman trying to get your money.

 

[begreen]

What is the most cost effective way to ready this for a SS liner and insert? I’d prefer a diy chemical spray or dry chem treatment that would convert the glazing to make brushing more effective. Saw some products out there but figured this forum was the best place to start.

Cre-away that andertrack753 mentioned is a good product.