Clydesdale 8 year maintenance

[onestout]

I have a Hearthstone Clydesdale (pre-catalyst) that is about 8-9 years old, we installed it shortly after we purchased the house. We use this for about 40% of the heat for our house so it runs every day from about the end of October until early April. Since it is a nice day out today, up to about 30-35 I decided to do a full cleaning along with sweeping the chimney liner for the first time. Overall pretty clean, majority of the soot buildup comes from the 2nd story where it doesn't stay as warm, the liner isn't insulated. My baffle is showing some signs of deteriorating and it has a crack in it. I also have a few of my soap stones that are cracked and/or have a piece missing from them. I'll probably order parts this summer and replace the worn components but overall with all the use it gets I think it is in pretty good shape. Now that I have a soot eater I probably won't wait another 8 years to clean the liner but that damn baffle can be a pain to get back in......wasn't too bad but is just heavy to lift up like that.

Is there any benefit to adding insulation around the liner?

I got the soot eater from recommendations here, that thing works great.....except that on about the 4th or 5th extension it didn't clip in all the way and it slid down into the fireplace.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

so, if you don’t know for sure if there are the required clearances around the chimney, then you need to put in an insulated liner. However, if your draft is good, and you haven’t had any creosote buildup it doesn’t seem necessary.

You may be letting too much heat up your chimney if you can go 8 years without any maintenance. You may be able to heat much more with the stove by keeping some more of that heat in the house.