Consensus on using insulation with SS Flex Liner - External Chimney

[gangsplatt]

I'm going to be ordering SS Flex in the next couple of days, but I'm struggling with whether or not to order an insulation "sleeve" for the flex liner I order. I get conflicting ideas when reading past posts on this site and am just wondering what the consensus is? My chimney is a 25' external chimney, 8x8 terracotta flue. My sweep said I've got some cracked tiles thus the reason I'm installing the liner. I didn't have a real draft issue with the current chimney setup and am wondering if I really need to spend the extra money for the insulation?

 

[BrotherBart]

Cracked tiles = Insulate the liner.

 

[mellow]

I have a similar setup and tried to go uninsulated last year and got smoke coming out of the insert when we opened the door due to bad draft, I just did put in my order for my insulation kit that should take care of that issue. When I was using my chimney without the liner I had no draft problems, so you might want to just go ahead and bite the bullet and order the insulation kit as well to be 100% sure it will work right.

 

[stanleyjohn]

My external chimney is also 25 ft to the top from the first floor stove and i didnt insulate my SS liner.Chimney is less than 10 yrs old and current with the fireplace codes so insulation was not needed.

 

[struggle]

Same set up as yours and I could not insulate mine in the lower sections due to turns I had to make (so it has no insulation) and mine drafts so well I installed an inline dampener. My chimney is an all block exterior set.

I also had cracks in tiles as I was having a creosote problem that led to a chimney fire. I had to clean the clay liner three times during the winter months and could almost fill a five gallon bucket up every time and last year I brushed the liner at the end of the season and only filled a a 1 gallon paint bucket up 3/4 of the way with very fine powdery black dust and it was the longest heating season I have ever had with the stove.

 

[budman]

Well worth the money to insulate that liner,that stove will run so much
better with it and so much cleaner.Now that i insulated the liner i get
maybe a cup of creosote at end of the burning season.