Defiant Flexburn 6" or 8" Liner?

[1RadCJ]

Hi there. My wife and I have finally decided on a brand new Defiant Flexburn to replace our Vigilant. The stove is going into a large fireplace in a 4 year old center chimney cape. The chimney is 25' tall from the stove, runs inside the house, and has a large (something like 10.5 x 15.5 ID) clay tile flue.

The Defiant manual states 6" or 8" liners will work but with a 6" you will not be able to run the stove in fireplace mode (open doors with the fire screen). Honestly, I don't care about fireplace mode, I'll never use it. However, I do not want any smoke issues when I'm loading/getting a fire going and I figured 8" may let the stove breath a little better so, I am inclined to go for the 8" liner. The store quoted me a 6" SS liner and said it would be fine for my setup. They also quoted an 8" SS which is about $400 more.

My questions to you all before I finalize things are:

What size flue collar and liner should I have the installers put in?

Are there any benefits to a larger liner or concerns with a 6" liner?

Lastly, and a bit off topic, any positives or negatives with this stove? I know VC has had problems but I can't find much good or bad with their newest Defiants.

 

[bholler]

The new ones are better for sure but i think they still have a long way to go before they can match most other stoves on the market for performance and reliability

 

[begreen]

With a 25' insulated liner the stove may work fine. I would probably go 6" in this situation. There are some threads on the newer Defiants here. Reviews are still mixed. How well they stand up over time is TBD.

 

[1RadCJ]

Thanks for the responses.

With a 25' insulated liner the stove may work fine. I would probably go 6" in this situation. There are some threads on the newer Defiants here. Reviews are still mixed. How well they stand up over time is TBD.

Is your choice of 6" over 8" simply a cost vs. benefit decision or is there a performance difference?

 

[bholler]

Thanks for the responses.



Is your choice of 6" over 8" simply a cost vs. benefit decision or is there a performance difference?

There will definitely be a difference in performance. 6" will have less volume at a higher velocity while 8" will be much slower with a higher volume. I would think 6" would perform better as long as you dont try burning with the doors open. But vc would know that best. I also dont understand why they skip over 7" it might be a nice compromise

 

[1RadCJ]

6" it is. Consensus here is 6" and I called VC directly (thanks to bholler for giving me that idea) and they immediately confirmed 6" as the better config. BTW VC's customer support rep was excellent and very helpful. Oh and if anyone is in the market now, VC is offering a coupon for $300 off inserts, $200 off stoves and $100 off other stuff. The coupon is available on their website and is good though 10/1. Thanks again for the help

 

[bholler]

6" it is. Consensus here is 6" and I called VC directly (thanks to bholler for giving me that idea) and they immediately confirmed 6" as the better config. BTW VC's customer support rep was excellent and very helpful. Oh and if anyone is in the market now, VC is offering a coupon for $300 off inserts, $200 off stoves and $100 off other stuff. The coupon is available on their website and is good though 10/1. Thanks again for the help

Yeah but you will still have a vc lol. It is good to hear their support rep was good that has been a really weak point in the past.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for the responses.

Is your choice of 6" over 8" simply a cost vs. benefit decision or is there a performance difference?

Cost is certainly a factor as is ease of installation and practicality for the future. The majority of stoves use 6" liner these days and an 8" insulated liner is going to need a clear 10" all the way down the chimney. 10.5" is pretty close and likely to be less due to mortar globs at the tile joints.