Do I need a stainless steel flue liner?

[marleyandbowie]

Hi everyone. Just bought a 1 story mid century ranch with a Hearthstone wood stove connected to a chimney without a stainless liner. While the draft seems decent, starting a fire isn't easy and the stove doesn't put out quite as much heat as I would have expected. I'm a novice with wood stoves so it's very possible that I just don't really know what I'm doing. The big question is do I need a stainless steel flue liner? I have some people telling me I absolutely need one, but then the guy that has serviced the chimney for many years for the prior owners says we definitely do not need one. Photos attached. What do you all think, do we need a liner? Would a liner help the stove's heat output and improve the draft? I was wondering if a lot of the heat was being lost into the chimney and that a liner might help with that...

 

[john26]

I would highly recommend an insulated stainless liner it is definitely safer and the stove will perform better. In your last pic it looks like creosote clumps at the bottom of the chimney and the entire clay tile is glazed over with creosote. If you do have it lined clean it very well first.
My brother tried burning a stove with a clay tile chimney unlined it was very hard to start never seemed to draft well he was very unhappy with the stoves performance and heat output. The stove had to have the door cracked most of the time to stay burning.
Hopefully one of the experts will chime in I would imagine there answer would be to definitely install an insulated SS liner.

 

[begreen]

This could be a combination of factors including chimney height and possibly poorly seasoned wood. How tall is it from the stove top to the top of the chimney flue? What is the ID of the chimney flue tile?

FWIW, the stove is very close to the right wall, even if solid brick. How thick is the brick wall at the stove level?

 

[bholler]

Hi everyone. Just bought a 1 story mid century ranch with a Hearthstone wood stove connected to a chimney without a stainless liner. While the draft seems decent, starting a fire isn't easy and the stove doesn't put out quite as much heat as I would have expected. I'm a novice with wood stoves so it's very possible that I just don't really know what I'm doing. The big question is do I need a stainless steel flue liner? I have some people telling me I absolutely need one, but then the guy that has serviced the chimney for many years for the prior owners says we definitely do not need one. Photos attached. What do you all think, do we need a liner? Would a liner help the stove's heat output and improve the draft? I was wondering if a lot of the heat was being lost into the chimney and that a liner might help with that...

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It is hard to tell from the pics but I don't see any mortar ooze from the liner joints which may mean a liner is needed. An insulated liner will always improve performance and safety though.

 

[Rob_Red]

I just transitioned from a clay lined chimney like you have to a class A stainless insulated and so far it has been a huge improvement even though it’s still a little too warm to realize full performance.

My old clay chimney was a major creosote trap (even when being careful ) we even had a small chimney fire which caused a bunch of the clay to crack and poor smoke into the wall. I have so much more peace of mind now that I have a properly installed setup that can handle a fire and that I can easily inspect to prevent one in the first place.

With the new setup the draft picks up very quickly, hardly any smoke puffs into the room if I open the door and now and the stove seems more adjustable.

I would put an insulated liner in there ASAP

As a side note from the picture it looks like your stove is way to close to combustibles!