Double walled chimney liner?

[wvgal]

I recently bought a 91 year old house. It has an unlined, brick chimney which has been used for an oil furnace (and apparently before that for a coal furnace). I am going to abandon the oil furnace after I use up the oil already in the tank (very old furnace, not in good condition). I will be heating with a combination of a Solarsheat (passive solar heater) and a new wood stove (either a Quadrafire or Dutchwest). The chimney has an old outlet for a wood stove, now covered by an old cover (like a plate) which will be removed to access the chimney.

I had my chimney sweep come to assess the situation. He tells me that I need a double-walled stainless steel liner. He says the chimney is in pretty good condition but that he wouldn't "feel right" unless it had a double-wall liner. I questioned him about the reason for it and he was kind of vague. This will make the installation very expensive. The house (and chimney) is two stories high, with an attic, so probably about 20 to 25 feet of liner will be needed. My question is this: what conditions in the chimney would require a double-walled liner? What might another option be? The estimate for the materials and installation came to about $2,000.

 

[webbie]

That price is not way out of line, even for an insulated single liner.

You need to get a little more info as to exactly what he is installing in there. If he is specifying Duraliner, a double wall chimney lining system - that is a very good product. But if he is using double insulated pipe (class A) and dropping that down the chimney, that is a no-no.

A chimney such as that - without a liner and with possibly multiple holes punched in it over the years, would be best lined (in my opinion) using rigid ss liner (such as heat-fab) with insulation on the outside of it. A cover or mesh armor on the outside of the insulation would help it stay intact.

This chimney should be cleaned extremely well before any liner is installed!

 

[begreen]

When we removed our 84 yr. old chimney we found multiple openings in it that had been "sealed up" as stove or room locations changed. Sealed up is putting it nicely. In some cases it was no more than a coffee can lid covered with plaster, right against wood!

Do it right and be sure that whatever you install is inspected and signed off on. As the primary heat system, it will be working hard.

BTW, in what region is the house located? You'll want to have backup heat for those times when you are away, are sick, etc., unless in a benign climate. Unless the 91 yr. old house was greatly sealed and insulated at some point, the net gain from the solarsheat could be lost before it's of much value. But if this is a leaky old box, tightening up the house should be the first year's project.

 

[elkimmeg]

Web gave correct advice. Because there is no liner, no matter smooth or corrugated it must meet UL 1777
Naturally smooth liner is better less friction, but more expensive.

Cheaper would be 1/2" insulated liner with armor mesh which would satisfy UL 1777. Naturally all former out holes should be bricked in No pie plates.

And the soot and gunk from years of usage cleaned before installing a liner. All good sound advice

Buttoning up your home another good suggestion.

Double chimney liner still needs to be listed UL 1777 and not necessary as explained above Single with 1/2" insulation will satisfy code

 

[wvgal]

It is a SS liner that he is proposing. I guess I need to get more detail from him about exactly what he means by "double walled". I am pretty satisfied that this person is a professional, as I have used his services in another home.

Good point about finding all of the "holes" in the chimney. There is one in the kitchen on the other side of the chimney that will have to be properly closed up. There don't appear to be any on the second floor. It is very unlikely that a wood stove would have been installed upstairs in this house, as the heat would have reached it from downstairs.

The house is in the Eastern Panhandle of WV about 100 miles west of Washington DC. We do have cold weather. I expect my SolarSheat
Your Solar Home to take care of most of the heating needs when I'm not home. I also expect it to allow me to let the stove go out on sunny days. For times when I'm not there during big snow/rain storms and when there is not enough sun to make the SolarSheat function, (we seem to have less and less of those kind of storms), I will probably install a couple of electric baseboard heaters which are cheap as long as you don't have to use them. A couple of the rooms at the back of the house already have them installed.

I will ask the installer about putting insulation around the liner.

I totally agree about the chimney cleaning prior to the install. The previous owners had not even cleaned up all the coal dust in the basement. My cat found it immediately (yuck).

As for buttoning up the house, I just replaced all the windows. The house had already been insulated before I bought it, and judging by how cool it stays when closed up on hot days, it's pretty good insulation.

 

[begreen]

Alright, cold, but not Maine cold. And hey, welcome. Sounds like you have a good beginning plan. We'll need a bit more details about the type of pipe the installer is using, Craig and Elk have given good advice, not much to add except plan accordingly for clearances and hearth. Make the front of the hearth a little longer than the manual shows. New spec is for it to extend 18" in front of the stove door.

Take some pictures and post them if you can.

 

[rdrcr56]

Hey web, why is (class A) a no-no in a chimney flue but ok in an enclosed chase? I hope this isn't a stupid question.

 

[BrotherBart]

Hey web, why is (class A) a no-no in a chimney flue but ok in an enclosed chase? I hope this isn't a stupid question.

I think it is a great question.

 

[rdrcr56]

Thought I would give this a bump.