Help! Cannot disconnect chimney liner

[KDNY]

New to forum. I have a Saranac pellet stove insert and am having a hard time disconnecting the 4" flex chimney liner. It's direct connected to the blower on the back of the stove and has (4) screws which I have removed. It's a tight spot in the fireplace, but I cannot get it to budge. It shouldn't be this hard to disconnect...Anyone have any experience with these stoves?

 

[briansol]

looks like it rusted itself together. pull, pry, maybe try some pblaster (but be sure to clean up after so you don't get any fuel fire in the chimney)

 

[BrotherBart]

Looks to me like it was sealed with silicone caulk. Makes'em dang near impossible to get apart.

 

[briansol]

The collar should come off with the pipe.

 

[CBL]

Looks like its siliconed in there well. Can you carefully cut the collar down the middle with a dremel tool in a few areas to pry it off?

 

[BrotherBart]

You could try to twist the collar loose with a strap wrench.

 

[Heatsource]

carefully heat the joint to above 700* w/ a torch, the silicone will give up
or, just remove the blower it is connected to

 

[Vognorth]

Looks like high temp copper silicone was used - it will come off, but as posted above, best to get a rubber strap wrench on it if you have to room to work.

 

[KDNY]

Thanks all for your comments/suggestions. It's incredibly tight in the fireplace so not much room to work. Talked to Hudson River Stoves and they said its normally sealed with silicone. Thought about removing the collar adapter (connected to the blower), but there is one screw that is virtually impossible to reach. I may try to heat up the collar and see if it comes free.

 

[KDNY]

Assuming I get this thing off and successfully clean out the soot/ash, what do you recommend I use to reconnect? What's type of silicone?

 

[MtDew]

Not sure of the brand but use a High Heat silicone, mine was red in color, I have also seen a black.

 

[BrotherBart]

carefully heat the joint to above 700* w/ a torch, the silicone will give up
or, just remove the blower it is connected to

Yep. As many a wood stove owner has learned the smelly way. It vaporizes at 800 degrees.

 

[Murph]

Is there no clean out tee or 90 that connects it to the blower? The liner should be connected to some hard pipe that sits on the tail pipe of the combustion blower. That is where the disconnection should occur.

 

[KDNY]

Nope...it mounts directly to a circular-to-rectangular coupler which connects to the blower.

 

[Heatsource]

cant you just pull the fan off?

 

[Murph]

What is a circular to rectangular coupler?

 

[KDNY]

The exhaust blower has a rectangular output and is connected to the the circular flex steel liner via a coupler. I've considered trying to remove either the coupler or blower, but the mounting screws are nearly impossible to access. I can't move the unit out very far as its still connected to the chimney liner.

 

[Murph]

OK the stove should come out far enough to rotate the stove so you can see what you are doing. Are you able to do that?