Help With Exterior Chimney, Draft on Cold Days

[lukeg199]

Can you explain this further? Foam insulation and chimneys don't usually go together.

Imagine a 4x8sheet of rigid insulation board or pink board and some wood strapping held to the exterior of the chimney with screws. I will try to snap a photo of it tomorrow

 

[bholler]

Imagine a 4x8sheet of rigid insulation board or pink board and some wood strapping held to the exterior of the chimney with screws. I will try to snap a photo of it tomorrow

Do you have an insulated liner inside the chimney?

 

[coaly]

I was going to suggest a tea light candle in the stove a day after it is out to maintain enough heat to keep the draft going the right direction until fired again. (before going to the extent of wrapping the chimney with petroleum based products) This will prime the draft for an easy start too. (The candle, not foam)

 

[mellow]

I would also start a new thread on this with the pictures so we can work on your particular issue.

 

[lukeg199]

Do you have an insulated liner inside the chimney?

Sadly we don't.

 

[lukeg199]

I was going to suggest a tea light candle in the stove a day after it is out to maintain enough heat to keep the draft going the right direction until fired again. (before going to the extent of wrapping the chimney with petroleum based products) This will prime the draft for an easy start too. (The candle, not foam)

😄 I was also looking at a electric draw collar made for inserts which would be more convenient than have a perpetually lit candle when not in use. Apparently has a thermostat built in so that it's not constantly pulling 500ish watts. https://www.rockfordchimneysupply.com/draw-collar-for-wood-insert.php

 

[lukeg199]

Inside and outside photos. Right now this is more of an experiment than anything to see how much warmer the fireplace will be on days where I'm not firing up the stove. If it makes a good difference, I'll probably leave the insulation up and put some real siding on it. However, if it really doesn't make much of a difference, then it's easy enough to pull down and plug small screw holes in the grout. So far I've been pretty impressed. Without the stove on the back of the fireplace is registering about 55 to 60°. Before it was measuring about 45°. It's pretty consistently been between upper 20s to mid 30s outside for the last several days.

 

[bholler]

Sadly we don't.

Then you can't have combustible materials in contact with the outside of the chimney structure

 

[lukeg199]

Then you can't have combustible materials in contact with the outside of the chimney structure

Interesting. Then how can the house walls, as constructed, be in contact with the masonry?

 

[bholler]

Interesting. Then how can the house walls, as constructed, be in contact with the masonry?

They shouldn't be either. If they do your chimney doesn't meet code and should have an insulated liner. You can have trim touching the corners though. For an exterior chimney in the US you need 1" clearance to combustibles. But once you wrap. It it's no longer exterior and needs 2". Or zero with an insulated liner

 

[lukeg199]

They shouldn't be either. If they do your chimney doesn't meet code and should have an insulated liner. You can have trim touching the corners though. For an exterior chimney in the US you need 1" clearance to combustibles. But once you wrap. It it's no longer exterior and needs 2". Or zero with an insulated liner

Great. The previous owners must have had some yahoo install this liner. So I guess my options are replace the current liner with an insulated one, remove the liner and wrap it or pack vermiculite around the liner in place?

 

[bholler]

Great. The previous owners must have had some yahoo install this liner. So I guess my options are replace the current liner with an insulated one, remove the liner and wrap it or pack vermiculite around the liner in place?

Pull and wrap the liner would be the most logical and cheapest as long as the liner is in good shape