Its freezing outside and my new stove arrived

[lostDuck]

Well my stove just made it in from back order and my chimney liner is here! Now I am ready to do an arctic install with high temps in the teens this weekend.

I have a couple of questions before I do the install.
1) Top plate... The Top Plate that came was flat ... (1/2 my fault) but i am installing it on a terra-cotta flue.
a) Will the top plate stay if i just silicone it to the flue top? Or would I be better off cutting the corners and creating a lip?

2) Silicone - If the silicone is warm from being inside and is 100% silicone will it set in cold weather?

I appreciate the input looking forward to being warm come Monday!

Thanks,
LostDuck

 

[DAKSY]

Cut the corners & return the edges. I bend the returns 1/4" bigger then the terra cotta length & width (1/8" on a side). I leave 1" returns minimum. The silicone - use RTV - will set up as long as your top plate isn't moved.

 

[Nick Mystic]

When I installed my ss flex liner and top plate on a large clay tile liner (11"x18") the top plate was just slightly larger than the outside dimension of the liner. It wouldn't have been possible to make any bends on the edges like DAKSY suggested. I used the silicone caulk the stove shop gave me to use and it worked fine for my February install. Here is a suggestion that seems to have worked well for me. When you get your liner down the chimney make your bottom connection first and get the liner anchored to the stove before you cut off any excess liner at the top. Then with someone down below (or if you are working alone plan on making a couple trips up and down the ladder to do this step) pull the slack out of the flex liner from the top before you tighten down the clamp on the rain cap connector. You've already put a generous bead of the silicone caulk on the top edge of the clay tile liner before setting the top plate in place. By pulling the slack out of the flex liner you accomplish two things: 1) you straighten the flex liner so that it is not touching the sides of the clay tile liner. This will help avoid having cold spots to attract creosote (this assumes you aren't using an insulated liner). 2) Once the slack is out and you tighten up your clamp on the rain cap connector it will apply some pressure downward on the top plate to make a good seal with your caulk. The reason you have someone down below is to make sure you don't tug too hard on the flex liner when you remove the slack. You don't want to pull it loose from the stove connector, which in my case was a T-connector. I had a bit too much pressure at first and it changed the angle of my T-connector, so I had to back off about an inch at the top to get the T-connector back in a nice vertical alignment. Once all this is accomplished, then you can cut off the excess flex liner. Cut it off before your final adjustments and you risk ending up with too short a liner and then you'll be bummed out big time!