My Chimney Cleaning Experience - Gap in Transition Piece

[velvetfoot]

I cleaned my insert's chimney from below yesterday. I used 9 ProFlex poly rods and a 6" poly brush. I put a 2.5" shop-vac hose up the flue as I was pushing the brush. Not possible to see how much dust I got since it went into a bag. Did not see any dust coming out of the hole so it seemed to have worked. It was hard pushing the 6" brush through the bottom transition piece, which I measured at 5.5". I also don't think I made it out the top (although, it was close from measuring) because I could not see it from the ground through binoculars. Perhaps there was another 5.5" piece at the top. I didn't want to push any more - I pushed pretty hard as it was.

I saw somewhat of a concern. The stove and liner were professionally installed. The picture below shows what appears to be a gap between the transition piece and the stove top. the picture could be somewhat deceiving because the piece is at an angle and I believe it does actually contact the stove. I am thinking about filling the gap by stuffing in some refractory wool or high-temp RTV. Opinion?

 

[wg_bent]

Mine looks similar and I did put some refractory cement in mine. gasket material is another option, but it has to be secured somehow.

 

[BrotherBart]

My .02:

The liner appears to be in the adapter just fine. You are right the angle of the liner turning up causes it to be uneven in the adapter but the placement of the screws on the right gives you some perspective on how much of the adapter covers the back of the liner. I am curious if those three screws on the right are the only ones holding the thing. There should at least be one on the other side but can't see it because of the angle of the pic.

As to the gap. It is probably fine but for piece of mind just buy a piece of door gasket rope of the appropriate size and stuff it n the gap around the adapter. The rope is cheap, easy to find and will be easier to work in around the adapter than loose insulation materiel. Refractory insulation crumbles easily because of the short fibers. Furnace cement would seal it but has a tendency to crack and crumble because it has no flex whatsoever.

 

[Rhone]

That's unforunate about not being certain if you made it out the top because that's certainly where most of your creosote is. Here's a picture of how my installers left me. There isn't a single screw that penetrated the adapter to hold it in place and, if anything made things worse by interferring with the exhaust flow. In the top right corner, you can see a hose clamp... you shouldn't see it, that's an air leak. After seeing mine, and seeing yours, yours is looking like a champ! I personally don't see a lot of issues in your install except if all three screws are only on one side as BB stated. As you can see, they didn't even put screws or rivets holding my flex liner in place.

I've since removed all my stuff, so this picture is not what I have now and put it back along with a round liner instead of the oval one you see here, along with the proper pieces, and my flex is now rivited, screwed, and clamped to the adapter along with caulked with furnace cement inside & out. I'd stuff furnace cement into the outside joints and call it a day. I'm certain with heating/cooling & expanding/contracting the furnace cement will chip, but if you stuffed it inside the outside joint I don't think it has anywhere to go. Removing the liner is going to be trouble because it doesn't give, and you risk breaking the silicone seals on the top of your chimney (if you have them) and I've seen your chimney. You don't want to be up there, scraping the silicone sealant off, and reapplying. To get my liner out I remove the baffle & flue collar which thank god drops down into my insert letting me slide the insert out without having to move my liner at all or lift it up out of the way to get my insert out.

Everything I see in your picture is in the right direction to let creosote fall unhindered and, your seals look decent to me as they are, the test is to shine a flashlight up the flue, with the surround off and see if you can see light escaping and if so, I'd pack the furnace cement into the seam from outside, or the rope sounds like a great idea if you can do it without risk of ruining the seals up top. I would make sure you have more than the 3 screws on one side.

 

[velvetfoot]

Thanks guys.
A fellow at work has a piece of the wool blanket and I will give that a try. He did mention that it gives off short fibers. As I said, I'll give it a try, and the price was right (0)!

 

[GVA]

Can't help you on this......I just wanted to say that's the cleanest shop vac used to clean a stove I've ever seen ;-)
I like how you have the exhaust hose blowing out the window I do the same thing..

 

[velvetfoot]

Thanks. It's brand new. I even put a paper filter bag in it, so it is clean on the inside too!
What's interesting is that the vac was $99 while the extra hose (for exhausting) was $20! And the bags were $15!

 

[kd460]

I questioned the screws as well.

I'm curious, is the screws going thru the liner good enough? I would think that since the liner is so thin, that the screws would pull out from the tension while cleaning (my poly brush fits really tight). Would'nt rives with washers or a take of collar (dripless) be better? Ive seen a few different styles that seem to secure the insert to the collar nice and firm. I'm not bashing, just curious and learning. KD

 

[velvetfoot]

I think I would've gotten the kind that mounts from inside. I'm not sure how I would remove the insert. if I had to Maybe have to remove the screws at the top first? I'm not sure of the sequence they did it.

7-3 Mets top of the 6th. Let's go Mets.