New Wood Burning Insert - Existing Masonry Fireplace

[captrick]

Hello all. Looking for some advice.

We have a wood burning stove in our basement (walkout) that we love. It puts off a ton of heat. We also have a fireplace on our main floor. We just don't get the heat our of our fireplace we'd like. We have our chimney (both flues) cleaned every year. I've gotten conflicting info on installing a wood burning insert; so I thought I'd ask some people with more experience.

The place that services my area for install said we would not need a liner (we don't have one for the existing wood stove or the fireplace) since we keep our chimney in good working condition. They would just install whatever stove we choose that fits our existing fireplace.

However, our chimney sweep told us that installing a liner was needed to install an insert. So...do we need one? Or no? Is it "required"? Also...looking at the inserts..I really like the ones from Quadra Expedition II with the Cast Iron Trim...any reviews on good inserts that look nice would be helpful as well. I know the company we're working with deals with Napoleon, but I haven't seen a lot of good reviews.

Posted pic of existing fireplace. The company that would install took measurements and is supposed to email those to me.

 

[bholler]

Yes you need a liner. And you should not let the guys who said you don't anywhere near your house

 

[begreen]

Yup. Needs a liner. The Expedition line is new for 2020. As far as I can tell the Expedition II insert looks like an update to the popular Voyageur Grand insert.

 

[captrick]

So, forgive my ignorance; but what does the liner “do” exactly that the existing flu cannot do without it? As I said, our existing wood burning stove pipe goes in to its own flu in the chimney that does not have a liner to my knowledge...so I’m just confused on what a liner is for. I’ve always been told you only need a liner installed in your chimney if it was in bad repair.

 

[begreen]

So there are safety and performance reasons. Most chimneys are not built to code having the required clearance from combustibles. And exterior chimney are cold, which reduces draft and causes creosote accumulation due to cooling down the flue gases.

 

[captrick]

So there are safety and performance reasons. Most chimneys are not built to code having the required clearance from combustibles. And exterior chimney are cold, which reduces draft and causes creosote accumulation due to cooling down the flue gases.

So,what about the existing wood burning stove? Its not an insert...should it have had a liner when it was installed? It’s probably 20 years old or so at this point...

 

[bholler]

So,what about the existing wood burning stove? Its not an insert...should it have had a liner when it was installed? It’s probably 20 years old or so at this point...

It probably has a clay liner which if built correctly and in good condition is fine. The problem with an insert is that there is no way to hook the stove into the clay liners properly. That means there is tons of dilution air allowed into the smoke stream killing draft and cooling the exhaust causing creosote buildup.

 

[captrick]

It probably has a clay liner which if built correctly and in good condition is fine. The problem with an insert is that there is no way to hook the stove into the clay liners properly. That means there is tons of dilution air allowed into the smoke stream killing draft and cooling the exhaust causing creosote buildup.

Ok. That makes logical sense to me. I really appreciate all of the help. There is a clay liner..I just wasn’t grasping the difference in the two installs.