Old tile flue appears to be mortared in. Now what?

[Shaggyant]

I ordered a liner kit and a liner breaker from Rockford and I cut a clean out hole at the bottom to pull the broken liner from.

I have been attempting to break out the lower most tile before I start using the breaker from above. Unfortunately this lowest tile is glued in with mortar nearly all the way around. It looks like this is going to be the case at every junction. How much of a pain is breaking the liner out going to be? Should I stop and try a different idea before I break the chimney?

 

[fire_man]

Wow I gotta say it does not look right. There is suppose to be an air space between the clay tile and chimney wall for expansion. It looks like you were having a heck of a time chiseling that liner away from the mortar. i sure hope its not that way all the way up.

Calling on bholler ....

 

[begreen]

Ugh, if it's like this at every joint I'd be considering installing an oval liner instead.

 

[Smokepole]

I ordered a liner kit and a liner breaker from Rockford and I cut a clean out hole at the bottom to pull the broken liner from.

I have been attempting to break out the lower most tile before I start using the breaker from above. Unfortunately this lowest tile is glued in with mortar nearly all the way around. It looks like this is going to be the case at every junction. How much of a pain is breaking the liner out going to be? Should I stop and try a different idea before I break the chimney?

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The clay tiles in my chimney were mortared in like that. When the sweeps broke them out it left hair line cracks all over
the bricks. It also knocked out small areas in my mortar joints. You are doing a much better job than they did with mine.
They claimed to have over 20 years exp. and did at least 6 break outs a year. Good luck.

 

[fire_man]

It looks like the corners of the tiles are giving you the most trouble.

If you remove only the wide portion of the tile, will that give you the clearance you require for the new liner?

 

[Shaggyant]

Update. I drug the air line in from the shop and used my air chisel to finally remove the first flue tile. This revealed that the second tile is mortared in on three of four sides. Ugh, I think I’m going to return the liner to Rockford and see what I can do for an oval liner.

has anyone used the rigid 6” oval Simpson Duraliner? The oval would fit inside my flue as-is without breaking anything out.

 

[bholler]

Yeah if they really are mortared in it will not be easy to remove them I have done it with our air chisel on a pole but it is a pain. I would try running the breaker some more it is not uncommon for the lower ones to have allot more mortar around them.

 

[begreen]

Update. I drug the air line in from the shop and used my air chisel to finally remove the first flue tile. This revealed that the second tile is mortared in on three of four sides. Ugh, I think I’m going to return the liner to Rockford and see what I can do for an oval liner.

has anyone used the rigid 6” oval Simpson Duraliner? The oval would fit inside my flue as-is without breaking anything out.

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Rigid Duraliner oval is what I would use. @Hogwildz has had a Duraliner install for several years now.