What do people feel about wrapped vs. poured insulation for stainless chimney pipes? I have a 7" X 11" flu, and need a 6" pipe. One outfit has a smooth wall stainless pipe they use with a poured insulation...life time transferable warranty and the tiles stay in the chimney. The other method I'm looking at would be to remove the old clay liner and use a flex pipe with wrapped insulation. I'm just curious what the experts here think of both systems, pros and cons, etc.
Opinions appreciated on Chimney liner type / style.
- Thread starter MJFlores
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No expert but I've been researching the subject as I will need to line a chimney at a property I am about to take ownership of - what I've gleaned so far is the pourable insulation is fine if you can get the insulation to the minimum required thickness all around and along the pipe- a task that maybe impossible. If you have a fairly straight shot you might look at DuraLiner from Duravent. Their 6" insulated rigid pipe is only 6 5/8" outside and is rated 0" clearance to existing flue tile. They have flexible sections to get by the smoke shelf. The price looks right up there however. I'm not considering removing the clay tiles in my case because I'm dealing with 13x13" tile.
How are they planning to get proper insulation around the 6" liner inside the 7 by 11 tiles? Are they ovalizing? If not there is not room for enough insulation and what type of smooth wall are they proposing? If we were doing the job we would break out and then either wrap of pour insulation and for wood we only install heavy wall flex liner which is smooth wall. But light wall wil work ok as well but i personally would not recommend the double layer smooth wall flex.
How tall is the chimney? If the liner is 25' or more one option would be to drop down to 5.5" insulated liner.
The pipe he described is smooth wall titanium stainless? It's a 6" pipe, and the poured insulation he mentioned allows you to use a 1/2 " between it and the clay tile. He was saying it has an allowance of 1 inch from a wood structure. He seemed knowledgeable and he carries a few certifications so I'm thinking he's trustworthy. I'm doing due diligence and gathering a few more estimates before deciding what to do...I just wish it was earlier in the year because I don't want to rush this decision.
he is right if you have that 1" of clearance from the masonry to combustibles you are ok with less than 1" of insulation But do you really have that the entire way up it is very rare to get that. And smooth wall titanium liner does not tell us allot. That could be either the 2 ply smooth wall that i personally would never recommend or install or heavy wall And you need to know the number of the alloy with titanium in it i would guess it is 316 but i would clarify that if it is 304 that is fine to.
What you really need is the make and model of the liner. All of the clearances on prefab liners and chimneys are based on manufacturer instructions from the certification process. Some systems simply do not allow you to use poured in insulation, others meet zero clearance with differing amounts of insulation due to differing densities of wrap being used.
I just got another quote from a company who I felt very comfortable with. They're recommending the existing liner be removed, and they'll install a stainless Ti pipe with a full 1" insulated wrap. I think I'm going with this route.
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