Searching for Advice After Chimney Fire with Stainless Liner

[mmem700]

Hoping for some friendly advice. Thanks in advance.

We live in Maine and had a chimney fire in our newly relined chimney.

We had the original installer/chimney sweep do a cleaning and camera inspection. He discovered a breach in our 1-year-old Lindemann 316L "SmartFlex" stainless steel liner (pics attached). The breach appears to be a couple inches long based on the images. The installer filled the space around the liner with cement containing vermiculite.

The installer and Lindemann both say it's not safe to burn with the breach.

We're now faced with some hard (expensive) decisions.

Question 1: Does this breach really make it unsafe to burn? Breach appears to be about 10 feet from top of chimney.

The installer says he has never removed/replaced a cemented stainless steel liner in his 15 years of business. Lindemann said the liner cannot be repaired and must be replaced.

Question 2: Is removal and re-installation really the only option? As handy people, is there something we could do ourselves?

We have looked at stainless chimney pipe that runs up the outside of the house.

Question 3: Is an external chimney pipe a good and safe option? I've watched videos and read articles and it seems this is a project that we could handle.

Details That Might Help

The chimney is block up to the roof line where it turns into conventional red brick. The red brick was replaced about 10 years ago.

After the new liner was installed, the surface of the chimney was only lukewarm to the touch when burning. There was a noticeable decrease in air flow compared to the terracotta liner that was previously installed. I'm sure this is because of the smaller size of the new liner which has a 7" diameter. The previous terracotta was rectangular with about 40% more volume of space.

After the fire, the installer sent a scope up and found a breach in the new liner about 10 feet below the top of the chimney. This puts the breach at about the location of the attic floor. The firemen said they saw red-hot cinders in about the same location during the fire.

During the chimney fire, the surface of the chimney reached between 140 and 200 degrees in a few places near the location of the breach. During the fire, at the roof line and at the attic floor (near the breach), steam was coming out between blocks. These were the hottest spots during the fire.

 

[bholler]

Yes the liner needs replace. Yes it can be pulled out even with the pour in insulation. It is fire damage and should be covered by your insurance. I would also check into the warranty on the liner.

 

[begreen]

Yeah, the liner is damaged. Sorry to see this with a new installation. What is connected to the liner, a wood stove, insert or open fireplace?

@mmem700 Do you know why the chimney fire happened?

 

[maple1]

Usually, going from a larger clay flue to smaller lined & insulated will increase chimney draft. So that part sounds a bit odd.

 

[Ludlow]

Its possible the liner got crushed in that spot during installation and expansion from the chimney fire made it pop apart at the kink. Dont know how you would prove it at this point though.

 

[jetsam]

You went from a bad setup to a good one with the installation of the insulated liner. It should have been much harder to build up creosote in the new liner than it was previously.

How new is 'new'? Did you have creosote problems with the old setup?

Please take a hard look at your equipment and burning practices before next season. This is a great place to ask.

 

[bholler]

You went from a bad setup to a good one with the installation of the insulated liner. It should have been much harder to build up creosote in the new liner than it was previously.

How new is 'new'? Did you have creosote problems with the old setup?

Please take a hard look at your equipment and burning practices before next season. This is a great place to ask.

It really isn't that much harder. Poor fuel or burning practices can make a mess out of any system quickly. But I agree completely about taking a hard look at things.