Some general ?'s about my Regency insert and liner install

[curdy]

Hi everyone, we just moved to a farm out in south central PA and loving it so far! I brought my medium Regency insert with me that I had installed at my other house. I sold the liner I had installed previously to the guy who is now renting the house. He wanted to get his own insert, so it made sense to leave it installed there. I'm liking the size of the damper in this new house. Its closer to 6" so it looks like I may be able to get the liner through with out cutting anything but a tab sticking up in the middle. I had to cut out some of the brick on the last install and really didn't want to do that this time around.

Block off plate. This time around I'm going to install a block off plate (something I wanted to do before, but never got around to. I've seen the write up on one type of plate:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/making_a_block_off_plate/
I was thinking since the liner will fit so snug through the damper opening I could just cut a piece of sheet metal to same size as the damper plate and cut the hole for the liner in that. I'd rather not cut the existing damper plate should I choose to re-install it later for any reason. From the looks of the room I have inside the chimney I should be able to bring the liner through the damper at 90 degrees.

Fire brick. There are 4 bricks that were broken and I got replacements for. When I pulled out the broken pieces, I was very surprised to feel how light they were compared to the new ones. Would it make sense to just replace all the bricks on the sides while I'm at it?

Liner insulation. I was fortunate enough at the last house to have most of the chimney running through an interior space. It was a large shop (38'x60' w/16' ceiling) and uninsulated, but it was pretty tight and never dropped below 40 F in there. I didn't insulate the liner and never had much creosote build up at all inside the liner, just some at the cap. Now at the new house, the chimney is about 28' tall and about 18' of it is outside. I really don't want to invest in insulation if I really don't HAVE to have it. Thoughts?


I had forgotten to ask before about a thin piece of metal along the top that I wasn't sure of its function. Can anyone tell me what it is? Pardon the appearance of the stove, I'm prepping for painting (its also been outside for a couple of weeks while moving. There's a box pattern in the rust along the top too that makes me think there may have been some sort of damper or something there? The stove was built in '91.

 

[tickbitty]

I don't think the thin pc of metal is anything you will need, it looks like they might have had the stove installed as a "slammer", meaning without a liner. Perhaps there was something square there, an intake box or something that got the stove exhaust up past the damper or something. You will have some kind of adapter presumably that will be screwed to your stove where it goes into the hole there, and the liner will be secured into that, so the strip of metal there probably won;t really do anythng, I guess.

 

[begreen]

It does look like some sort of rectangular box was on top of the flue exit judging by the paint outline. With a proper start collar, it won't be necessary.

 

[mainstation]

I have a R14 Regency insert , same date of Manufacture as your unit and that thin piece of metal is an add on and not original to the stove.

 

[curdy]

I didn't think it was anything important when it burned so nicely for the last couple of seasons. Just one of those things that after taking the surround off after a couple of years I see it again and remembered it was there and still wondering what it was.

Any thoughts on the insulation?

 

[curdy]

Any thoughts on the firebrick as well? Would it be a good idea to just go ahead and replace all the bricks along the sides and back or only the broken ones? Its not that much $ to replace all of them, but no point in doing so if there's nothing really gained from it.