Stainless Steel Flexible Liner - Brands

[Jerry_NJ]

My purchase order for the installation of a new Quadrafire 4100 Insert called for a 35' length of HomeSaver Ultra Pro liner. When the installer arrived he had instead a 35' length of Simpson Dura-Vent "DuraFlex SS", and I wonder if I got equivalent or an up or down grade in liner. The liner looked and felt quite sturdy and given the Ultra Pro is the lower end of the HomeSaver line, I may be at least as well off..or should I complain? It is in so I'll be living within it and the only complaint I could make at this time is the price I paid for the liner if it is a lower cost liner.

There was a delay, in my mind, it took two weeks for the dealer to get the liner in, he may have had to make a substitution due to a shortage of supply from HomeSaver.

Any opinions/facts?

Thanks.

 

[BrotherBart]

The last liner I put in here is the Simpson DuraFlex. It is less expensive than the Homesaver everywhere I have seen. My supplier claims the Ultra-Pro to be superior to it but I wanted the DuraFlex and am very happy with it. Go to hartshearth.com to compare them, they sell both of them. That is where I bought the liner.

 

[Jerry_NJ]

Thanks BroB.. I appreciate the endorsement of my purchase decision, made in my absence. As noted, my purchase order, at my request, shows the suppler and part name/number of all parts. The dealer decided to substitute, for whatever reason. I called and said I noticed the substitution and noted that the Simpson is guaranteed for 10 years while the HomeSaver is guaranteed forever (live, no mention of original purchaser). I said it is installed and will of course stay but: 1) I need an invoice that correctly describes what I purchased and 2) I expect to get any cost reduction appropriate for the substitution. I particularly don't like him taking the action without first getting my approval. He could have said there's a price increase in HomeSaver, for example, and ask if I would pay $ more, or take a substitute with no increase in price, or to tell me there was a backorder on HomeSaver and I'd have to wait another couple of weeks, which I would have been happy to do, but I was not given the choice.

All the parts, including the 35' length of 6" Ultra-Pro came to $844. On the web I was able to find the Simpson kit with all the needed parts and liner for $778, an off list price which was $960. I'd be happy to be given the $778 price, but assume that price doesn't include shipping, my price was delivered to my house by the installer.

 

[BrotherBart]

List price for a 35' complete DuraFlex liner kit is $589.00. UPS shipping is around fifty bucks.

(broken link removed to http://hartshearth.com/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=683&idproduct=7275)

 

[Jerry_NJ]

I posted this item under "gear", thinking.. don't know what.

Would this item get better coverage in the hearth forum? BrotherBart's input is valuable, still I'd welcome more traffic on this subject.

I see on the web site that BroB..provided a significant price difference between Untra Pro and Dura Flex and a note specifically recommending Untra Pro for application where the chimney to be lined has bends, saying the Ultra Pro is more flexible. This is the case in my chimney, for reasons I do not understand (will make another post on this subject) the 13x13 flue appears to bend outward at about 30 degrees off the vertical than do whatever, can't see, do a 30 degree turn back toward the room (as seen by moving down the chimney. This did cause some difficulty to the installation of the liner, which had to be withdrawn and a rope tied to the end so that the liner could be pushed from above while pulled from below to get it past the bend. It appears the Untra Pro would have made the turn more easily, and perhaps with less distortion, i.e,. making it easier to clean by running a round brush up or down and through the bend.

 

[Jerry_NJ]

Thanks again on the price look up. I found something closer to $400 on the web site you provided, it didn't include the "T". I don't have a "T" in my installation, the liner just comes down the flue and goes through an adapter into the stove.

 

[BrotherBart]

Thanks again on the price look up. I found something closer to $400 on the web site you provided, it didn't include the "T". I don't have a "T" in my installation, the liner just comes down the flue and goes through an adapter into the stove.

Insert adapters are commonly substituted for the tee in kits at the same price. I have been through this drill a lot having lined three chimneys in the last year and a half.

 

[Jerry_NJ]

What is that in your Avatar, Bush, or is that the Natural Light can? I assume you've see the report that Budweiser (Bush the low cost version) may be purchased by a foreign brewery, Denmark was it? That could put an end the the cheap but good Bush beer.

 

[Jerry_NJ]

First, thanks to the "gear" moderator for moving my thread to this forum.

BrotherBart, I'm still trying to get a handle on the relative cost for a 6" x 35' stainless steel kits in Ultra Pro verses Duraflex. I'd like to compare the relative price on from the same supplier, the confusion I run into is there seems to be a Duraflex 316 TriAlloy per Hartshearth that you provided and I find a Duraflex (kit again) 7223-35 on Absolute Home that is offered at $788, no mention of 316 TriAlloy. Do you think the more expensive is one is an upgrade from the 316 version, or is there only one Duraflex? If there is an upper grade Duraflex that costs (me over the web) $788, then its costs is in fact more than the Ultra Pro price I find of $753.

 

[BrotherBart]

The company is in Belgium. I can then tell the beer snobs that I drink a Belgian beer. And pretend that I really care.

I would really hate to see AB sold out of the country. This migration of ownership of America's manufacturing tradition just goes on and on and on.... I have drank local beers in more countries than I can count. Amstel has a little edge on the rest but not enough to get excited about.

There isn't a Bud drinker, and I was one for years, that doesn't get a little twinge of pride when they see those Clydedales prance.

 

[BrotherBart]

There is no "upgrade" from 316ti. It is the top of the heap as far as solid fuel alloys go.

Simpson's catalog is laying here on my desk. I bought it because I don't buy "Sooty Bob's" line about Homesaver and I didn't need a "slinky". I needed a 316ti pipe to go down a straight chimney. I can certainly understand where it might kink in too severe a turn in a chimney. All flex liners are subject to doing that if you are not very, very careful.

 

[Jerry_NJ]

Thanks for holding my hand on this price study. The other problem I have on pricing Duraflex is I purchased a 35' length, and the web site you like too us unclear to my weak mind, but it seems to be the price for a kit with a 25' length (or in the drop-down menu, the "standard" length). That being the case I'd expect the 35' kit to un another $100 or so, i.e., $597/$687 (sale/list). This then would suggest, as I can find a 35' Ultra Pro kit for $753/$851, or about $150 more. What I'm trying to do here is have an argument to to my dealer that I've been overcharged about $x (or $150) when he bills me for Ultra Pro and delivers Duraflex. I've left this concern with the salesman I worked with (he may now be sorry he agreed to my request that he provide in writing what the offer is, including all makes and models. Anything less and they could bill me for Stove/Insert XX and delivery XX- and still be compliant with the offer. I will for sure make it clear I'm about "this close" to filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, Quadrafire, and Visa that I've been subjected to a "bait and switch". Of course, it may be nothing more than a mistake at the dealership and they will make corrections...but as this rolls out, they have lost me as a reference for other business.

 

[BrotherBart]

Thanks for holding my hand on this price study. The other problem I have on pricing Duraflex is I purchased a 35' length, and the web site you like too us unclear to my weak mind, but it seems to be the price for a kit with a 25' length (or in the drop-down menu, the "standard" length). That being the case I'd expect the 35' kit to un another $100 or so, i.e., $597/$687 (sale/list). This then would suggest, as I can find a 35' Ultra Pro kit for $753/$851, or about $150 more. What I'm trying to do here is have an argument to to my dealer that I've been overcharged about $x (or $150) when he bills me for Ultra Pro and delivers Duraflex. I've left this concern with the salesman I worked with (he may now be sorry he agreed to my request that he provide in writing what the offer is, including all makes and models. Anything less and they could bill me for Stove/Insert XX and delivery XX- and still be compliant with the offer. I will for sure make it clear I'm about "this close" to filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, Quadrafire, and Visa that I've been subjected to a "bait and switch". Of course, it may be nothing more than a mistake at the dealership and they will make corrections...but as this rolls out, they have lost me as a reference for other business.

The link is to the price for a 35' kit. The drop down menu gives you the subtractions from that price for lesser lengths. If you call Hart's the price for a 35' 316ti DuraFlex it is going to be $497.63 plus shipping. No matter what happens in your negotiations with the dealer, I trust mine and my family's lives with the Simpson liner every night that we go to bed in winter. I burned four cords through it this year and it looks fine. And it is every bit as good a quality liner as the other two I have installed.

Maybe somebody else can ring in here with other opinions.

 

[Jerry_NJ]

Brother.. thanks, and my concerns now are two: 1) pay for what I get, whatever the price, and 2) given my chimney's "kink" (see new post inviting analysis on why a builder would put a kink in a flue), and the difficulty the installer had I wonder was there any damage getting the liner around the kink.

I'll take another look at the link you provided to understand what I missed on my past look. As said, I would like to use pricing to me, regardless of what my dealer's markup is, as a "delta" cost factor that I am expect to get given his substitution. It is good to know I don't have to worry about which Duraflex. I guess the same is true for HomeSaver UltraPro, or does HomeSave also have a higher priced flexible liner above the UltraPro? I can look, I think there may be one.