Who makes the best SS liners?

[Skitheeast]

I am looking to purchase and install a 6" ss liner for a free standing stove in the basement. I was wondering who makes the best ss liner and whether or not thickness is an issue. I have seen the thickness ranges of .005 and .006 for flex liners and was wondering if anyone makes a thicker ss flex liner? Is thicker better regarding quality & performance? This is going into an 8" X 12" Clay flue in masonry exterior chimney..
Thanks in advance for your help / responses.

 

[webbie]

I'm not sure thickness means much in terms of flex liners, although slightly thicker of the same grade may hold up slightly better to corrosion (for a longer time period).

The "best" is really smooth wall rigid stainless steel, as this is vastly thicker and doesn't have all the nooks and crannies for stuff to get caught in. You may have to slightly ovalize it to make it fit some 8x12's.

If you do go with flex, most of the major brands are more than adequate. Ventinox was formerly a top-of-the-line name brand, but I'd guess some of the others have caught up. Chimney pro's are unlikely to buy or use inferior brands because most have been in biz long enough that they would be hearing back from the customers they installed 10-20 years ago.

 

[bholler]

was wondering if anyone makes a thicker ss flex liner?

Yes many companies make heavy wall flex liners they are much smoother and and much thicker than the standard light wall it is all we use for wood liners now. Rigid is a good liner but its a pain to install

light wall is usually abou .005
Heavy wall is usually about .013
Rigid is usually about.029

Ventinox is still the only light wall that is a welded seam an in my opinion is far better than the crimped seam of the other light wall liners out there

 

[begreen]

Rigid is what we had in our chimney. It wasn't too bad to install, or remove.

 

[bholler]

Yeah begreen i am not saying it is that hard but flex is so much easier and if you use heavy wall i don't see that there is that much of a durability or performance benefit. Just my opinion though really the only one i would never use is the double layer smooth wall stuff i have seen to many bad ones

 

[russb]

I can't imagine installing any liner is particularly easy. I bought a 6" pre-insulated flexible liner from a member of the forum, theheatelement. It's a Magnaflex Insulflex liner. Very happy with it, and the customer service. I'm just going into my second season with this liner, and don't have experience with other liners, but the price was really good and from everything I could tell, it's good quality, too.

 

[bholler]

I can't imagine installing any liner is particularly easy

Once you do a few many of them can be pretty easy and some can be a real pain. It all depends on the situation. But to me rigid is not worth the extra hassle.

 

[russb]

I suppose since I only did it once, and it was a 30' liner, and I was by myself...

 

[Dashriprock]

I suppose since I only did it once, and it was a 30' liner, and I was by myself...

I am looking to purchase and install a 6" ss liner for a free standing stove in the basement. I was wondering who makes the best ss liner and whether or not thickness is an issue. I have seen the thickness ranges of .005 and .006 for flex liners and was wondering if anyone makes a thicker ss flex liner? Is thicker better regarding quality & performance? This is going into an 8" X 12" Clay flue in masonry exterior chimney..
Thanks in advance for your help / responses.

 

[Dashriprock]

just don't stick any old cleaning brush in the new liner. If thick poly bristles trim them first
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/poly-brush-stuck-in-ss-liner.133501/#post-1793280

 

[bholler]

All of this being said no matter what liner you use if you abuse it you can destroy anything here is what was left of the top of a tee we pulled out and replaced today that was put in in 2006 and yes they had many chimney fires