Another lesson learned...chimneys

[Zodiac45]

We put in again, about 30 feet of stainless steel flex pipe and my guess is that it weighed in the neighborhood of 200 lbs (just a guess, could have been more or less). Sounds like very light duty stuff you are using. This is what the installer puts in on any re line job. I have the light stuff on my flu but that is easy to replace.

Wow really 200lbs? Didn't think they were that heavy. I watched a video of two guys installing one with insulation on it and one guy could handle it easily enough (except that it's cumbersome). These are 5-6mil's thick T-aloy stainless flex. Any heavier than that wouldn't flex very well one would think?

Ask for the difference in warranties and guarantees between the clay and stainless liners.

Labor, materials, etc.

If there is no compelling structural reason to use clay then do not. A quality installation of a stainless steel liner is the best answer. If you get a stainless liner be sure to check the paperwork as some have to be insulated in order to qualify for the for effect of the warranty.

Good luck. Peace of mind is almost always expensive.

That was my thought too. I've got too think that stainless is going too be quite a bit less money too install too. It will give you better draft (not less) and you don't need a mason too install it. It'll be interesting too see what the clay estimate is.

 

[saselker]

Yup , my chimney was built in '57 with two terra cotta liners. I run propane and fuel oil up one and wood up the other. The liner on the wood side is 7x11x26' and the chimney is exterior. Drafts OK and I sweep it about once a month and pull about a dry quart of croesote out. Haven't burned any oil in two years and use about 4 full cord a season in the basement woodstove.

Interestingly, I have almost the exact same setup/usage/age etc. I added a stainless liner with a new insert three years ago. I sweep it once a year and get literally one cofee cup full of dust, if that, out of it. I was shocked at the improvement all around after lining w/ stainless. The other benefit is ease of cleaning, all I do now is remove the baffle in the stove(easy) and brush it top to stove in a few min. Takes 30 minuites start to finish, of course my roof is walkable and easy to get on. Before I lined it I had to disconnect and remove insert etc. Really time consuming and difficult, plus I could fill a 5 gallon bucket with what I was getting out of it sticky tar looking stuff. That was a recipe for disaster.