I'm no chimney expert, and I hope that those here will correct me if I'm wrong here...BUT...tile refers usually to the square or round clay/terra cotta tiles that make up the liner of a masonry chimney. It is inside these tiles that the SS liner is inserted. When folks use a non-SS-lined, but clay-lined or terra cotta-lined chimney, there is no "connection" to the tile at all except for a short (maybe 5-8 feet) section of flue pipe inserted up into the chimney from the stove to minimize risk of exhaust gases entering the house from the chimney.ggans2 wrote:I read on another thread that SS pipe is not needed to burn coal and some say tile is better. I am willing to believe that based on what I learned so far. However how do you go from metal pipe to tile? How is the connection made?
I don't imagine you spent 6K on a liner alone. What sort of chimney work was done? Refurbished an existing chimney? If so, what type of chimney is it?
My understanding is that SS liners with a "lifetime" warranty often cover the liner itself, but not the labor to install a new one--this might change the equation when an SS owner decides whether or not to closely inspect their liner . Also, what is it warranted against? Disintegration, pinholes, or some other type of damage? Manufacturers may be able to afford to offer a lifetime warranty because who is going to pull a liner to inspect it for damage? Almost no one. Video inspection of chimney is sometimes done, but how many people go to those lengths? And, can it spot pinholes? My guess (nothing more) is that there are alot of SS liners out there with pinholes, and maybe more extensive damage, that their owners know nothing about--because it has little or no consequence. This may be wrong, but it seems to me that exhaust gases leaking from a SS liner with pinholes or other damage ultimately, harmlessly find their way out the top of the chimney anyway.
All this is a roundabout way of saying that, if I were you, and if the reseller/installer doesn't agree to pull it immediately for a refund or replacement with a liner suitable for coal as you requested, I would burn wood in the stove... ...only long enough to get a coal fire burning After all, in ten years will you still be able to brag to your friends about having a pristine liner, never defiled by coal fire exhaust?
One more thing: depending on how much you'll have to pay per ton of coal vs natural gas costs, it's quite possible that the heating cost savings of coal over gas would allow you to replace that liner (if you need or want to) every few years, with money left over. My real world example is that I heated my house all of last winter with coal, for the same dollar amount I spent on propane in one 5 week period the winter before.
BTW, that's a beautiful stove you have, and a nice refurbishing you did. Also, I vent my fireplace insert stove into an "unlined" masonry chimney with terra cotta tiles--no problems.