Chimney Sweep

loxety wrote:It was the dealer that said I'd need a SS liner. Code guy says I need mechanical permit. I've only paid for the stove so far nothing else. I am thinking my next step is to contact the chimney sweep and get it checked out then fill out the mechanical permit form, if the chimney checks out then install the stove. BTW the dealer wanted to charge me about $1900 for the SS liner and labor.

Thank god you found this forum before you made such a serious mistake! listen to what every person here has been saying... Ive had more town inspectors and insurance company's call me requesting assistance, guidelines and setbacks for my fathers stoves, etc. then I can possibly count. It is true that most of the experienced members here are FAR FAR more qualified then most (not to say inspectors are wrong or bad... they do the best they can to protect us regarding a wide variety of things that I would not have clue about)... but in terms of stoves, coal and the flue/chimney's to run them you will not find better qualified folks then here.

the day I line a viable terra cotta flu with stainless is the day you can all put me in the old folks home so they can heat my azz with oil

Why don't you just do it yourself? It's honestly not that difficult.

I'm On Fire wrote:Why don't you just do it yourself? It's honestly not that difficult.

I'm wondering this too. It would take longer setting up and putting ladder away then time it takes to clean it

My thinking was to have the chimney sweep person inspect the chimney. Is that not a good idea? I am leaning towards installing everything myself (with help from this wonderful forum!).

Just to clarify, it was an install guy from the stove shop that said I needed the liner not the city inspector. The city just wants their $50.

What is the best approach to inspect the chimney myself? What tools or equipment is needed? Anything I should look out for?

loxety wrote:My thinking was to have the chimney sweep person inspect the chimney. Is that not a good idea? I am leaning towards installing everything myself (with help from this wonderful forum!).

Just to clarify, it was an install guy from the stove shop that said I needed the liner not the city inspector. The city just wants their $50.

What is the best approach to inspect the chimney myself? What tools or equipment is needed? Anything I should look out for?

It is easy and the cost of all the tools you could ever want (including a nice drill) would be less then you would pay for one chimney cleaning!
I would stay away from the chain type and only use brushes (if your flue is round you will only need one brush easy peazy), if your flu is rectangular you may want to get a couple sizes or "set" of brushes.
put a big plastic tote in your fireplace to catch the falling debris, go up on your roof with a good cordless drill and one of the kits or parts listed below, then simply start weedwacking the flu , takes about 30 minutes and your BOOM your done!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Chimney-Flue-Cleani ... 0233301445
http://www.fireplaceessentials.com/Chimney-Brushe ... es-c7.html

Visual inspection. On a sunny day get a mirror and put in the clean out or flue to inspect chimney. Your looking for any large cracks in lining and creosote build up. Most hardware stores will have chimney cleaning brushes and kits that you'll need. Go on roof to measure your flue size to get proper brushes

I looked down the chimney today and it looked brand new. I pulled off the thimble cover to discover that the thimble was cracked and broken. Went and picked up a 12" thimble from a brick yard and some MeeCo's Furnace Cement & Fireplace Morter as was suggested by the stove shop. From the inner edge of the old thimble to where the edge of the inside wall is measures 12"inches. The brick yard only has 12" and 24" sized thimbles. Do I need the thimble to come out of the wall more or is having it flush with the plaster and lathe wall ok?

loxety wrote:I looked down the chimney today and it looked brand new. I pulled off the thimble cover to discover that the thimble was cracked and broken. Went and picked up a 12" thimble from a brick yard and some MeeCo's Furnace Cement & Fireplace Morter as was suggested by the stove shop. From the inner edge of the old thimble to where the edge of the inside wall is measures 12"inches. The brick yard only has 12" and 24" sized thimbles. Do I need the thimble to come out of the wall more or is having it flush with the plaster and lathe wall ok?

Not sure if there is a code on this, I've had seen a couple flushed. How far does old thimble go into flue, might be able to gain a inch or 2 to that way.

I had read that the rule for single wall pipe from the thimble to the stove has to be 18" from a combustible. If I were to place sheet metal or brick on the wall would that lessen the code requirement for the 18" to say 9"?

Went and got the stove today. Attaching a picture showing the stove and location of thimble. Its about 4 feet from the stove to the thimble.

Sheet metal will do nothing in the event of a meltdown, unless there is air space between it & the wall. Those distance requirements are for a worst case scenario - the goal is to prevent the wall from catching fire. Metal will actually CONDUCT heat rather than repel it - you need air space for insulation in order to reduce that distance requirement.

Den034071 wrote:Im a mason 41 years . Do not get conned into a ss liner . Terra flue will last your lifetime . Den034071

same here 53 years and u are correct

Hey now don't knock the SS liner, he would at least get 2 maybe even 3 years for his $1900.00 worth.. ... On a more serious note, My first year burning coal I didn't have faith in my mason chimney since the top of it was deteriorated from freeze and thaw cycles due to the propane exhaust. SO, in desperation I put up a 26 foot stove pipe chimney for $400 thinking I would get a few years out of it. I can see ya'll laughing from here ... It got thru the winter but not the summer.. As soon as it got warm and humid this happened...
So yeah, fly ash, moisture, (sulfuric acid caused from this combination) and metal do not work well together... I rebuilt the top few layers of brick on the mason chimney and I couldn't be happier with its performance!! ... Unless your chimney is in dire straits, its most likely good for the job. Coal fires run a much lower chimney temperature than a wood fire AND no creosote from coal..