Thread: New metal flue liner

A new flex metal flue liner and cap has been installed in this solid fuel burning fireplace. I doesn't look right to me but not very confident of my flue pipe knowledge. Any help here is greatly appreciated. Picture 3 is the photo of the flue looking up from inside the fireplace.

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That lower end of the liner is unacceptable in my eyes. The fireplace is unsafe to use, therefore, a useless hole in the house.

Speaking of the roof, what have they done up there? The whole mess is the work of an amateur. The roof will probably leak at the chimney flashing and ridge, and the shingles are susceptible to wind damage.

Undersized badly. This liner is probably at best one fourth of the size required for a see-through fireplace.

Liner transition to smoke chamber improper. For one, they used regular fiberglass insulation instead of ceramic fiber or listed cementitious cast insulation. Should be parged over with furnace cement.

Is this a single sided fireplace where they blew out the back wall and made it a ST or ST from the ground up? The original flue tile looks way undersized from the get-go.

This looks similar to the work of the scammers. They come in for almost do initial charge, sweep, then tell the homeowner they MUST reline at once! They bully the homeowner into relining and they just happen to be carrying the liner with them and can do it on the spot. Let me tell you, NO professionals I know of carry liners around with them because you have to size them by diameter and length, different hardware such as terminations to choose from, etc.

More than enough grounds to call for a Level II inspection.

The home is a bank repo so not a whole lot of info. The liner and cap looks brand new. It looks like flex duct like you would see on a clothes dryer only bigger around. If installed correctly is it acceptable for this material to line a solid fuel chimney? Maybe the previous occupants were in the middle of converting the fireplace to a gas log set? I'm going to return to the home today to pick up the Radon test. I will take a few more photos. If nothing else you will get a better idea of whats going on with the roof. Thanks for your input.

Geez...looks like they duct taped the lower edge. You know, the part right above the flame. Must be fireproof tape

Some liner mfrs use tape to protect the rough cut edges for shipping and handling. Pros know to remove the tape before installation. Some use different color tapes for different thicknesses of metal while others use color coding for various alloys.

I can't tell if its stainless steel or aluminum from here much less what alloy, which is why you need a level II.

It doesn't matter if they were going to install gas logs or not, you still size the liner to the fireplace suitable for solid fuel application. The code assumes the fireplace could be converted back to woodburning at any time. Many amateurs will refer to the gas sizing tables, which is wrong. Those are for listed gas appliances, which an open hearth fireplace is not.

All together now class, let's say: "Level II"

Originally Posted by Bob Harper

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All together now class, let's say: "Level II"

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Bob your The Original Sham WoW Infomercial - YouTube is showing.
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But I prefer Vince with Slap Chop (Long version) - YouTube .
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What Bob Said, undersized, bad install etc.

Also double sided fireplaces are famous for spilling smoke, even if not with undersized flue that has been lined with undersized liner.

We get a lot of customers who think that installing a gas log set is the fix for this. However once lit the gas log set (without ODS) will burn forever spilling now "invisible" fumes (at least a wood fire will burn down and out at some point).