9 Reasons Why You Should Replace Your Chimney Liner

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A properly installed and maintained chimney liner will last many years, but there may be times when you will find it advisable to replace your existing liner. You should have your entire chimney system inspected and cleaned at least once a year.

Westfield, IN (PRWEB) August 19, 2010

Even though you rarely see it and almost never think about it, your chimney liner is among the most important parts of your house. The chimney liner’s main function is to carry combustion gases safely out of your house, but it also protects your chimney and fireplace from water damage, minimizes cold air infiltration into your home, reduces operating expenses and helps to conserve fuel.

A properly installed and maintained chimney liner will last many years, but there may be times when you will find it advisable to replace your existing liner. You should have your entire chimney system inspected and cleaned at least once a year. Here are nine reasons why you might need to replace your chimney liner:

1.    If your chimney has never had a liner, you might need to install one. Masonry chimneys built before the 1940s may not have liners. After several decades of use, the bricks and parging lining the flue can settle, weather and crack, allowing combustion gases, intense heat or flames to leak into your attic and house. If you see smoke seeping out from between your chimney’s bricks, you need a chimney liner.
2.    Replacing your chimney liner may be good preventive maintenance. If your chimney professional sees early signs of impending problems in your liner, you could save a lot of hassle and expense by replacing it now before it starts leaking.
3.    If your fireplace, wood stove or other fuel burning appliance is not drafting well, replacing your chimney liner may solve your problem. Your existing liner may be too small to draw all of the combustion gases and smoke efficiently up the chimney. Replacing the liner with a larger diameter liner might solve this problem, although you should try a thorough liner cleaning first in case accumulated creosote is impeding the draft.
4.    If your existing clay tile chimney liner leaks, you definitely need to replace it. Clay tile liners built into chimneys since the 1940s will last a long time, but foundation settling can crack the tiles. Weathering and creosote can eat away mortar. Smoke and carbon monoxide can leak through a damaged tile liner into your house. You can replace or repair tiles and mortar or install a properly sized stainless steel liner inside your old tile liner to prevent dangerous leaks and extend the life of your chimney.
5.    Installing a flexible steel liner inside your unlined flue or existing tile liner can reduce your cleaning costs. The inside of a round liner is easier and more efficient to clean than the inside corners of a square or rectangular flue that cleaning brush bristles cannot easily fit into.
6.    If you replace an old fuel burning boiler or furnace with a modern, highly efficient one, you might need to replace your chimney liner. Old, inefficient fuel burning appliances were often built with cheap vent pipes running directly through the roof or up an otherwise unused chimney flue. Inefficient appliances vent extremely hot gases up the flue which do not cool enough to condense onto the vent pipe before they exit the house. Modern high efficiency appliances, however, tend to keep most of their heat inside the house while venting cooler combustion gases up the chimney, where they condense into acidic chemicals that can corrode aluminum or the wrong steel alloy. A corrosion resistant stainless steel chimney liner will safely vent an efficient appliance.
7.    A badly corroded or worn chimney liner may let unsafe combustion gases leak into your home. Replacing your chimney liner will keep your interior environment safe and protect your masonry chimney from the corrosive effects of leaking combustion products.
8.    If your existing chimney liner is not insulated, you may want to replace it with a more energy efficient liner. An insulated liner will keep combustion products hotter all the way to the top of the chimney where they will be vented as gas rather than condensing into creosote and acidic water as they might inside an un-insulated liner. An insulated liner will let less cold air infiltrate into your house when your fireplace is idle.
9.    You may need to replace your chimney liner if you install an efficient wood burning insert in your fireplace. The manufacturer’s specifications, or local building and fire safety codes, may specify a different diameter liner than you presently have to ensure safe and efficient operation of the insert.

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