Best Chimney Liner Kit Reviews & Top Picks for 2017
Before investing in a chimney liner, one must first and foremost understand why it is absolutely necessary to have a chimney which is properly lined. This would enable the user to determine the chimney liner that is best suited for his or her purposes, since safety is paramount, and it is almost felonious to have a chimney that is not lined.
In very basic terms, flue lining is a conduit made of metal, clay or ceramic, which is installed inside the chimney so as to contain products that are combustible, leading them out into the air, and preventing rust and heat from damaging the chimney. It can easily be deduced, therefore, that not having a well-lined chimney could have devastating consequences in due time. Hence, it is now mandatory in almost every fire code to have liners in the chimneys. Keeping all this in mind, one must select the best quality liner for their chimneys so as to ensure the safety of themselves and their families.
Picture | Product | Length | Class | Review | Editor's Rating |
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| 6in x 20ft | Mid Range | |||
| 6in x 25ft | High End | |||
| 6in x 25ft | High End |
Select the Best Chimney Liner Kit for Yourself from these Top Four!
Fireside Chimney Supply FireFlex 316Ti Basic Flexible Chimney Liner Kit
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This chimney liner kit is manufactured from a liner made of stainless steel and it comes with an appliance connector as well as a rain cap, thus furnishing it with everything that you require in order to efficiently vent the exhaust from your home.
The best part about this pipe is that it is quite lithe. With this pipe, you can direct the flue pipe in whichever manner you may want to and not even have to fit the connectors and joints forcibly, which is required in other ordinary installations. The cost is completely easy to afford.
It is light in weight and easy to clean, so you can do it yourself. Another advantage of this kit is that it is pest proof as well as rain proof. Thus it is a humble and non-pricey solution for the treacherous, disparaged, and unproductive chimney flue that has been troubling you all this while!
Fireside Chimney Supply FireFlex 316Ti Stainless Steel Chimney Liner
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This particularly malleable choice from Fireside is a wholesome and lucrative answer if you need to merely refine your chimney.
You can get a custom tailored pipe with the length and size of your requirements for all your venting necessities, without needing to attach any joints and seams. Without bringing any danger to the original product, this kit will increase your home’s heating capacity. It lets you do your maintenance errands in the blink of an eye as it is created out of stainless steel and is therefore stress-free to clean. This gives you everything you need in a single kit so you can perform the job well!
ChimCap Single Ply Stainless Steel Chimney Liner Kit
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This alternative from Chim Cap could prove to be a better solution if you need stainless steel with a single ply in the fresh chimney liner kit.
It comes with a rain cap and also all the additional supplies you might require to fruitfully exploit the current structure of your home. It allows you to repair a waft in your already existing unit, enhance aeration, and finally offers you a much-improved productivity temperature which will provide you a much more steady fire. It can be used in boilers, fireplace inserts, and water heaters and furnaces. You can install this yourself in just about an hour without needing any special tools at all. A big time saver!
Rockford Chimney Supply RockFlex Stainless Steel Flexible Chimney Liner Insert Kit
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This liner is water tight and air tight. They have a good deal of strength and flexibility in the market. They expand and contract while heating up and cooling down respectively.
This allows them to fight against and cut down on the build-up of creosote. It also has a sharp cap that can be installed in a snap. It proves to be an accurate fit, all due to the technology of smooth welding. Should you ever want to change your house, this kit is also movable!
Functions of Chimney Liners
Chimney liners prevent the transferring of heat from the stove to any and every combustible material present in the house, so that they do not catch fire due to the extreme heat.
They avert the caustic by-products of ignition from harming the masonry of the chimney. If the flue gases breach the brick and grout of the chimney, it would end in a reduction of its durability. These gases are acidic in composition and thus consume the mortar joints from the inside out of the chimney. Heat transfer to the proximate inflammable objects becomes that much speedier in tandem with the amount of erosion that the mortar joints suffer. A very dangerous consequence of this is the leakage of gases like carbon monoxide into the inhabited zones of the household.
Contemporary oil furnaces, gas or stoves need a flue of exactly the right size in order to perform correctly. Liners do this job and in doing so, certify prime efficacy of the aforesaid appliances. The chimney doesn’t just provide products that are inflammable, the ventilation system pushes them away from the house, and its draft also furnishes the appliance with the air it requires for ignition. If the liner is not of the right size, it could also lead to the accumulation of creosote in wood burning stoves.
Varieties of Chimney Liners
There are three different kinds of chimney liners: Cast-in-Place, Clay Tiles and Metal. These are explained below:
Cast in Place
These are light-weight, adhesive like commodities which can be cast around the chimney. As a result, they create a suave, continuous, and sequestered pathway through which the flue gasses can exit the chimney in a safe manner. These act as stable and long-lasting liners, hence making them appropriate for all kinds of fuels. This is also the reason that they are known to recover the mechanical veracity of chimneys that have been weathered with time.
Clay Tiles
These are the utmost commonplace sort of masonry chimney liners. They are affordable and easily accessible. In well-kept chimneys with open fireplaces too, they function reasonably well. But clay tiles also have two disadvantages that must be heeded before purchasing them. First of all, since clay tiles are a porcelain product, quick absorption and level distribution of the swift temperature upswings that happen while the chimney is fired up is not possible for them.
This irregular heating system leads to an imbalanced enlargement which further results in fissures in the flue tiles due to which they finally break apart. This can be compared with submerging icy drinking tumbler in extremely hot water. It explodes almost immediately. If a chimney has fissured chimney liners like that, it must necessarily be mended before usage. The next disadvantage is that contemporary gas equipment produces inflammable by-products that are in liquid form, which cannot be effectively contained by clay tiles.
Metal Chimney Liners
These are generally made of aluminium or stainless steel, and are principally used in upgrading and renovating existing chimneys. These systems of chimney liners are listed and tested by the U.L., and are quite harmless and sturdy when correctly mounted and sustained. Stainless steel is a fit material for oil applications, wood burning, or gas, whereas the aluminium proves to be an economical substitute for certain gas applications with only a medium level of efficiency. High-temperature padding must be used in combination with these chimney liners to account for performance and safety.
Always Choose Quality over Affordability
A number of factors are involved in the repairing of a chimney. Regrettably, most of these do not reveal themselves till the completion of the work. This is usually a consequence of a distorted or misled scrutiny of the impaired chimney. Price is often an issue that gets more highlight than any other factor while deliberating the repairs.
The width of the flue is very often reduced during the repairing of the chimney which doesn’t let the original application vent adequately anymore. If that occurs, the smoke from the fireplace returns once more into the house itself instead of leaving through the chimney. This becomes the moment when one bitterly regrets choosing low pricing over good quality and efficiency. The cost thus doesn’t remain a considerable issue anymore.
This reduction in the size of the diameter of the flue comes to pass frequently when, for instance, a liner made of stainless steel is installed inappropriately in the original equipment. Pay attention when a sleeve of stainless steel is implanted into an already extant liner as it immediately decreases the diameter of the flue. It turns out to be only a temporary answer rather than an enduring solution. This is precisely what comes to pass when you makes the cost your prime concern rather than the quality and efficiency of the product.
The Underwriters Laboratory mandates insulation on the external surface of the liner upon the installation of a chimney. Outside insulation of all the liners is also compulsorily required by the National Association standard 211 (NFPA 211). Such padding of the liner prevents heat from transferring to the external chimney walls, thus reducing the risk of structural fires. In addition to this, insulation also encloses the flue heat within the liner itself, so that an even hotter temperature is produced in the flue which certainly escalates the waft of the venting structure.
Hence, thinking that insulation is not really necessary during the installation of steel liners merely creates an untrue feeling of complacency within the family as well as the insurance company. Be advised, adding the liner half way through is not a solution!
Taking into account the hazards associated with aged, unlined or impaired chimneys, as well as the numerous budget efficient alternatives now accessible to turn these chimneys into a risk free apparatus of the heating system within your home, it is always advisable to get a professional inspection of your chimney done so as to make sure that it conforms with all the contemporary standards of safety.
Summary of the Best Chimney Liners
The lining in stove pipes, when made of the right material and installed correctly, confines products that are inflammable, leads them out into the air, and prevents rust and heat from damaging the chimney from the inside out. This is why you should follow the mandates of fire codes to have your chimneys lined. Some of the best chimney liner kits have been reviewed above with all their different benefits. Hope my hours of consistent research will be of your help while browsing through an array of products. Hurry and buy the chimney liner that best suits your purposes without delay!