Chimney Liner Installation & Replacement in Nashua, NH

• Do you suffer from chronic headaches and sinus problems?

• Are you ill throughout the winter months?

• Do you see mysterious reappearing brown spots on your walls, even after repeated cleanings?

• Is your masonry chimney white with efflorescence?

• Are there gaps in the mortar between the bricks?

These situations and other factors may indicate a problem with your chimney.

1. The liner protects the home from heat transfer to combustibles.

2. Chimney liners protect the masonry from the corrosive by-products of combustion. If the flue gases are allowed to penetrate the brick and mortar, the result would be a reduction in the usable life of the chimney. The flue gases are acidic and eat away the mortar joints from inside the chimney. As the mortar joints erode, heat transfers more rapidly to nearby combustibles and dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide can leak into the living areas of the home.

3. Liners provide a correctly sized flue for optimum efficiency of appliances. Modern wood stoves and gas or oil furnaces require a correctly sized flue to perform properly. An incorrectly sized chimney liner can lead to excessive creosote buildup and the production of carbon monoxide.

Most clients are not even aware of whether or not they have a liner due to the confusion between what a clay flue and a liner are.

• Your chimney is the brick or manufacturer structure that runs up the side through the center of your house.

• The flue is the clay tile that goes into the chimney.

• A liner is either stainless steel or aluminum and goes inside the clay flue or chimney.

Many homes built earlier this century in New Hampshire and Massachusetts do not even have clay flue!

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Many homeowners in the Nashua area ask “Why do I need a chimney liner?” because they don’t know the consequences that they can encounter by not having one.

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1. Whether you have a wood-burning fireplace, a gas or electric appliance inserted into your fireplace, a freestanding wood stove or pellet stove, or just a furnace/hot water system in your basement that heats your home and water, all of those systems need a way for the gases that they emit to be released out of your home. The chimney is responsible for not only allowing the products of combustion a passageway out of the home; the draft generated by the chimney also supplies the combustion air to your heating appliances.

The Two Most Common Types Of Chimney Liners Are:

Clay Flue Tiles

There are two disadvantages to clay tiles:

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• Being ceramic products, they can’t rapidly absorb and evenly distribute the heat during the rapid temperature rise that occurs during a chimney fire. This uneven heating causes the flue tiles to split and crack apart.

• Tiles can’t adequately contain the liquid combustion byproducts produced by modern gas appliances.

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Metal Chimney Liners

They are U.L. tested & listed and if properly installed and maintained are extremely safe and durable.

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Stainless steel chimney liners are suitable for wood burning, gas, or oil appliances while aluminum is an inexpensive alternative for certain medium-efficiency gas applications only.

(Reference: CSIA website)

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Considering the dangers that unlined or damaged chimneys pose, we recommend regular chimney inspections to help prevent chimney fires and toxic gases from causing illness and sometimes death.

Burning creates byproducts, which build up on the walls of the flue.
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Oil heating systems create soot that contains carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide, which are lethal. When this soot mixes with water it forms sulfuric acid: this chemistry eats the flue from the inside out.
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Once the flue is compromised, the chemistry attacks the chimney shell allowing the venting gases and airborne particles into the home and possible carbon dioxide poisoning.
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If a new high-efficiency furnace is vented into an older chimney, this process is much more rapid. It creates more condensation and can destroy a masonry chimney in a couple of seasons.
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In using fireplaces and wood stoves, the formation of creosote is unavoidable. Even with proper maintenance, the clay tiles eventually become saturated with creosote that cannot be cleaned, and the risk of fire in your home increases with each season.
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Every wood stove performs best with a continuous, sealed, properly sized stainless steel chimney liner to assure its proper function and minimize fire hazards, especially wood stoves inserted into fireplaces. These very popular inserts are extreme fire hazards if not installed and maintained properly.
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Every chimney is different and therefore each reline is a custom fit. To insure your safety, any stove should be vented with the proper size stainless steel liner.