What You Should Know About Your Chimney Liner

Your chimney liner is one of those components that’s generally “out of sight, out of mind.” Unfortunately, a lot of serious chimney problems begin with the liner, so it’s a good idea to keep it in mind when you schedule inspection and maintenance work.

The Chimney Guys of Pataskala, OH, would like to give you some helpful information about chimney liners, including how they’re made, what can go wrong with them and how to resolve problems.

Three main styles of chimney liners

The purpose of a chimney liner is to create a safe passageway for smoke from the fireplace and to protect the chimney and home from flames, high temperatures and corrosive gases and compounds. Today, all chimneys are required by law to have a proper liner.

The most common types of chimney liners are:

• Stainless steel
• Terra cotta clay tiles
• Poured-in-place compounds

How chimney liners become damaged

Years of intense heat, destructive combustion gases and possibly the occasional small chimney fire will eventually damage a chimney liner. If the liner was built from low-quality materials or installed incorrectly, problems are likely to start sooner rather than later.

What can happen with a damaged chimney liner

Here are three of the most common problems.

House fire

A broken or split chimney liner leaves an open space for flames to escape. Fires in chimneys happen more often than most people suspect, but the fires are often brief and go out on their own. Larger chimney fires, however, are potentially dangerous events.

In most cases, a chimney liner that’s in excellent shape will contain the flames of a serious chimney fire.  With a damaged liner, even a small fire can set fire to things outside the liner.

Escape of deadly carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide is invisible and odorless. It’s also potentially deadly when inhaled. A cracked chimney liner provides an opening for normally occurring carbon monoxide and other dangerous gases to escape and filter into a home’s living spaces.

Additionally, acidic combustion gases can cause damage to interior areas of the chimney system, the chimney masonry and parts of the home.

Inefficient drafting

A quality chimney liner provides the right amount of space and drawing power to pull smoke and gases up and out of the fireplace. Breaks in the liner will cause air to escape, which can affect drafting.

This air displacement can also make it hard to get wood fires started and keep them burning efficiently.

Chimney liner inspections and repairs

A chimney system should be inspected once a year. A chimney liner inspection should be part of the work. If liner problems are found, there are two options:

• Relining with a stainless-steel liner
• Repair and recoating with the HeatShield process

Stainless-steel liner replacement is an excellent option for many types of damaged chimney liners. In certain cases, particularly with tile and cast-in-place liners, HeatShield is the best choice.

HeatShield uses a pulley to drag a strong coating material up and over cracked, split and gapped liner areas. It’s an excellent way to repair damage and to completely reline the flue.

Call your Ohio chimney liner and relining experts

The Chimney Guys specializes in chimney liner inspections, stainless-steel liner installations and HeatShield repair and relining services. If it’s been more than a year since your liner was looked at, call us to schedule an inspection.

Reach a chimney expert by phone or through our contact form.