I’ve apparently got a clay lined chimney which has a gas fire sat at the bottom of it at the moment. The house was built in the mid 90’s and the neighbour has a aga little wenlock installed in place without a flue liner..

He says I don’t need one but his wife also said she light the fire one day and filled the living room with smoke (draw issue? or just a random low wind day maybe)?.

I’m just wondering for the sake of a few hundred quid if it’s worth putting in a liner or if there really is no need.

Thoughts on a postcard please

Some fool will come along and say you don’t need one.

We are about to have a log stove fitted. One supplier said we didn’t need one, another said we absolutely needed one. The third said it would work without one but the benefits of a liner far outweigh the cost saving of not having one for the following reasons:

– They are the correct size to help give optimum draw
– They heat more quickly than a clay pot lined chimney (so the fire is quicker/essier to light and get to full temperature)
– They are easier to clean

And, interestingly, he quoted far less (£250 instead of the £800 others quoted) as he said he’d rather put one in and make little money on it but have a more satisfied client at the end of it.

So we opted to use him and have a liner fitted.

Thanks guys – good knowledge!

On reading again – are you planning on replacing the gas fire with a stove of some sort? I had assumed you were but you don’t say – if you are keeping the gas fire then I doubt you would need one, but perhaps get a suitably qualified gas fitter to test it if you want to set your mind at rest.

Some fool will come along and say you don’t need one.

So why not explain why he needs one then?

I would personally have a correctly fitted clay or concrete liner any day over a stainless flue liner.

For one if you burn wet wood and get a build up creosote on the stainless liner it can start to rot away, same with smokeless fuels.

With a clay or concrete liner, if you got a build up of creosote you can use power sweeping with a chain or stainless steel whip on and that would bring it up far cleaner than you could with a stainless steel flue in.

That’s all depending on the size of the current liner and its conditions and also been able to actually get another liner down.

It’s going to go into a wood burner yep!

So in essence it sounds like if the clay flue is a good diameter / length for the draw then there are some advantages like being able to clean it more aggressively and get away with crapper conditioned wood?

A flue liner is normally recommended to make a better draw if it’s a wide chimney and the other advantage is they get up to heat faster?

To be fair the neighbours little wenlock seems to draw just fine when I’ve been over and kicks out a lot of heat burning off cuts of pine from his joinery shop.

kicks out a lot of heat burning off cuts of pine from his joinery shop.

That sounds like dry wood though – it’s bound to burn easily if it is.

With a clay or concrete liner, if you got a build up of creosote

…and it results in a chimney fire you have one less line of defence before smoke/fire gets into the fabric of the house.

Burning wet wood, another brilliant idea.
Creosote does not rot liners, burning a mixture of coal and wood destroys liners, because it produces sulphuric acid.

It would be dead easy to drop a liner in a nice clean ex-gas 90’s chimney.

For the sake of £100 I would just get the liner for peace of mind.
http://www.snhtradecentre.co.uk/flues-fittings/flexible-flue-liner-316l-stainless-steel-125mm.html

Dead easy to drop it in if your chimney is straight and clean.

In 20 years time you can just replace the liner for a new clean one if you need to.

As said: better draw, another line of defence against fires and peace of mind. Don’t burn crap wood.

Having said that, I went for this:

http://www.portwaystoves.com/products/portway-1-gas-stove

It honestly the best thing I ever bought for the house. No faff with wood, loads of instant head and it has lovely flames.

“Burning wet wood, another brilliant idea.
Creosote does not rot liners, burning a mixture of coal and wood destroys liners, because it produces sulphuric acid.”

If you actually read it correctly, it does say “if”.

So all these liners I’ve pictures of that have rotted away with only burning wood have just magically gone to nothing by themselves. OK.

Still not told us why he deffinetly has to have one? Has it suddenly become dangerous from a gas fire?

” and it results in a chimney fire you have one less line of defence before smoke/fire gets into the fabric of the house”

So a few mm on stainless steel is going to stop a fire for how long? So would you rather have a few mm of steel protecting your chimney or a +1 inch of concrete?

I’ve a 3 storey Victorian terrace, quoted £2,300 last year to line 2 x back to back chimneys, back fill etc. It is bloody high, so no way I would attempt it! Currently not using as not convinced of their safety since moving in.

Had the same dilemma for 6 months, decided at beginning of this week to go with a liner and already I feel a lot more relaxed! Read the (made up?)story about fumes getting in to next door neighbours house whilst they were asleep…they never woke up again just because a flue liner wasn’t fitted. Apparently.

If you decide not to have one and don’t feel 100% relaxed about then just get a liner (assuming your clay lined flue sound (as it may have a crack in it that allows fumes to seep in to your neighbours property. This assumes you are attached to another property!).

I feel better for getting one, you may not feel 100% if you don’t have one. Coupl eof hundred pounds for peace of mind is a small price to pay IMO

we have a liner our neighbours don’t we share a divided chimney stack we can occasionally smell their fire they never smell ours

It’s when you can’t smell it you need to be worried.

we have a liner our neighbours don’t we share a divided chimney stack we can occasionally smell their fire they never smell ours

Assuming you’ve made the neighbour aware and they are still lighting fires, next port of call your council’s environmental health dept?

Oh and https://www.amazon.co.uk/KINGLAKE®-Monoxide-Detector-Poisoning-Warning/dp/B00GANAI6W