Parents bought an insert, I have question or 2

Dad picked up a new Ashley insert today. Bought it from FB MP for under 1/2 of retail and it's still in the crate.

I'm new to inserts. How will he clean the chimney liner? Which he hasn't purchased yet. I believe he plans to get a 5.5" pipe to go up I'd guess maybe 20-25'.

It's an AW1820e. He was very familiar with that brand from years ago when he started burning wood.

 

Either pull the baffle and do a bottom up, or do a top down...I'd use a Sooteater for the bottom up

 

Ah hah! I couldn't imagine this for some reason. Thank you for the replies!!

As we go, I'm sure I'll have more questions.

 

Any issues using 5.5" pipe? Going around his bend in the chimney is too tight for 6. Either that or he wants to clearance that edge with an angle grinder and a diamond wheel.

 

But save the accoutrements

 

Should be fine...the rule of thumb is that you can go up or down up to 1" from the stoves pipe size.
What would be getting clearanced, brick?

 

I haven’t laid eyes on it, but yes, masonry. He says it’s too tight for 6 by just a skosh.


Plans to order everything needed to go up tomorrow. He’s itchin’ to get this installed.

 

People typically do cut a brick, or even remove 1 or 2 completely...it helps getting the liner attached to the stove, because even though they call it "flex liner" its not that flexible when it come to making corners.
Did he get the insulation kit for it?
You'll want to do a metal block off plate above the stove then too...some people just jamb a bunch of rockwool in the hole around the liner, but even that doesn't stop all air infiltration...and you can get get a lot of cold air coming down there! (or lose a bunch of heat up there!)

 

Is it designed for 5.5"? I'd only run what it's designed for. You'll more than likely need to grind some clearance into the flue anyway. Grind a little more, or pull a while brick or two.

As far as cleaning the liner, depending on the stove, going top down may be best. Those baffle boards get brittle, and taking them out will lead to broken boards, and they are not cheap.

 

He didn’t buy anything yet. I did talk to him about the plate. We’ll discuss that further tomorrow when I visit. The local hearth dealer told him 5.5 would be no problem at all but I mentioned if he could get 6 to fit, why not.

 

Thanks for that. Like I said, I’ve never messed with removable stuff so I’d have not known about brittleness.

 

If you go top down, do you not need to take out the baffle? Wouldn’t all the soot pile up on the baffle? Maybe that’s ok and it just burns up; I’m genuinely curious as it is a pain taking out and reinstalling the baffle.
I’m working up to cleaning mine myself and wasn’t sure if the filter on my shop vac, or my ability to plastic up the door area, were good enough to keep from getting soot all over the house going bottom up.

 

I pull the cerawool or whatever that is off and what little there is that falls down after cleaning just gets shaked off in the trash. This year, there we so little that fell down after brushing that I didn't even bother trying to clean it up. Maybe next time I'll use a piece of tin or paperboard so it's easier to use the vacuum to suck up what little falls from the liner.

 

On some stoves you can just lift the baffle and tilt it enough to shake the soot into the firebox without taking anything (or much) apart.

Good point...I wasn't thinking about the stoves that have a blanket on top of the baffles...and those usually have a weight on top of the blanket to keep it from getting sucked up the flue...and I never thought of it before, but what you just mentioned about using some paper, or some tinfoil is a great idea...just work it up above the baffle before cleaning, then pull it out when done, most of the soot should come out on the paper/foil.
On the SBI/Drolet wood furnace design, when you clean the HX tubes the baffle gets slid forward, the tubes cleaned and the soot is shoved to the back, where they connect to the firebox...with the baffle forward it just drops right in, no fuss, no muss.

 

I think if 6" is tight 5.5" should do fine but it would really be nice to have room for an insulation wrap. As has been mentioned the flex liners are not super flexible. I had to use a cut off wheel on my angle grinder to cut out some of the fireplace damper frame and also cut a couple bricks to make the turn. BUT I also had a friend at a local weld shop make me a heavy pipe adapter that was like a 25 degree angle for off the top of the stove. Just a note Rockford Chimney supply .com will custom make any angle pipe adapter though. They are a good business to deal with for liners as well.

 

Thanks. He is aware of the wrap. And he’s confident 5.5” will make it around the bend but I’ll let him know it’s somewhat rigid. We cancelled our plan to get together today due to the icy weather, so nothing has been ordered yet.
He mentioned using cement board for the plate, does it need to be metal? And what gauge/thickness?

 

I just stuffed mine full of roxul insulation, no metal plate. Right or wrong it works fine. Actually I am glad I did it that way in hind sight because I had to replace my liner and was able to do it without pulling the stove out. Then stuffed it full around again.
A little more to that story, I bought a smoothed wall flex liner first time from Rockford and after I believe 8 years it failed. They replaced it 100 percent insulation kit and all for free. But they advised the normal ribbed flex liner would take the heat better.

 

No expert here- but my little bit of experience:

Installed a stove slammed into my in-laws masonry fireplace. Went with a 5.5 inch flex liner and it was tough getting it installed, but we got it in. Take your time and stay persistent. I insulated at the very top of the chimney and at the bottom and we didn't have an issue with it. We got it from Rockford as Locust Post was saying he did.

I cleaned it from the top with a soot eater attached to a drill and it wasn't a problem.