What do I need to know about chimney liners? We have terra cotta liners at present and the township calls for a metal chimney for the new gas furnace we are getting. I read up. It seems pretty simple to install. I don’t see much that can go wrong and yet the estimates I got vary from $1,700 to $2,500. They are all using same material, stainless steel 316. Are there any complications with installation that I don’t foresee? I am inclined to take the lowest bid.
I have a rather uneven brick chimney (which is why it needed to be lined as it failed code) - it took the guys I hired two days to get the liner in (they failed the first day and called in their expert the second day to get it done). I think this is not typical - you should be fine with the lowest bid.
Make sure that the diameter of the metal lining is definitely sufficient for the gas burner. It is hard to imagine that a company would deliberately put in one that is too small, since it could kill you, but I suppose it is possible that the cheaper bid is going for a smaller diameter. If not, I’d just go with the cheaper bid, after checking reviews.
Thank you both for the replies. I think my chimney liner is straight. they said they were dropping the liner from the top and connect it at the bottom.
@Consolation, Good point about the size. Two estimates suggested 5", one the lower bid 6". Do you know where I can look up which is the right size? The furnace is 140K BTUs and the hot water heater that also vents out is 40K BTUs.
The liner has to be sized by someone who does this kind of thing. There’s a specific manual. My guess is that 5" is fine because you have two of those estimates.
You might want to read this
http://www.totalhomeinspection.com/hints_chimneys.shtml
and then ask the lower bidder why they recommended that size.
^Thank you for the article. Who knew there’s so much going on with the furnace and water heater. Our water heater vents through the same flue. Ideally, we should have two liners, one for the water heater the other for the furnace. I’ll have to ask about that. I guess we’ve been venting the water heater all wrong.