How long does a chimney liner last, and when should it be replaced?
Leicester leans on wood and propane, and wood is what tends to end a liner early. A hot wood fire and creosote buildup can crack clay tile, and a single chimney fire can open its joints overnight; a propane insert, meanwhile, needs a stainless liner good for fifteen to twenty-five years. Replace any liner that's cracked, corroded, or fire-damaged, wood-heated flues especially.
Wood heat is hard on the flue
Wood heat is popular on Leicester's large rural lots up Sandy Mush and Turkey Creek, and it asks the most of a liner. Creosote, the tarry residue of wood smoke, coats the flue and can ignite into a chimney fire that reaches well over a thousand degrees, cracking clay tile and warping metal in minutes. Even short of an actual fire, the heat cycling of a hard-worked wood stove or fireplace wears a liner faster than gentle gas use ever would.
Propane, and limited power
Past the gas mains, the other Leicester option is propane, and a propane insert or stove needs a correctly sized stainless liner, not the aluminum kind, which is only for certain natural-gas units. Some remote properties out here also have limited electrical capacity, which is another reason wood and millivolt-ignition gas appliances are common: they make heat with little or no power, right through the cold-air-drainage nights that run these valleys five to eight degrees below Asheville.
Inspect the wood flue first
If you burn wood, put a Level 2 camera inspection and a chimney sweep at the top of your fall list, because that's how we catch a cracked or fire-damaged liner before the next fire finds the flaw. We reline with stainless sized to your appliance, and on gas work pull the Buncombe County permit and pressure-test the line. On a remote large-lot property, a chimney fire is the last thing you want with help a long way off, so prevention through a fall sweep and scope earns its keep out here. Leicester is fifteen minutes west of our Asheville showroom. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Leicester
We install and service fireplaces throughout Leicester and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes west from our Asheville-area showroom.
Related questions
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