It's Happened!!! and Only Two Seasons in...

Thanks, Berlin. I had tried to convince the misses to allow me to rent the scaffold or buy a new ladder. But when I told her the prices for each she just looked at me like I had two heads. It really sucks having to work every little project into a budget but, we do what we must to stay afloat. There is always next summer to add the 2'. I'm actually really excited to see how the chimney will work without the liner. I'm still a bit concerned with the chimney being so big now, the opening is a little bigger than 8"x11".

I'm On Fire wrote:I had tried to convince the misses to allow me to rent the scaffold or buy a new ladder. But when I told her the prices for each she just looked at me like I had two heads. It really sucks having to work every little project into a budget but, we do what we must to stay afloat.

you don't need scaffold,but would be easier and safer,we all live on the edge sometimes. use a step ladder and a rachet binder and secure it to the chimney where the 5 gal. bucket is and have someone hand you the block and flu and be very carefull.And you done a great job so far,it's not rocket science and your not splitting atoms.

I wonder if you could add sheet metal to your chimney cap to cheat some extra hight.

I actually did that last season when I still had the liner. It helped but only slightly. I was still contending with a pin holed liner all winter. Glad I got it out.

Hmmm... Thats 12x8 on top? Seems like I read on here that people with a chimney that was too big, they would cut down the opening at the top. Maybe cool air can slip down into the chimney on one side of the flue while warm exhaust is going up and out on the other. So what if you try something crazy like cover that 12x8 opening down to a 8x8 or 8x6... Try it, watch your draft and give the chimney a chance to adapt to the new sized opening as the interior of it should be able to warm up over a period of time. Just a hunch, since you think the chimney is too big.

I didn't even think of trying that. I can put a piece of concrete over one side of the opening and try it. I looked at those links posted in the "Chimney Liner Experts" thread and that concrete liner thing seems viable too. Its probably ridiculously expensive though.

Think taller, not smaller.

Try pinching the tailpipe on your car...

Berlin wrote:Think taller, not smaller.

Raised it 2' this summer. Next summer I could go another 2'. If the two from last summer didn't help how much taller would I have to go before it helps? Chimney was 3' passed the peak of the roof before I added those two. Now it's 5. Nearest tree is 50-60 foot away. Still using the draft inducer. Working well

Rob, I've seen a ton of cars with pinched exhausts. They run like crap.

Right, He tried taller I think exhausting gases from a vehicle are a bit different than the natural draft of a chimney fellas, help me out here

I've been reading up on flues that are too big.. They don't draft right with a high efficient appliance because the flue gases aren't very hot or there just isn't enough of it. SO I'm just sayin, lets reduce the opening of the chimney at the top, to match the opening on the outlet of the appliance, not make smaller than that. Lets not pinch the tailpipe (killin me ) but make it the same size as if its coming off the manifold, hmm?

I have only put a "restrictor plate" on a chimney once...it was on my dad's chimney because it would draft so well it maxed out the baro. We cut down the chimney opening by 50%, and it reduced the draft to a manageable level.

Oh ok, maybe your Dad's chimney is tall and thin? Maybe it will have a different effect on a short squatty one. I just thought he could try it to see if it hurt of helped. I'm sure I read on here somewhere that someone cut down the size of a chimney at the top because the flue was too big which was causing low draft problems, I wish I could find it..

yes, but he was wrong.

The gasses have already expanded and cooled, restricting the outlet won't accomplish anything other than lowering the positive pressure plane in the stack.

The problem is a large cold mass of exterior stack in a cool location with short overall height. Likely the upper portions of the home have ample leakage and this reduces the effective height even further. I've seen this a lot on homes (for example) with t&g pine ceilings not laid on sheetrock or plywood backing. Most of the time 4' past peak will do it, but I've had to go as high as 7' on problem locations to achieve solid performance under almost all conditions. The increase in draft with added height in that situation is progressive, not linear. another 2' should make a difference.

Berlin wrote:The gasses have already expanded and cooled, restricting the outlet won't accomplish anything other than lowering the positive pressure plane in the stack.

Ok, yeah that makes sense. Good point with leakage through the roof too.. I'm sure you know your chimneys Berlin