Coalpail.com Forum

Hey guys, This is NOT the chimney my coal stove is currently hooked to. It currently has an oil fired hot water heater vented into it. In the future I would like to either hook the coal stove into it or tap into it upstairs and install a woodstove in my living room once the oil burner is dispatched. Ive attached a photo below of what the inside of the chimney looks like. It is an 8x8 chimney terracotta. I guess Im looking at a liner sooner than later for safety. Im also considering getting the chimney "poured" for lack of better terms to 7" round. My other option is to just hook up a power vented water heater and decomission the chimney all together. Have any of you guys dealt with this before?

My coal stove is currently hooked up into my wood burning fire place 12x12 terracotta flue which is in EXCELLENT shape. I remove the coal stove every year and burn wood in the fireplace in the spring and fall however laying in the fireplace stuffing a piece of chimney liner and fiberglass up through the damper is getting old. Im thinking about getting a used woodstove that can be burned open and just hooking that up to the pipe when I disconnect the coal stove for the year. Plus for a chilly day or two the woodstove will supply heat aswell where the fireplace provides no heat and is basically looks only.

The wife is on the fence about a solid fuel heater upstairs in the living room so I may be limited to a fake fire propane fueled stove upstairs.

Having a hard time making out the picture, but it.looks like that first tile is damaged on the left side?

If you go with propane, the installer may suggest running b-vent down the existing flue.

So the brighter whites farther down the flue are just where mortar oozed through when the chimney was built. The off whites and grays are where there terracotta is through to the brick. Once you get about 5 foot down from the top of the chimney it is in great shape. Its the top thats a train wreck. Likely due to the house never having caps on the chimneys since 1959 until I bought the house.

Why not just have the bad section torn off and replaced?

8 x 8 seems pretty big for a water heater, do you have any draft problems?

The issues at the top may be due to exhaust cooling down and condensation on the flue tiles there.

As long as the bricks are still mortared,why does it matter ??


If you decide to pour a new liner,break the old clay liners out 1st,then the chimney won't grow smaller.

B, I've done that "pour" & it works real well. Although if it were me,(& I wouldn't wish that on people in general) LOL I'd use what ya got. That high up won't effect any appliance except as Rob mentioned--propain. And even then????????? If your thoughts are leaning towards a SS liner--I'm strongly against using them--not very tried & true.

The water heater is oil fired and has a .85 GPH nozzle in it which is the same size or bigger than a lot of forced air oil furnaces so its good there. I have great draft even when its 100 and humid outside. The bad part of the chimney goes partly below the roof line ( not all of this chimney is exposed to the exterior) so i dont know how bad that would be to tear off and add a new section. I believe the bricks are still mortared but feel like the liner should be good the whole way up through, especially if I add a wood or coal fired stove to it

A few feet worth of brick work will be cheaper than a liner, look great, and last a long time (much longer than SS liner). I had my 100 year old chimney torn down below the roofline, and rebuilt with new clay tiles and a nice crown/cap...for $1400.

Hi BB, sitting by a wood fire in your living room is cool and relaxing and great for the in between months. Have you thought of putting the coal stove flue pipe into the living room chimney above the fireplace? that way it's an easy disconnect and plug for wood burning...just my 2 cents.

MichaelAnthony, I have never thought of that. Is that a legitimate thing to do? Or if my house would somehow burn down could the insurance company try to black ball me?

Rob, Ill have to talk to a mason and see what they say. Id say it prob 5-6 feet max of brick work, although I may have them add 2-3 feet if I go that route to give me extra draft. The oil burner is in the basement along with my fireplace. If I remove the oil burner and install a stove upstairs, Ill be losing prob 8 feet of chimney. My chimneys arent all that tall to begin with because I have a rancher but they both draft great considering

Why not leave the bricks alone & just drop something into that top 5-6 ft & break up all the liner,then slide new liners down to replace those.?

Windy are you saying to try and bust out the bad flue section and drop a new pieve of terracotta in there?

BlackBetty06 wrote: ↑

Sun. Jan. 21, 2018 8:46 pm

MichaelAnthony, I have never thought of that. Is that a legitimate thing to do? Or if my house would somehow burn down could the insurance company try to black ball me?.................................................................................................................................................

As long as you use a proper wall thimble to protect any combustables you are fine. I may do the same for my antique stove because my living room fireplace opening is lower than the stove exit collar.
My basement stove is installed above the fireplace, you can see the glass door behind the stove. I did not need a wall thimble because of all the stone work and no combustables.

BlackBetty06 wrote: ↑

Mon. Jan. 22, 2018 5:53 am

Windy are you saying to try and bust out the bad flue section and drop a new pieve of terracotta in there?

Yes. I know it is a possibility,I have watched videos of it being done.Doing it this way shouldn't be too terribly expensive.