If you’re a homeowner who owns a fireplace, you know that one thing that can make for a miserable evening is a smoke-filled room. Preventing this is what a chimney is for, right? Technically, this is true, but there’s more to the chimney than just a straight up and down brick and mortar structure. One important part of this structure is the chimney flue. The flue is the part of the chimney that guides smoke up and out of your home.
The Purpose of Chimney Liners
Another important part of the chimney structure that goes along with the flue is the flue liner. You may be wondering why it’s essential to have a flue liner when your flue is already in place to get rid of that smoke. The flue liner has three main purposes. First, having a correctly sized flue makes your chimney work more efficiently. You know that smoke leaves the house through the chimney, guided by the flue. But air that helps with combustion is also allowed to enter the house through the flue, and when this exchange takes place, your chimney runs the way it’s supposed to. Thus, the flue liner helps make sure that your chimney is correctly sized to keep things running efficiently.
Another thing that the chimney flue liner does is protect the interior of your house around your fireplace from overheating and starting a fire. The last is protect the brick and mortar on the inside of your chimney from the corrosive materials in the smoke. These are both things that will protect your house from fire or structural damage.
Is It Necessary to Insulate My Liner?
If your chimney has a liner, you may want to consider insulating it. There are a few reasons that this step is a good idea. First, if your chimney is on an outside wall, adding insulation around the liner will help keep the flue gases warmer. It will also keep condensation from forming on the liner and can increase upward speed of the flue gases. These things will help to increase efficiency as well.
You may be surprised to know that not every chimney has a liner. And, sometimes even when a chimney does have a liner, it can be cracked or damaged, which can be a real problem when it comes to guiding the smoke and chemicals in it up and out of your home. Because the chimney liner is so important, if you call Chim Cheroo Chimney Service and we notice that your liner is cracked or damaged, we will recommend repair work. If you don’t have a liner, of course, we will recommend adding a liner. At Chim Cheroo, we can either recommend which liner would be best for your home or make the repairs necessary to get your chimney back to running efficiently. Give us a call today!