Chimney runs

[DJW]

Evening all,

 

Thinking ahead to winter, is there any way of stopping the brown stains you get down the cabin side when leaving the stove burning 24/7 over winter? I'm in the middle of repainting the boat and don't want the new paint turning brown and stained like the old has!

 

I've heard double skin chimneys help and removing the coolie hat does too - is this true and are there any other tips to keep the paintwork looking good around/below the chimney?

 

Cheers

[PhilR]

Evening all,

 

Thinking ahead to winter, is there any way of stopping the brown stains you get down the cabin side when leaving the stove burning 24/7 over winter? I'm in the middle of repainting the boat and don't want the new paint turning brown and stained like the old has!

 

I've heard double skin chimneys help and removing the coolie hat does too - is this true and are there any other tips to keep the paintwork looking good around/below the chimney?

 

Cheers

 

Double skinned chimneys make a big difference because the inner skin fits inside the flue pipe.

[DJW]

Sounds good, i had a quick google for one a while ago but didn't come up with much. Any recommendations on where to get one? Our flue collar is the smaller of the two standard sizes - 4.75" diameter i think (?)

[Mac of Cygnet]

Sounds good, i had a quick google for one a while ago but didn't come up with much. Any recommendations on where to get one? Our flue collar is the smaller of the two standard sizes - 4.75" diameter i think (?)

 

I found it extremely difficult to find a liner for this size of chimney, and had almost resorted to bodging one up from our old chimney when I found one in the chandlery at Trinity Marina, Hinckley. They have one left, if you want to contact them. (Midland Chandlers sell this size of chimney, but not the liners).

 

Mac

[rgreg]

Or you can buy a liner that fits inside a single-skin chimney and seems to work.

 

Edited to clarify that this was a flexible liner, basically a rectangular sheet of metal that you "roll up" into a conical shape and push in the top of the flu so it would really fit any diameter.I bought it from Midland Chandlers last year but looking on their website they seem to just sell rigid liners now. Maybe you could enquire with Midland.

Edited August 16, 2010 by rgreg

[Albion]

Sounds good, i had a quick google for one a while ago but didn't come up with much. Any recommendations on where to get one? Our flue collar is the smaller of the two standard sizes - 4.75" diameter i think (?)

 

As I was in the automotive business at the time I have made a liner up out of very large flexible exhaust pipe (truck size galvanised steel, or if you're feeling flush stainless) available in many diameters. The advantage was that whatever angle the inner flue pipe was compared to the collar you could still put a shallow S shape into the liner and get it to fit. This problem of the flue pipe not aligning centrally with the collar seems fairly common but it does make the fit of a commercially available, concentrically made, chimney and liner less than perfect. This wasn't a cheap option but a length of flexible can make several liners when the original rots out as it surely will with the galvanised version eventually (and even longer with the stainless). For a perfect seal you will have to make an adaptor to seal the inner to the outer at the top of the chimney but I have made one of those out of painted hardwood before and it never even scorched in use over 7 years, I guess because the gases had cooled sufficiently by the time they had got to the top of the chimney inner.

See this link (just used for illustration purposes, third item down titled flexible exhaust tubing) http://www.westerntydens.co.uk/accessories.html

Roger

[DJW]

Thanks all. Our chimney's pretty tatty so I'll get in touch with trinity marina chandlery and see if i can get a new double skinned one ordered.

 

Fingers crossed the new paintwork survives the winter without big brown stains down the cabin side

[Guest Higgs]

Thanks all. Our chimney's pretty tatty so I'll get in touch with trinity marina chandlery and see if i can get a new double skinned one ordered.

 

Fingers crossed the new paintwork survives the winter without big brown stains down the cabin side

 

 

I work in a boatyard as a painter and live aboard my boat. Use a double-skinned chimney, well sealed at the collar. Leave the 'coolie hat' off........., unless the fire is not being used. I never have the 'coolie hat' on and havn't over the last three winters. Condensation forms on the underside of these 'coolie hats'. The mixture of soot and water just drips from the overhanging edge. Hope this helps.

[DJW]

Thanks Higgs, that's encouraging. Any tips on how to seal the chimney at the collar? Our current one is a shove it on and hope it stays put, not a great fit!

 

I've emailed trinity marina to confirm the diameter of that chimney as it doesn't say on the site. Hopefully it'll be 4.75" and I can get one on order.

Edited August 17, 2010 by DJW

[Denis R]

The liners on the double skinned chimneys I've found recently are invariably smaller than the flue pipe, which wasn't the case a couple of years back (?). The previous lined chimney was a nice snug fit. In the end I went for a chimney with a smaller diameter liner (which was all I could get) and ran a decent ring of glass rope between the inner and outer skins. This seems to seat on the chimney collar well enough and prevented the chronic condensation I was getting with a single skinned chimney I was using as a stop-gap.

[nb Innisfree]

Best way is to get one made to fit, we used Chris Smith, can't find his details at the mo but he advertises in Waterways World IIRC. He's a bit of a perfectionist and made a superb job of our s/s double skinned chimney, agree with others about the coolie hat, leave it off if the fire is lit.

[Tonyl]

Best way is to get one made to fit, we used Chris Smith, can't find his details at the mo but he advertises in Waterways World IIRC. He's a bit of a perfectionist and made a superb job of our s/s double skinned chimney, agree with others about the coolie hat, leave it off if the fire is lit.

 

I can endorse the comments of Chris Smith. Great bloke, great work He made all my double skinned chimney and summer vents for the flu etc. Chris is based around Crick area (I think) and his numbe is 07814 176654.

 

Regards

 

Tony

[WotEver]

... agree with others about the coolie hat, leave it off if the fire is lit.

Having lost two to the wind, and not being inclined to bolt one on because it then makes it hard to remove, we're now a coolie-free boat.

 

Tony

[BlueStringPudding]

Or you can buy a liner that fits inside a single-skin chimney and seems to work.

 

Edited to clarify that this was a flexible liner, basically a rectangular sheet of metal that you "roll up" into a conical shape and push in the top of the flu so it would really fit any diameter.I bought it from Midland Chandlers last year but looking on their website they seem to just sell rigid liners now. Maybe you could enquire with Midland.

 

I've got that set-up and can safely say there's tonnes of brown goop down the side of the boat. So it hasn't worked.

 

On the plus side a need a new chimney anyway as mines hit too many bridges and been walloped by mallets and is so rusty and full of holes it barely funnels the smoke anymore. Next time I'll buy a chimney with a fitted inner skin built in.

[Bones]

you can roll it up a liner and put it inside but it has to be a conical shaped and needs to come out of the chimney i.e. slightly higher than the outer skin

[Chertsey]

Thanks all. Our chimney's pretty tatty so I'll get in touch with trinity marina chandlery and see if i can get a new double skinned one ordered.

 

Fingers crossed the new paintwork survives the winter without big brown stains down the cabin side

In my experience with an unlined chimney, you will have brown stains within ten minutes of lighting the fire.

[Guest Higgs]

Thanks Higgs, that's encouraging. Any tips on how to seal the chimney at the collar? Our current one is a shove it on and hope it stays put, not a great fit!

 

I've emailed trinity marina to confirm the diameter of that chimney as it doesn't say on the site. Hopefully it'll be 4.75" and I can get one on order.

 

It is a little bit difficult to do a permanent seal on the chimney for cruising. A short chimney may be required for bridge clearence. For a static boat, use heat resistant silicon. A good friction fit should cope pretty well.

I got tired of buying a new chimney every year so had one made out of flue guage steel tube and planted a smaller tube inside the top. As I,m about to leave my job and go cruising it may mean buying a small cruising chimney. You can't really keep sealing and disturbing the chimney. Be resouceful. By the way, my chimney fits inside the colar, not outside. That's about it. Cheers

Edited August 18, 2010 by Higgs

[Mac of Cygnet]

you can roll it up a liner and put it inside but it has to be a conical shaped and needs to come out of the chimney i.e. slightly higher than the outer skin

 

Why? As long as the top of the liner is sealed to the outer, and the bottom goes inside the collar, then it will work. In any case, these 'roll-up' liners aren't long enough to come out of the top of the chimney.

 

BTW, for the benefit of the original poster, if they get (the last!) liner for a 4 3/4" chimney from Trinity Marina, then put it in the right way! ( Doohhhhh!) i.e. the widest end uppermost - you have to roll it up quite tight to get it far enough up so that the bottom is about level with the bottom of the chimney. And then seal it where the top is tight against the chimney wall - plumba-flue is best, fire cement will work, but will need replacing occasionally

 

But if the liner is not a very snug fit inside the boat's chimney collar, then smoke can still get out between chimney and liner and cause staining. What I do is shove crumpled-up silver foil up between chimney and liner so that it forms a seal. Other people (Alan Fincher?) have other methods which appeared on here about a year ago, but I can't find the thread.

 

HTH

 

Mac

[Tonyl]

Why? As long as the top of the liner is sealed to the outer, and the bottom goes inside the collar, then it will work. In any case, these 'roll-up' liners aren't long enough to come out of the top of the chimney.

 

BTW, for the benefit of the original poster, if they get (the last!) liner for a 4 3/4" chimney from Trinity Marina, then put it in the right way! ( Doohhhhh!) i.e. the widest end uppermost - you have to roll it up quite tight to get it far enough up so that the bottom is about level with the bottom of the chimney. And then seal it where the top is tight against the chimney wall - plumba-flue is best, fire cement will work, but will need replacing occasionally

 

But if the liner is not a very snug fit inside the boat's chimney collar, then smoke can still get out between chimney and liner and cause staining. What I do is shove crumpled-up silver foil up between chimney and liner so that it forms a seal. Other people (Alan Fincher?) have other methods which appeared on here about a year ago, but I can't find the thread.

 

HTH

 

Mac

 

Firewool between the chimney and the liner perhaps ?

 

Tony

[boaterphil]

I use foil tape wrapped roud the chimney collar to help seal the gap and to amke a tighter fit, although I do not usually my boat during the winter. I also sit a piece of chimney flue inside the the chimney, which is stainless steel and has last for 11 years has no rust although I have replaced the coolley hat.

[Canalfreak]

I seem to recollect a thread a while ago where (at least) one poster advocated damping an old T-shirt and wrapping it fairly tightly round the base of the chimney, claiming that it worked a treat. Somebody else may remember it and be able to post a link.

 

Bob.

[Liam]

Yep I've done the t-shirt trick on my parents boat when burning un-seasoned wood... I've gone as far as to put the arm hole of the t-shirt over the collar completely, and then put the chimney over that, leaving the rest of the t-shirt wrapped around the base. It worked.

[becks101]

Is there any way to get rid of the brown chimney stains once they're there? Or is that wishful thinking?

[madcat]

Lidl spray bathroom cleaner removes quite a lot of them ,sugar soap shifted them before I started on a paint job ......then it rained.

[paddy r]

Lidl spray works well