PLEASE EDUCATE YOURSELF BEFORE USING THESE FOLKS!!! I have a masonry chimney and an oil burning furnace, and a house that was built in 2008. I was misled by Spotless Chimney and told I had absolutely no flue liner and that I needed to purchase a stainless steel liner for $4.3k, because chimney liners are a relatively new requirement for CT State code (within the last 5-7 years). I was alarmed to hear this because it wasn't aligned with the research I had done.
I am going to lay this out here so that you as a consumer are prepared for having these conversations, and because I genuinely believe the folks at Spotless Chimney don't know the history of the code themselves. Also - don't hesitate to call the State Fire Marshal who will happily help you understand the codes.
Chimney liners have been around since the 1930's, and have been required in CT in some capacity since at least late 2005. If you bought your house after this date, these codes were also applicable to any chimney inspections done at point of sale. There is also a good chance that chimney liners were code prior to 2005, I just struggled finding trustworthy resources online to verify this. Your local building inspector may know more.
Per the 2005 State Building Code (accessible at https://portal.ct.gov/DAS/Office-of-State-Building-Inspector/History-of-the-Connecticut-State-Building-Code) "Masonry chimneys, fireplaces and barbeques shall comply with Chapter 21 and the 2003 International Mechanical Code." Per the 2003 International Mechanical Code (accessible at https://archive.org/details/gov.law.icc.imc.2003): International Mechanical Code) "Where an oil-fired appliance is connected to an existing masonry chimney, such chimney flue shall be repaired or relined in accordance with NFPA 31. " This references the most recent NFPA 31 at that time which was the 2001 NFPA 31 (you can start a 14 day free trial on NFPA's website to access the full code) states "6.6.5 Masonry chimneys shall be lined with an approved clay tile liner or a listed chimney lining system installed in accordance with manufacturers' instructions." In addition to this, the current NFPA 211 states that clay tile chimney liners are in fact still up to code (see attached photos for 2024 NFPA 211 code related to masonry chimneys). This is an important note because I was also led to believe that a stainless steel liner was the only liner that is up to code.
I was told by Spotless Chimney that what I thought was a clay tile flue liner was just a flue WITHOUT a liner. After further research, I discovered that was not the case. In fact, what is "just a flue without a liner" would be the raw masonry of the chimney and/or an unapproved material (such as concrete). If you see clay inside of your chimney, you've got a liner!!! Congrats!! Still not sure? Google clay chimney liner to compare. To verify all of this, I pulled the original building permits for my home, got in touch with the original contractor, double checked the house inspection report done when we bought, and had 2 additional inspections performed.
Now for the real kicker -- Spotless Chimney also told me I had a crack in the clay tile. This would in fact be not up to code and potentially unsafe. It turns out what they thought was a crack was just a line drawn in the soot on the inside of the flue liner, probably from the camera they stuck up there. NO crack! I am SO happy I trusted my gut and did all of this research. It was well worth saving the $4k.
Spotless Chimney - I hope that you are able to use this as a means to further educate your technicians and salespeople. I have a feeling that you're going to reply to this stating that me, the Fire Marshal, the contractor, the building permits, and the 2 other inspections are wrong. Which is fine, you are allowed to say that. I just hope that any of your future customers read this and are able to educate themselves and feel confident in available resources before agreeing to any unneeded and astronomically priced services. read more