Hello all,
I am writing to get advice on placing an appropriate cap on my stove and liner set up. We had a company here in Colorado come out and inspect our chimney on a home we had just purchased and moved into. The company was highly recommended, and my in-laws had used them before, however, the owner had retired and his son-in-law took over the company. He installed a Kuma Alpine and put a wrapped homesaver pro flex liner down the masonry chimney. The company soon after went out of business. From what we were told, the son-in-law did not do nearly as good of a job as the previous owner. I was away at work when they installed this so all I have to go on is the man’s line item invoice he gave to my wife.
I am not a big fan of our Alpine stove and I think it was significantly smaller than what was needed for our home, but that is beside the point.
In the three years since install we have subsequently had three different chimney sweeps out to inspect and sweep the chimney each winter. Each one of them has said different things in regards to our top plate, flex liner and cap. When it was installed, the flex liner was a good half inch less in diameter 6" than the diameter of the top plate 6.5", creating a quarter inch gap around the entire top of the vent/top plate that is not sealed. The top end of the flex pipe is at the same level as the top of the top plate.
The first sweep said the cap that was originally installed was installed on the top plate and not on the pipe and got a cap that would fit a 6 inch pipe. He just left a gap between the flex pipe and the top plate. He said he did not want to seal the flex pipe and the top plate together because due to them being the same height, you need the space between them to remove the cap.
The next company said he did it wrong and they wanted to put the cap on the top plate. We assumed he knew what he was doing, and we let him put it on the way he wanted it too.
The company that was just out said that he did it wrong and he crimped the top plate to get the cap to fit. I have decided to investigate it and put it on the best way I can based on recommendations and what is practical, because it seems like everyone is confused and asking me for more money because someone else doesn't know what they were doing anyway.
From what I have read most people recommend the cap be placed directly on the pipe. The problem I see is that because the top end of the pipe and the highest point of the top plate is the same, if I put a cap on the pipe, it would not be practical to seal the top with a high temp silicone as it would effectively seal the cap to the top of the chimney and cause difficulties with access to sweep the pipe, unless I can find one that will go on the inside of the flex pipe. My other options would be to seal the pipe and the top plate with silicone and put the cap around the top plate or put a cap on the flex pipe and attach a collar around the base of the cap.
Any advice on this matter would be helpful, especially if you know of a brand/type of cap that would fit and do what it would need to do.
Ken
I am writing to get advice on placing an appropriate cap on my stove and liner set up. We had a company here in Colorado come out and inspect our chimney on a home we had just purchased and moved into. The company was highly recommended, and my in-laws had used them before, however, the owner had retired and his son-in-law took over the company. He installed a Kuma Alpine and put a wrapped homesaver pro flex liner down the masonry chimney. The company soon after went out of business. From what we were told, the son-in-law did not do nearly as good of a job as the previous owner. I was away at work when they installed this so all I have to go on is the man’s line item invoice he gave to my wife.
I am not a big fan of our Alpine stove and I think it was significantly smaller than what was needed for our home, but that is beside the point.
In the three years since install we have subsequently had three different chimney sweeps out to inspect and sweep the chimney each winter. Each one of them has said different things in regards to our top plate, flex liner and cap. When it was installed, the flex liner was a good half inch less in diameter 6" than the diameter of the top plate 6.5", creating a quarter inch gap around the entire top of the vent/top plate that is not sealed. The top end of the flex pipe is at the same level as the top of the top plate.
The first sweep said the cap that was originally installed was installed on the top plate and not on the pipe and got a cap that would fit a 6 inch pipe. He just left a gap between the flex pipe and the top plate. He said he did not want to seal the flex pipe and the top plate together because due to them being the same height, you need the space between them to remove the cap.
The next company said he did it wrong and they wanted to put the cap on the top plate. We assumed he knew what he was doing, and we let him put it on the way he wanted it too.
The company that was just out said that he did it wrong and he crimped the top plate to get the cap to fit. I have decided to investigate it and put it on the best way I can based on recommendations and what is practical, because it seems like everyone is confused and asking me for more money because someone else doesn't know what they were doing anyway.
From what I have read most people recommend the cap be placed directly on the pipe. The problem I see is that because the top end of the pipe and the highest point of the top plate is the same, if I put a cap on the pipe, it would not be practical to seal the top with a high temp silicone as it would effectively seal the cap to the top of the chimney and cause difficulties with access to sweep the pipe, unless I can find one that will go on the inside of the flex pipe. My other options would be to seal the pipe and the top plate with silicone and put the cap around the top plate or put a cap on the flex pipe and attach a collar around the base of the cap.
Any advice on this matter would be helpful, especially if you know of a brand/type of cap that would fit and do what it would need to do.
Ken
![[Hearth.com] Advice on installing cap to top plate/liner setup.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/332/332544-838303bca9255c69c606728d2eaa242c.jpg?hash=7HDzQXiJNj "[Hearth.com] Advice on installing cap to top plate/liner setup.")
![[Hearth.com] Advice on installing cap to top plate/liner setup.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/332/332545-13e609b16ab5e2f61a450c91f7a3560b.jpg?hash=h-bp8FpSry "[Hearth.com] Advice on installing cap to top plate/liner setup.")
![[Hearth.com] Advice on installing cap to top plate/liner setup.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/332/332546-57535930c28fa6c26e783c96c4903d55.jpg?hash=JM-5WX3bhQ "[Hearth.com] Advice on installing cap to top plate/liner setup.")
![[Hearth.com] Advice on installing cap to top plate/liner setup.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/332/332547-2d3513752528d3c4506d063188034a0d.jpg?hash=Bz6L24cjT- "[Hearth.com] Advice on installing cap to top plate/liner setup.")
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