Flex King Pro
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I quote you James. From last month.
"There is a new liner that some have available online, it is a medium weight liner. We call ours the Flex King HD. Due to its construction it is slightly heavier, but will not have any issues like the smooth inner wall liner have. It is a great alternative to the smooth inner wall liners."
From this thread.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/chimney-liner-depot-a-customer-service.95228/
"There is a new liner that some have available online, it is a medium weight liner. We call ours the Flex King HD. Due to its construction it is slightly heavier, but will not have any issues like the smooth inner wall liner have. It is a great alternative to the smooth inner wall liners."
From this thread.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/chimney-liner-depot-a-customer-service.95228/
It can get dented even before the install, I know my liner showed up with dents from UPS chunking the oversize box off the truck.
chimneylinerjames
Feeling the Heat
Basically this is what it comes down to. All liners have there positives and negatives.
Single ply liners are cheap. Light weight. Very flexible. But it also can dent easily, it is not smooth wall, creosote will build up more.
The 2 ply can be coiled then uncoiled and installed with no issues what so ever. It has better draft over a single ply liner. If it becomes dented the inner layer can lift some. Is it still safe? Absolutely.
The HD liner is incredibly strong. As I did mention in another post it does not have any issues like the 2 ply liner. You can dent it and no inner layer will raise. Yes it is slightly heavier and not quite as flexible. This liner is perfect for installs where it will be getting beat up while being installed. You know there will be no change in the liner structure.
So its your choice on what liner best fits your needs.
Single ply liners are cheap. Light weight. Very flexible. But it also can dent easily, it is not smooth wall, creosote will build up more.
The 2 ply can be coiled then uncoiled and installed with no issues what so ever. It has better draft over a single ply liner. If it becomes dented the inner layer can lift some. Is it still safe? Absolutely.
The HD liner is incredibly strong. As I did mention in another post it does not have any issues like the 2 ply liner. You can dent it and no inner layer will raise. Yes it is slightly heavier and not quite as flexible. This liner is perfect for installs where it will be getting beat up while being installed. You know there will be no change in the liner structure.
So its your choice on what liner best fits your needs.
phatdonkey
Member
What ever came of the OPs liner? I read this post the day after ordering my liner, and was worried about it. I inspected it very well when i got it. no dents on the outside, and smooth all the way thru looking from both ends with 3 friends helping me keep it straight. insulated it and was super careful not to bend or hit it against anything during the install. it is a 25 foot long 6 inch FKP with insulation installed in a 13x13 clay tiled chimney. insulated above the block off plate with about 2 feet of roxul, and stuffed roxul around the liner as far as i could below the top plate. i only used so much roxul because i had to buy a bag of it, couldnt get just a few batts. at any rate, this weekend, less than 3 months after the install i swept the liner with my meeco 6 inch poly brush, which barely makes good contact with the inside of the liner, and i hit a rough spot on the way out of the liner about 8 feet from the top.
i will be getting a borescope camera this week and inspect it to see if the same issue happened to mine. im mostly just curious what the OP ended up doing.
i will be getting a borescope camera this week and inspect it to see if the same issue happened to mine. im mostly just curious what the OP ended up doing.
in my opinion it is junk once that happens the only liner i saw that was that type that had had a fire in it had burnt through where there was a pucker like that. That tells me if you have a fire it may not do its job of containing that fire correctly.
phatdonkey
Member
I still haven't gotten someone to help me scope my liner with the camera i bought (need someone to hold the laptop while i position the camera, the cord isnt long enough to do it from the ground, and I wont have the wife go up the ladder).
Lets say when i do get some pics of it, and if they offer a new liner due to defect. will I have to buy a new insulation kit for it? the old one will be greatly reduced in its abilities if i had to cut it off im sure. also, instead of getting the flex king pro, could i pay the difference to upgrade to the HD liner?
Im gonna make it a point to get up there this week and get some footage and stills of whats going on in the liner. ill post pics here and see what the board says, as well as send the pics to CLD to see what they say. just curious if anyone has had a liner replaced and knows the ins and outs, like if the insulation is covered with the replacement.
Lets say when i do get some pics of it, and if they offer a new liner due to defect. will I have to buy a new insulation kit for it? the old one will be greatly reduced in its abilities if i had to cut it off im sure. also, instead of getting the flex king pro, could i pay the difference to upgrade to the HD liner?
Im gonna make it a point to get up there this week and get some footage and stills of whats going on in the liner. ill post pics here and see what the board says, as well as send the pics to CLD to see what they say. just curious if anyone has had a liner replaced and knows the ins and outs, like if the insulation is covered with the replacement.
phatdonkey:
I see that you posted fairly recently, so I will add another 2 cents to the commentary on Flex King Pro. I haven't posted in awhile - been busy - but not in jail.
Similar to your liner, my FKP is 6 inches by about 25 feet. The liner is insulated and runs inside Terra Cotta tiles, about 13 inch rectangular. I have a block-off plate isolating the chimney, and the block-off-plate is backed up with ROXUL insulation. Last fall, after I had cleaned the liner with a poly brush, I scoped the liner with a rented professional camera. While I had Clyde's baffle and soapstones out, I scoped from the bottom up and then the top down. My wife assisted as this is really a two-person job. The results were not significant. That is, the liner showed no bulges, dents, tears, or other defects. There was nothing at all that would cause me concern. So I put the unit back together and used Clyde all during the 2014/2015 during burning season with no issues. Clyde worked like a champ.
I post this information only because other wood burners that have installed 2-ply liners have reported problems with those liners. Those reports are true, and I don't dispute those reports. Those reports may cause concern for those of us with 2-ply liners. The flip side of the coin is that there are other users such as myself that have installed the Flex King Pro liner, a 2-ply liner, and have not experienced problems.
Have a wonderful day everyone, a Go Boise State!
Thankyou for your input and i agree they can work fine. But i have seen to many issues with them to ever recommend them. And i absolutely don't think they are worth the extra money over a regular lightwall. But no i am by no means saying you should pull one that is fine.
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