Help Identify this liner and how it is accessed?

[Kipling79]

I have ordered a soot-eater and am exploring ways to clean my liner from the bottom up. I was told the previous owner had experienced a flue fire and that insurance paid for a new SS liner (of what type I don't know).

I plan to go through the stove to clean the stove pipes, but from there I don't like the sharp radius into the vertical liner.

For such a dirty job, I was hoping to gain access through the clean-out or the 10" port accessible from inside my attached garage; but, when I pointed my camera up through the port, this is what I found:



I am guessing that the "handle" attached to this cap was designed so that I could pull it off for cleaning, with the peremiter of bent straps used to secure it by friction? I have no experience with these things and the cap doesn't seem to budge (unnerving given how flimsy the handle looks).

I was hoping to get confirmation before I use more force.

Also, this looks homemade to me, but if it isn't, does anyone recognize the brand/style? I'm trying to figure out what kind of liner they installed.

 

[begreen]

Looks like an rectangular liner tee or end cap. Can you reach the cap easily?

 

[stoveliker]

The bent tabs are spot welded to the cap plate, it appears. So those won't bend open. If they are attached to the liner, you can't open it.
Can you stick the camera so that your can loo sideways at this cap?

 

[Kipling79]

The bent tabs are spot welded to the cap plate, it appears. So those won't bend open. If they are attached to the liner, you can't open it.
Can you stick the camera so that your can loo sideways at this cap?

There isn't much clearance on the sides to get a camera at that angle. But, looking back at the picture, there are gaps big enough at the corners that I might be able to use a finger and see if I can feel how it is constructed. Heck, I might be able to get a picture inside the gap. Will give it a shot.

Looks like an rectangular liner tee or end cap. Can you reach the cap easily?

It's a little awkward. This photo is looking up from a 10" tera-cotta port that is 5'-6' off the ground, and I have to insert most of my forearm into that original vertical liner to even reach the cap.

 

[Kipling79]

Looks like an rectangular liner tee or end cap. Can you reach the cap easily?

The bent tabs are spot welded to the cap plate, it appears. So those won't bend open. If they are attached to the liner, you can't open it.
Can you stick the camera so that your can loo sideways at this cap?

Wow, this is a little embarrassing but it seems that the old fashioned way of figuring things out would have saved me from creating this thread.

The original photo makes it appear that there is zero clearance around the new and old liners, so I didn't explore much with my hand.

At your prompting, I went out again and was able to feel all the way around it. It does feel like a 3" to 4" tall cap that is slid over the end of the tee. With the newly discovered clearances (and avoiding the fragile handle), I was able to grasp it tightly and budge it.

Definitely much happier now. I am looking forward to setting up some tarps and popping her loose tomorrow for cleaning (and hopefully finding a double wall pipe rather than flex).

 

[moresnow]

Looks like a homemade end cap that is not removable. Possibly?
Can this liner be cleaned top down?
Then pull the connector pipe and run a shop vac into the liner and down to the bottom cap to pick up the residue?
Just a thought.

Never mind! Sounds like you have a solution.

 

[Kipling79]

Looks like a homemade end cap that is not removable. Possibly?
Can this liner be cleaned top down?
Then pull the connector pipe and run a shop vac into the liner and down to the bottom cap to pick up the residue?
Just a thought.

Never mind! Sounds like you have a solution.

Fingers are still crossed. I am 99% sure I budged it, and not the whole tee. But there is that 1%.

Technically it is accessible from the top... with the right tools and no fear of heights. It's a near 45 degree pitch to scramble up, and then a 6' climb to the top of the chimney even from the high side.

 

[begreen]

I think it's a commercial end cap, but it may have been made at a sheet metal shop. Not a lot of home owners or sweeps have a spot welder. If you can reach the cap from below, great!

 

[bholler]

Yes that is a Comercial cap for sure. It is probably screwed or riveted in place or it would have fallen off by now. And I seriously doubt it's double wall