On chimneys

While on holiday I got used to the having a rather scruffy roof.  In the foreground the flue for the gas boiler is showing some black deposits caused by the burner needing a service.  I hadn't worried when I found the chimney next along was rusted so much that it would barely sit on the chimney collar.  No problem, I thought, as I still have an old one.  However, as rust never sleeps, that one was little better and the liner had almost fallen out.  You can just see bits of it in the gully to the right.  So we bought a nice shiny one as a replacement.

 This is made out of encouragingly thick stainless steel, and looks made to last.  Here it is with some insulation wrapped in foil that I used to pack the gap you can see between the inner and outer skins to reduce condensation.  Early signs are favourable, as with the tight fit on the collar and the screwed on coolie hat it has also survived some unavoidable excursions through low trees on the offside of the canal.