Olympia Chimney Flue Liner Replacement Nationwide

Olympia Chimney Flue Liner Replacement: The Pasadena Owner’s Guide

An Olympia Chimney flue liner replacement in Pasadena typically runs $1,850 to $2,400 installed, depending on the length and diameter your system needs. We stock common Olympia-compatible sizes on the truck, so most jobs are done in a single visit. You usually find out the liner failed one of two ways: a Level 2 inspection catches it, or you notice flakes of metal in the firebox and a draft that’s gone from marginal to bad.

Call (626) 657-5513

Flint Chimney Co Pasadena is an independent service provider, not affiliated with Olympia Chimney. That means we match the liner to your system the honest way, by measuring what’s actually there, not by pushing whichever part carries the highest margin. If you have an Olympia model and the liner is shot, here’s what you need to know before anyone quotes you a number.

Which Olympia Chimney Models This Applies To

Olympia Chimney makes a few liner lines, and the replacement path depends on which one you have. The two we see most in Pasadena homes are the Olympia 316L stainless flex liner and the Olympia smooth-wall liner. Both come in diameters from 5.5 inches up to 8 inches, but the smooth-wall version runs slightly thicker. If your home was built with a zero-clearance fireplace or a factory-built chimney, you may be dealing with Olympia’s rigid sections instead, which is a different job entirely.

Here’s the compatibility gotcha most Pasadena homeowners run into: Olympia liners are sized by inside diameter, not outside diameter. A homeowner measuring the old liner with a tape measure across the outside will sometimes order the wrong size. We measure the inside diameter with a caliper before quoting, which is why our written price stays accurate and the liner actually fits the first time.

For most Pasadena homes, an aftermarket 316L liner from DuraFlex or Gelco will match an Olympia liner’s performance and carry the same lifespan. If you want to stay with Olympia-branded material, we can order it, but the lead time is usually three to five business days. We’re straightforward about this: the aftermarket 316L liner meets UL 1777, fits the same, and costs less. If Olympia-branded matters to you, we’ll install it. Your call, in writing, before we start.

Signs Your Olympia Chimney Flue Liner Replacement Is Failing

Most liners don’t fail all at once. They fail the way metal does: slowly, then obviously. Here’s what actually tips people off:

• Metal flakes or thin sheets in the firebox. This is the liner delaminating from the inside. The thin stainless wall has been eaten through by years of creosote acid and heat cycling, and pieces are dropping down.
• A draft that got lazy. The liner if it’s cracked or collapsed slightly can’t maintain the updraft it used to. Your fires smoke more, and the fireplace feels like it’s exhaling into the room instead of up the flue.
• You can see daylight through the liner with a flashlight. Hold a light inside the flue from below (when it’s cold, obviously). Pinholes or hairline cracks will show as flecks of light through the metal.
• The chimney smells like barbeque the morning after a fire. That’s creosote and smoke trapped between the liner and the clay tile behind it, seeping back into the house because the liner can’t contain it anymore.
• A recent Level 2 inspection flagged it. If a home inspector or chimney sweep noted “liner deterioration” or “flue perforation,” that’s not a suggestion. That’s the liner doing its thing wrong.

One thing worth saying plainly: a flue liner is literally the only barrier between the fire and the framing of your house. A cracked flue tile behind a failed liner is a known chimney fire risk in Pasadena, where we get just enough cold nights to run hot fires, and the heat cycling does real work on old metal.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

For a standard one-story Pasadena chimney with a 6-inch round liner, the installed price for an Olympia-compatible flue liner replacement runs $1,850 to $2,400. Taller chimneys, 8-inch diameter systems, or jobs that require removing a crown or repairing the clay tile behind the liner push toward the top of that range, sometimes a little past it. Nothing goes past the number without a signed change order and your okay first.

Here’s the breakdown of what that number includes, in writing, every time:

• Parts: The 316L stainless liner, top plate, rain cap, and connector. We price these at cost-plus, and we show you the line item.
• Labor: Removal of the old liner, prep of the clay flue, drop-in installation, and securing the top and bottom connections.
• Camera verification: After the liner is in, we run a camera through it and show you the footage before we pack up. You see what we see.
• The 365-Day Done Right Promise: Every flue liner replacement carries a written guarantee valid for one full year. If a covered repair fails within that period, we return at no charge. No argument, no re-quote.

DIY or Call Us?

You can do one thing yourself safely: look. Shine a flashlight up the flue from the firebox and look for the flakes, pinholes, or warping we described above. Clean out the firebox and check for thin metal pieces. That’s useful diagnostic work, and it’ll help you ask the right questions when you call.

What we don’t recommend is dropping a new liner yourself. The liner has to be sized correctly, ovalized to fit past the damper without kinking, and connected at both ends so the draft actually works. Get it wrong and you’ve spent a Saturday and a few hundred dollars to make the chimney draft worse. And the work happens on the roof, on a Pasadena tile or tile-and-tar roof that doesn’t love ladder traffic. A liner that isn’t seated right is a carbon monoxide path into the house, not just a bad draft. That’s the work you want a trained crew doing.

If you’re in Pasadena and the flakes are showing, call (626) 657-5513. We’ll quote you a flat price in writing before any work starts. The flue either draws or it doesn’t. Let’s find out which.

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