Level 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
Famco Flue Liner Replacement: The Commack Owner’s Guide
A Famco flue liner replacement in Commack typically runs $1,850 to $3,400 installed, depending on the liner diameter, length, and whether we’re pulling an old liner or dropping one into a bare flue. We keep the common Famco-compatible sizes on the truck, so most jobs get done in a single visit. We’re an independent service provider, not affiliated with Famco, but we’ve installed and serviced their products for years around Suffolk County.
Most owners discover they need this replacement three ways: a chimney sweep flags it during an annual cleaning, a home inspector catches it before a sale, or worst case, water starts staining the ceiling around the chimney chase. Sometimes it’s a rust-through at the bottom near the appliance connector. Other times the liner seams have opened up from years of heating and cooling. Either way, once a liner is compromised, it stops doing its one job: keeping heat and combustion gases moving up and out instead of into the house.
Which Famco Models This Applies To
Famco makes a few different liner lines, and matching the replacement to what’s already in your chimney matters more than most people expect. The stainless steel flexible liners come in diameters from 4 inches up to 12 inches, in both 316L and 304 alloy. The 316L is what you want for oil-fired appliances because it stands up to the acidic condensate oil produces. The 304 holds up fine for gas and wood in most Commack homes.
The gotcha: a lot of Famco jobs we see were installed with single-wall flexible liner sections connected by pop rivets, and those rivet points are where corrosion eats through first in our humid Long Island summers. If your old liner has crimped snap-together seams rather than a continuous welded seam, you’ll want the replacement done right rather than matched part-for-part to what failed. We also see older Famco-to-furnace connector pipe that has burned thin at the transition collar. When we come out, we check the full run from the appliance to the cap.
Signs Your Famco Flue Liner Replacement Is Failing
- Water staining on the ceiling or walls near the chimney chase. A pinhole in the liner lets flue gas condense inside the chase, and the moisture migrates through drywall over time. Once you see the stain, the leak has been there a while.
- Chunks of scale or flaky metal in the cleanout at the base of the chimney. This is liner material sloughing off from the inside. It’s the most direct sign you have a liner problem, not just a dirty flue.
- A smell of oil or gas exhaust in the house when the appliance fires up. This means the liner can no longer carry the full draft, and spillage is happening at the appliance level. Spillage is how carbon monoxide enters living space, so treat it as urgent.
- Rust staining visible on the exposed sections of the liner above the roofline or at the appliance connector. Surface rust outside means deeper oxidation inside. Metal that fails from the inside almost always shows signs on the outside first.
- The furnace or boiler has started short-cycling or losing its draft on windy days. A compromised liner changes the pressure dynamics of the whole flue system, and appliances respond by misbehaving. That’s not a coincidence.
Replacement Cost & What’s Included
In Commack, an installed Famco flue liner replacement lands between $1,850 and $3,400. The spread comes down to this: how tall the chimney is, what diameter the appliance requires, whether we’re pulling the old liner out or just dropping the new one in, and whether the crown and cap need attention while we’re up there. A straight swap of a 6-inch by 25-foot liner at the bottom of that range. An oversized liner on a steep roof with a failing crown goes higher.
Every price we quote includes the liner, the fittings, the labor, the cap hardware, and our 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. You’ll hear the full number before anything comes off the truck. Camera inspection and photo report come with the job, so you see what we saw before and after.
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely check a few things yourself. Walk around the chimney base and look for rust flakes at the cleanout. Look for staining on the ceiling around the chase. Look up at the liner above the roofline with binoculars and check for rust or separated seams. That’s about as far as it goes.
Pulling a liner out of a chimney and fishing a new one down is not a weekend project. It takes two people on the roof, the right rigging, and a know-how about what happens when a 30-foot flexible steel tube decides to snag halfway down a masonry flue. We have been doing this since 1999, through all kinds of Commack roofs and chimneys, and I can tell you the tools alone cost more than hiring us. If you do not need a new liner, we will tell you that too. Call (631) 502-3612 and we will put eyes on it.
FAQs
A Famco flue liner in Commack lasts 15 to 25 years depending on fuel type and how often the chimney is swept. Oil-fired systems corrode liners faster than gas, and our humid coastal air contributes. Annual inspections catch early wear.
Call (631) 502-3612 and we’ll take a look.
Small pinholes at the connector can sometimes be patched, but once a liner shows multiple rust-throughs or failing seams, a patch simply moves the problem down the line. The material is already structurally weak. Full replacement is the honest answer most of the time.
Call (631) 502-3612 for a straight assessment.
A typical Famco flue liner replacement in Commack takes four to six hours, start to finish. We’ll be on the roof, in the basement, and gone the same day with a photo report in hand.
Call (631) 502-3612 to schedule.
We keep the common Famco-compatible diameters in 316L and 304 stainless on the truck, so most Commack jobs do not wait on parts. We also stock liner and connector pipe from DuraFlex, HeatShield, and Gelco. If we need a specific size outside our normal inventory, we get it in a day or two.
Call (631) 502-3612 and we will confirm what you need.
Written by Wendell Pike, Owner, Top Hat Chimney at Top Hat Chimney, serving Commack and nearby areas.





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