Famco Flue Liner Replacement Nationwide

Famco Flue Liner Replacement: The Flushing Owner’s Guide

If your Famco flue liner is cracked, rusted through, or leaking flue gases into your Flushing home, replacement is usually the only fix that holds. We stock Famco-compatible stainless steel liners on our trucks and typically install them for $2,200 to $4,800 in Flushing, depending on liner diameter, flue height, and whether your existing liner needs to be pulled first. Most Flushing homeowners call us after a chimney inspection reveals a failed liner, after a carbon monoxide detector trips, or after they notice water staining on the ceiling near the chimney chase.

Call (516) 240-9191

What surprises most people: a Famco liner rarely fails all at once. It fails in stages. A small crack forms at a seam. Moisture gets in. The crack spreads. By the time you see rust streaks on the outside of the chimney or smell something “off” in the living room, the liner has usually been compromised for months. Here’s what you need to know before you pay for anything.

Which Famco Models This Applies To

Famco has manufactured flue liners for decades, and the replacement path depends on which generation you have. Older Famco liners from the 1980s and 90s were typically single-wall stainless steel, often 316L alloy, in diameters from 4 inches up to 12 inches. Newer Famco liners, especially those sold under the “Flex” and “Rigid” lines, use a corrugated or smooth-wall design meant for gas, oil, and wood applications. The compatibility gotcha we see in Flushing attached homes: the liner diameter stamped on the old part doesn’t always match the appliance BTU rating. A furnace that was upgraded in 2010 may have been connected to a liner sized for the previous unit. We always measure the flue and verify the appliance’s draft requirements before ordering or installing anything.

OEM Famco liners are quality products, but for replacement purposes, a 316L stainless liner from DuraFlex or HeatShield is functionally equivalent and often carries a better warranty for wood-burning applications in our climate. Famco liners spec’d for gas service can show accelerated corrosion when exposed to the acidic condensate produced by modern high-efficiency furnaces. If your Famco liner failed due to condensation rather than age, we’ll recommend a liner alloy rated for that specific condition, not a like-for-like swap that fails again in six years.

Signs Your Famco Flue Liner Replacement Is Failing

• Rust streaks or staining on the chimney exterior. When a stainless liner develops pinholes and cracks, moisture and flue gases condense on the inside of the masonry and push outward. In Flushing brick chimneys, this shows up as rust-colored staining that keeps coming back even after repointing.
• Carbon monoxide detector trips near the fireplace or furnace. A cracked liner lets combustion gases backdraft into the living space instead of venting up and out. This is the one symptom you should not wait on; call us the same day.
• Water in the firebox or at the base of the chimney. A failed liner allows rain and snowmelt to run down the inside of the flue. In attached Flushing rowhouses, this can travel laterally and show up as ceiling stains well away from the chimney itself.
• Soot or creosote odor in the house, even when the fireplace isn’t in use. A liner with open seams lets flue gases escape into the wall cavity. The smell is usually strongest on humid days when the air pressure outside shifts.
• Visible flaking or scaling on the liner surface during an inspection. When we run the camera down a Famco liner that’s failing, we typically see surface delamination and rust scaling that looks like peeling paint. By this point, patching isn’t worth the effort.

Before

After

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

In Flushing, the installed cost for a Famco-compatible flue liner replacement runs roughly $2,200 to $4,800. Here’s the breakdown:

• Liner material (316L stainless, flexible or rigid): $900 to $2,200 depending on diameter and length
• Removal of the old Famco liner: $250 to $600, more if the old liner is stuck behind mortar or crushed in a bend
• Installation labor (two technicians, half day to full day): $700 to $1,400
• New top plate, rain cap, and connector: $150 to $400
• Camera inspection before and after: included, not an add-on

Your written price from us covers all of this: the part, the removal, the install, the new top components, and the before-and-after camera documentation. Nothing gets added after the fact. Under the Haven Standard, Clause 1, you get a written scope and written price before our techs touch anything. The 365-Day Done Right Promise applies to the full job.

DIY or Call Us?

Here’s where we’re honest with Flushing homeowners: removing and replacing a flue liner is not a weekend project. The liner runs the full height of your chimney, often 25 to 35 feet in the attached homes near Flushing Town Hall. It requires dropping the old liner out from the top, pulling it through the existing flue, and feeding the new liner down without snagging it on mortar joints or bends. You need roof access, a second person on the ground, and equipment to handle stainless steel without crushing the corrugations. And if the old liner fails mid-pull and drops, it can damage your smoke chamber or firebox on the way down.

What you can safely do before calling us: check your CO detector batteries, look for visible rust staining on the chimney exterior, and note whether the fireplace has been used recently. That gives us a starting point. But the actual replacement, and the camera verification that the new liner is fitted correctly from top to bottom, is a job for a trained crew. We’re at (516) 240-9191.

FAQs