Expert: James Ball - 11/12/2008

Question
I have a brick chimney that runs through the center of the house.  When I light the wood stove the chimney gets very hot to touch about 4 hours later.  Is this normal?  It does a clay liner.

Answer
Hello Ashley, no that does not sound "normal" do not use it, I would have a local Certified Chimney Sweep (www.csia.org, there you can look up by zip code to find one near you) take a first hand look at what you have. The unit might not be installed properly, maybe faulty or any number of things and they should be able to tell if is it ok to use it this way.
James Ball