Famco Flue Liner Replacement Nationwide

Famco Flue Liner Replacement: The Atlanta Owner’s Guide

Replacing a Famco flue liner in Atlanta typically runs between $2,800 and $4,600 installed, depending on the liner diameter, chimney height, and whether we’re doing a straight swap or dealing with deteriorated masonry around it. We stock Famco-compatible stainless steel liners on our trucks and can usually complete the replacement in a single visit once we’ve confirmed measurements from your camera inspection. Most Atlanta homeowners discover they need this because a chimney sweep flags rust-through during an annual inspection, or because a furnace or water heater starts venting poorly and the exhaust smell backs into the house.

Call (678) 263-7908

Famco makes solid, serviceable liners that hold up well in most conditions, but Atlanta’s humidity and our hot, wet summers accelerate corrosion on any steel liner that’s been exposed to years of acidic flue gas condensation. When a Famco liner fails, it’s usually not a sudden collapse. It’s pinholes and rust scaling that let carbon monoxide and combustion gases slip through the liner walls and into the chimney cavity, where they can find their way into living spaces. The fix is straightforward: measure, remove, replace, and verify with a post-installation camera pass.

Which Famco Models This Applies To

Famco has produced flue liners under several model lines over the years, and the compatibility question matters more than most homeowners expect. The common Famco stainless steel liners we see in Atlanta homes include their flexible corrugated liners (often sold as universal-fit for gas furnaces and water heaters) and their rigid single-wall and double-wall sections used in fireplace and wood stove applications. The diameter is the most important spec: Famco liners typically run 4″, 5″, 6″, 7″, and 8″ for appliance venting, with larger sizes for open fireplaces. The diameter is usually stamped on the liner itself, often near the top or on the appliance connector.

The compatibility gotcha with Famco is the connection type. Older Famco liners used a crimped male/female friction fit, while their newer models moved to a banded clamp system. If your existing liner is crimped and the replacement section is a clamp style, you’ll need a transition adapter, and not every supplier stocks them. We keep both Famco connection styles on the truck along with the adapters, because we’ve been through this enough times to know that the part you need is rarely the part that comes in the box by default.

On the OEM-versus-aftermarket question: for gas appliance venting, a quality stainless aftermarket liner that matches the diameter and connection type will serve you just as well as a Famco-branded liner, often at a meaningfully lower parts cost. We’re not affiliated with Famco, so we have no incentive to push their brand when an equivalent does the job. What we won’t do is install a cheaper aluminum liner where a stainless one is required, or substitute a thinner gauge to hit a lower number. The liner has one job: keeping exhaust gases inside the pipe until they exit the chimney. That’s not a place to save $40.

Signs Your Famco Flue Liner Replacement Is Failing

• Soot stains or rust streaks on the chimney exterior – When a liner develops pinholes, moisture and combustion byproducts wick through the masonry and leave visible staining. In Atlanta’s humid climate, this shows up faster than in dry regions because the moisture never fully evaporates.
• Exhaust smell in the house when the furnace or water heater runs – This is the red flag we take most seriously. If combustion gases are finding their way into the living space, the liner has breached somewhere. Don’t wait on this one; carbon monoxide is odorless and the smell you’re catching is just the component you can detect.
• Visible rust scale on the liner during a flashlight inspection – If you can see flaking rust or pitting on the liner surface from the cleanout door or the top of the chimney, the metal is actively degrading. Surface rust is one thing; scaling that crumbles when touched means the structural integrity is going.
• Water in the firebox or around the appliance connector after rain – A compromised liner lets water track down the chimney chase and into the firebox. In older Atlanta homes with brick chimneys and original tile liners, this is often compounded by a failing chimney cap, but if the cap is intact and water still gets in, the liner is the likely culprit.
• Appliance keeps tripping the spill switch or drafting poorly – Modern gas appliances have safety systems that shut off when exhaust doesn’t vent properly. If your furnace or water heater has started shutting down intermittently and the diagnosis is “poor draft,” a deteriorated or blocked liner section is near the top of the list.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

In Atlanta, a straight Famco flue liner replacement with no masonry repairs runs $2,800 to $3,900 for most single appliance or fireplace applications. Taller chimneys and larger diameters push the number toward $4,600 or beyond when scaffolding or special access equipment is needed. The price includes the liner, connectors, top plate, rain cap, and all labor. We don’t itemize it as parts plus labor to make the number sound smaller; you get one written number before we start, and that’s the number on the invoice.

Here’s what the range typically breaks down to:

The Kingswell Guarantee covers this repair in writing. If the liner fails within 365 days, we return and correct it at no charge. That’s the whole promise, and it’s not pro-rated, it’s not conditional on a maintenance plan, and it’s written on the paperwork before we start. Nathan Corliss has been doing it this way long enough to know that a guarantee you’d be embarrassed to honor isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

DIY or Call Us?

There’s an honest split here. You can safely inspect your own liner with a flashlight from the cleanout door or the roof (if you’re comfortable on a ladder), and you can note rust, gaps, or water staining for a professional to evaluate. That’s useful information, and we’ll listen to what you found. What you shouldn’t do is attempt a liner removal and replacement yourself. This is not a part-swap like replacing a light fixture. We’re talking about running a steel pipe through a vertical chase that may have offsets, and the consequences of a bad fit are carbon monoxide leaking into a wall cavity where you’ll never see it.

If you’re reasonably handy and want to understand the job before you pay for it, call us at (678) 263-7908 and we’ll walk you through what we found in the camera inspection, what we’re replacing, and why. We’ll tell you the price before anything else. Tell me the price first, then tell me why – that’s the only way I know how to do it.

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