Fitting wood burner

[Frantic Farmer]

We have in the past fitted them in our farm house very successfully just blocking off the chimney with a plate . Just wondering if one is fitted nowadays by a "professional' . Are they likely to insist on fitting a liner/flue pipe . Building regs ?.

 

[Lincs Lass]

You cant do them yourself now ,,they have to be installed by a Hestas fitter and a flue pipe is a must ,,once the liner is in ,they fill the voids with a fire retardant material ,almost like vermiculite to cut out any heat loss .
New log burners also have to meet stricter burn emissions

 

[Lincs Lass]

A new installation will also need an air vent of 100mm through an outside wall in the same room so be mindfull of where it will go as not to create a draft when the burner isnt fired up,,

 

[Kidds]

I’d say it was a good idea to fit a liner, I wouldn’t be in a rush to pour vermiculite down the chimney though.
The vent thing depends on age of house, the assumption being that older means more draughty.
I think I’d still fit my own and ask a Hetas guy to inspect and sign off if I was worried about it.

 

[Still Farming]

Another job for the boys.
Brand new stove clamped to flexipipe into existing fireplace,distances around combustible surfaces ,air flow and ventilation as stated ,fire backstop and chimney pipe fill.
Carbon monoxide alarm fitted thats it?

 

[Still Farming]

I’d say it was a good idea to fit a liner, I wouldn’t be in a rush to pour vermiculite down the chimney though.
The vent thing depends on age of house, the assumption being that older means more draughty.
I think I’d still fit my own and ask a Hetas guy to inspect and sign off if I was worried about it.

They won't or should'nt sign off if they never fitted?

 

[Tomtrac]

Boss-landlord told me by new law i had to now pay for a certified chimney sweep to clean log burner once a year minimum and supplier them with certificate
I have always opened up flue pipe/chimney and put brush and rods threw it
Have left that job now
When they put in a new log burner fitter told me of its under a certain size (kw) it dont need a vent in
but if log burner didnt have a plate stating age and kw fire had to be replaced

 

[melted welly]

We’ve done 2 recently and chap who fitted it advised against vermiculite.

definitly fit a liner and sweep the chimney before fitting it, otherwise (we’ve since discovered) the liner can accumulate soot during fitting which then stinks and creates smoke in the chimney when the flue heats up. Stops after a couple of burns.

 

[Lincs Lass]

The company that repaired my rayburn use this stuff instead of having to drop a liner in ,,Thermocrete
http://thermocrete.com/thermocrete-systems .
It replaces a stainless liner

 

[br jones]

Vermiculite every time ,,keeps the liner warm ,less build up of crap on inside of liner as thliner is warmer .plus it insulates the chimney and stops any tar deposits warming up and dropping down to the register plate ,

 

[Exfarmer]

Do not use vermiculite! Eventually acids in the flue from burning wood will burn out your liner and the vermiculite will slowly descend into the stove. Been there done that.
use a thermocrete liner either pumped or from ready made sections
there are very good reasons for the Heetas regs. many house fore and lives were lost when these wood burning stoves were first introduced. They were often fitted in old chimneys with just a register plate, the resulting soot and tar falling down the chimney made an ideal spot for a slow burning fire to take hold and slowly burn into any timbers near the chimney

 

[milkloss]

Vermiculite every time and make sure you insulate the pot well or remove it. Had a local 'specialist' (aga/Rayburn/everhot/grant hetas etc) installthis chimney without and I couldn't get my hand in the hole after one winter with a wood/coal fired Rayburn. They were not helpful over it so just paid another bloke to insulate it.
i wasn't in the tele bucket with a ladder as an extension. We don't do stupid stuff like that.

 

[Lincs Lass]

Vermiculite every time and make sure you insulate the pot well or remove it. Had a local 'specialist' (aga/Rayburn/everhot/grant hetas etc) installthis chimney without and I couldn't get my hand in the hole after one winter with a wood/coal fired Rayburn. They were knots over it so just paid another bloke to insulate it.
i wasn't in the tele bucket with a ladder as an extension. We don't do stupid stuff like that.

My rayburn now has a 7 inch liner ,,when the guys came to fix mine ,they said a 6 inch wasnt big enough ,,I swept it last week and the only stuff up it was propper fine soot ,no clinkers like it used to get ,,its burning every little bit

 

[Kidds]

Vermiculite every time and make sure you insulate the pot well or remove it. Had a local 'specialist' (aga/Rayburn/everhot/grant hetas etc) installthis chimney without and I couldn't get my hand in the hole after one winter with a wood/coal fired Rayburn. They were not helpful over it so just paid another bloke to insulate it.
i wasn't in the tele bucket with a ladder as an extension. We don't do stupid stuff like that.

Burning wood that isn't dry does that.
A couple of my cousins suffer the same, mine is fine. I dry my wood, they don't. Same wood from same source.
I even gave one of them a bag of my logs, they couldn't believe how hot they were compared to theirs. They were from the same trees!

ps. you have a lot of broken tiles.

 

[Tomtrac]

Vermiculite every time and make sure you insulate the pot well or remove it. Had a local 'specialist' (aga/Rayburn/everhot/grant hetas etc) installthis chimney without and I couldn't get my hand in the hole after one winter with a wood/coal fired Rayburn. They were not helpful over it so just paid another bloke to insulate it.
i wasn't in the tele bucket with a ladder as an extension. We don't do stupid stuff like that.

I take it thats the top off chimney
Do you have a cowling over the top to stop water going in as could the soot not turn to the tar-black stuff with heat soot and water.
I have only come across soot nothing like your picture but on the four or five i have done they all had tops on to keep water out
Nothing worse than opening the bottom door in a log burner in the autumn to get sooty black water come out into house from heavy rain coming down chimney

 

[Wild Oat]

We have a modern house with a 9” clay liner previously only used with a gas fire, has anybody any experiences of connecting a logburner to similar with a ‘clay flue adaptor’?

 

[topcat2006]

I installed my own log burning stove after getting quotes from HETAS registered installers. They all wanted to put a liner in - without inspecting the chimney to see if it needed a liner. If they had looked they would have seen it already had one. Their response was that by law they needed to fit a liner....

I downloaded the regs and installed to those and did a chimney test to ensure no leaks.

I then contacted the local planning department, paid £75 and got one of their inspectors to come out and made him a cup of tea whilst he inspected the installation.

We discussed the regs in depth and how I had done what and he signed it all off. Dead easy and a fraction of the £2k cost I was quoted for installation alone.

 

[Ukjay]

We have a modern house with a 9” clay liner previously only used with a gas fire, has anybody any experiences of connecting a logburner to similar with a ‘clay flue adaptor’?

When we lived in a Modern house, we fitted a wood burner and all they do is add a Stainless Liner down the existing pot to the fireplace with a closure plate etc.

 

[milkloss]

I take it thats the top off chimney
Do you have a cowling over the top to stop water going in as could the soot not turn to the tar-black stuff with heat soot and water.
I have only come across soot nothing like your picture but on the four or five i have done they all had tops on to keep water out
Nothing worse than opening the bottom door in a log burner in the autumn to get sooty black water come out into house from heavy rain coming down chimney

yes. Took the lid off for the pic....... not sure if we ever put it back on, I'll look as I go by in a minute. Rayburn gets a lot of use.

 

[Dry Rot]

I put a wood burner in my house many years ago and did not bother with the regs. Then replaced it more recently with a Woodwarm. I phoned the buidings department and was told that as I was simply replacing a stove, they did not need to inspect it! I did all the work myself except the liner which I decided was needed as the clay liners had cracked. But I am in Scotland where the regulations either aren't so strict or are not enforced.

Over forty years ago I put my own stove in. The chimney was not lined and used to get "swept" by shoving a few crumpled newspapers in at the stove and burning the chimney out which was quite exciting. The chimney fire was regulated by shoving a damp sack up the bottom of the chimney. The mortar in the chimney eventually failed and the spare bedroom would fill with smoke. Makes me feel quite faint to think about it now!

The biggest problem I have experienced over the years is birds' nests but my latest sweep fixed me up with a proper cowl. The installer who put in the liner tied a piece of mesh over the pot which kept the birds out but eventually clogged with condensing soot leading to a smokey fire. I cleaned a nest out of that first chimney by slipping a polythene bag of petrol over the pot with a long pole. The fireworks when I added a burning rag were quite spectacular, but it did shift the nest!