New wood burner WITHOUT lining chimney?

specktor

Hi all, I have a victorian chimney with a rubbish '70s gas fire in it. We have unlimited wod andcan get coal I want to move off gas and back to a stove. I have had a quote of £2,000 to line the chimney - and backfill to a register plate, to put in a multifuel burner. Do I have any options?
1) Leave the chimney as is and put in an open fire.
2) Put in a stove with a pipe that leads to an unlined chimney.
3) Put in a stove with a pipe that leads to a "minimally lined" chimney
4) Put in a stove that leads to a fully lined, backfilled, chimney.

I appreciate what building regs say. What are the real and practicle thoughts of the readers out there?

Cheers

poorly_scammo

It cost £500 to line my chimney. You don't always have to have your chimney lined. My installers lit a smoke bomb in the fireplace and watched to see where the smoke went. In my case, the smoke was seeping into the loft and out of the bricks on the chimney so I had to have it lined.

£2000 to line a chimney seems very steep.

Whereabouts do you live?

specktor

....In a three floored Victorian house.
If I can just get a guy with ladders and a head for heights to drop a liner down, I can do the rest.

Do I need a register plate if I get a liner connected to a stove?
cheers

poorly_scammo

specktor wrote: »

....In a three floored Victorian house.
If I can just get a guy with ladders and a head for heights to drop a liner down, I can do the rest.

Do I need a register plate if I get a liner connected to a stove?
cheers

Not sure about that. If you lived in Yorkshire I could have put you in touch with someone.

This the best I could come up with,Some links to HETAS etc.

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/design-style/shopping-guides/wood-burning-stoves-help-tips-advice-09-09-07_p_3.html

Grz.26

I am in the same quandary. I am going to buy some chimney liner. £150 approx from a website, (my plumber can get trade price on here, then I will either do it my self with a mate or get my plumber to help. I refused to pay 2000 to get it done!

Some websites tell you exactly how to install. have a look at this one.

http://www.fluesystems.com/liners/info/chimney_liner.htm

Let me know how you get on.

Rich

specktor

I appreciated that it all needs to be safe. And if we come to sell the house it all needs to be legal and certificated.

However I'm surprised that it isn't clearer on what is the minimum that DIYers can do.

I am leaning strongly towards a multifuel "stove" - and cant see why dropping a flexi-tube down and connecting it to a stove - without a register plate - is wrong. I have read that ideally the pipe should be backfilled to make sure it is running as hot as possible to avoid condensation inside - if it is swept regulalry and "air-tight", is this such an issue?

What does the register plate add if the stove is connected to the pipe which leads out to the roof? - just for debris and draft?

Another good site is...
diydoctor.org.uk/projects/woodburner

cheers

Grz.26

specktor wrote: »

What does the register plate add if the stove is connected to the pipe which leads out to the roof? - just for debris and draft?

As I understand yes.

Igol

Dont forget without the reg plate all that lovely heat will be following the smoke.

owned_by_2_Siamese

3 years ago had woodburner installed in new house with chimney (all to building reg) installer (HETAS registered) said no need for liner as flue inside was concrete and fine. Trust me it was a disaster until you have had hot creosote running down the bottom of the chimney you have no idea! We had another co round after the problem, who said needed liner -they always installed them as new 'clean burn' stoves really prone to lower flue temps (which causes the smoke to condense and run down!) we had to have stove removed and some serious cleaning done (which involved burning off as much as possible) - and before anyone says it was the wood, after 20 years experience I promise it was seasoned and the stove run properly. Retro fitting the liner was expensive and time consuming (as the chimney was by now in a state!) - and you have to have the gap between the liner and the chimney insulated to keep the liner warm (and stop the tar condensing) Now its fair to say our chimney is on the outside and faces north (onto nothing but open moor land!) so may have played a factor - but I would striongly advise that if you intend to use the stove a lot (i.e daily in the winter) you have the liner installed - I would never not have it agin! We were lucky the goo that came down one night (on the outside of the short pipe that went into the base of the chimney) caught fire on the top of the stove. We were in the room and acted quickly - so please have a liner its a safety issue too!

(just my view based on my expereince! Oh - and did I mention the unbearable smell we had for weeks after?)

savemoney

Our 3 bedroom 1930 semi had a stainless chimney liner, I had two guys round to price up the costs to fit and both said that most installations need a chimney liner

Grz.26

Is it reasonable to pay them 2k for this though>/? it seems loads of money! considering my stove cost me £450.