Incorrectly fitted multifuel stove?

Maccy25

We have recently moved into a house which has a multi fuel burner in the living room. We were told by the vendors they had fitted this less than 18 months before and not knowing anything about stoves didn't think to ask any questions. The stove has a rear horizontal flue into an external chimney. On using the stove we found there was a lot of smoke coming out of the door when refuelling it. We therefore got the chimney sweep out last week who did the chimney (having to remove stove due to positioning of flues) and said he didn't think the stove had been fitted properly and wasn't drawing properly despite the sweep. I have since been told that the horizontal flue should be no longer than 6inches from rear of stove? Ours is at least 2 foot!

Anyway, I am trying to find someone to come out and look at stove and advise but my question is also, should this have been picked up by a survey when we bought the house? Am I right in thinking you need building regs approval to get a stove fitted? Can we check approval was gained?? Previous owners left no info on stove so no idea who fitted it or anything. Any advice would be gratefully received! Thanks

wintergirl

Your install does sound questionable on a number of points.

When you moved in, you should of received from the last owners paperwork about the install. This would either of been in the form a Building Reg pass certificate, or a HETAS self certified certificate.
Your surveyor / solicitor should of picked up about that, so if you have nothing, my first port of call would be to them.

Basically, when you want a solid fuel stove installed, you have 2 routes to follow :
1) You go down the DIY way, (following Building Regs Part J), and you inform the council, who will issue a Building Reg Certificate once they are satisfied it all complies.
2) You get a HETAS approved engineer to install it, who is then allowed to self-certify. Either way, you end up with a piece of paper saying it meets the necessary building regs, and if done by Hetas, gives the installers details as well.

These regs, I am pretty sure, say there should be no more than 6 inchs of horizontal flue. You are allowed a max of, I think, 4 x 45 degree angles, but thats it. Otherwise the draw on the flue will likely be rubbish.
You should not have to move the stove everytime you want to sweep the chimney. Again, I think this would fail building regs, as technically, the sweep who cleans your chimney is re-installing the stove each time.
Lots of people on here with stove experience, so I'm sure more will add to mine to help you later!

w50nky

Winter girl has it covered. You should not have a horizontal run of stove pipe like you have. A surveyor would probably not know the regs regarding your stove. Maybe he was giving a valuation for mortgage purposes?

I would contact you solicitor in the first instance and let him know your concerns as you believe the intstall to be in breach of building regs and unsafe. You should have some sort of paperwork from the vendors. Do you have an approved carbon monoxide alarm? If not get one ASAP.

muckybutt

Good post wintergirl :T

Your sweep should have also walked away from the job, under no circumstances should sweeps dismantle an installation to sweep a flue, as wintergirl said it invalidates any building regs certification unless the sweep is a certified hetas fitter as well so can re certify correct reinstallation.

I have walked away from many installs just like this, just not worth the hassle and potential legal concequences should anything go wrong.

Maccy25

Thanks everyone, pretty much what I suspected! Is there anything to gain by pursuing the legal side of things now we are owners of the property? I'm guessing we won't have any comeback on the original vendors so was it our solicitors responsibility to spot the requirement for the certification? Such a minefield! You live and learn I guess. Just gutted as we now have to spend probably a considerable amount to right it (assuming we can) and its such a nice feature to have, especially at this time of year!

Leif

If you had the usual Home Buyers Report, then I suggest you dig it out, but they are so full of exclusions that there is little or no comeback unless there is gross incompetency. Mine has things along the lines of "The boiler appears to be functional but as we were not able to inspect it closely we don't have a clue so you'll have to pay for a specialist survey if you actually want information". I think mine was £500 but really it is no more than a standard template, with a few changes to suit the house.

That said, I would have thought that the surveyor should have pointed out the presence of a stove, and asked for the certificate, or at least stated clearly that they did not see a certificate, and you should ask to see one. So that might be cause for redress. Mine came with a certificate and a small plaque and the plaque is also a requirement:

http://www.countrystoves.co.uk/wmfstoves.htm

So if he did not see a plaque, he/she is at fault.

I would reread your report, and if there is no mention of the stove, or if there is, but no mention of a certificate or a plaque, then you might have redress. Don't get your hopes up, these reports are not for your benefit, but you never know. Either way, you will probably have to pay to have the installation rectified, and then try and claim against the surveyor on the grounds that you could have negotiated a discount in the house price had you known.