A good deal?

sussexbaker

Hi all

We've been looking at getting a woodburner for our living room, but we were going to put it off until after Christmas. However we popped into a show room to see one particular model (as we were in the area and they had one lit). They've given us a quote for installation which seems remarkably cheap, £900 all in (this includes register plate, flue, carbon monoxide detector and the stove, a Burley Debdale). They don't think that the chimney will need a liner, but would charge ~£700 if we wanted one fitted. They're HETAS registered so I assume they're not utter cowboys. The chimney has been swept and smoke tested and the sweep certified it as being fine. Is this a good deal, and should I take their advice and not bother with the liner? If I don't are they easy to get retrofitted?

Thanks in advance

Skulls

That's a good price, I've just fitted a Burley Hollywell, the next bigger one and it is the best fire I've ever had or seen. Just fitted the room sealing kit which makes it even more efficient.
Yesterday lit the fire at 8.30am and burnt all day till about 11pm and only used 8 Heatlogs and the lounge was at about 23-24 degrees all day. It was still 18 degrees when I got up this morning!
I don't have a liner fitted either.

Greenfires

Good price - and if you do go for a liner in the future it's not really a great deal more work than what you're having done now. The stove is likely to be more responsive with a liner fitted, and you can avoid any possible problems in the future with tar staining - usually on upstairs walls if you have one. BUT - there's nothing HETAS, legally or insurance wise that says you have to have a liner if the chimney is sound - and the tar staining I mentioned although not exactly uncommon, is not bound to happen either. The main thing to make sure of is that you use dry wood - wet wood and a stove feeding into a big cold masonry chimney can cause a build up of tar and creosote in the chimney pretty quickly.

sussexbaker

Thanks for the feedback, he's coming out on Monday to take a look before doing the installation. Will see if the price suddenly goes up.

I'm quite lucky in that I've got access to a fair bit of wood, and the room to store it to season for a year or two before burning it.

Greenfires

sussexbaker wrote: »

a fair bit of wood, and the room to store it to season for a year or two before burning it.

That's the secret right there!

alleycat`

Greenfires wrote: »

That's the secret right there!

And in my case, getting my missus to agree to me taking over part of the garden...

UN Negotiators had nothing on that one

sussexbaker

It does mean I have to take my first foray into wood working since school and build a log store asap. Which way round do you hold these hammer things?

suisidevw

Good luck, nothing better than an afternoon chainsawing, splitting and stacking ready for 13/14 / 14/15!!!!!!!

sussexbaker

He's given us a firm figure after coming out to see the house, price is now £1225 but that includes a chimney pot (and fitting) and flue thermometer. Not looking quite as good now, but does it still seem a good price?

alleycat`

Depends on what the quote looks like broken down?
Did the guy comment on why the costs changed?

Not all chimney pots are created equal.
They could range from £40 to around £300.

My neighbours chimney pot is around £300 worth and looks like a H.

Mine is a straight up and down, not very fancy, pot at about £50, but the cowl on mine was another £40 or so (made by colt).

Does it have any rain protection / cowl on it to keep birds and detritus out?

Roof work is hazardous and not much fun at this time of year so changing a chimney pot would add some costs / risks.

The stove thermometer is about £15 or less on ebay (including delivery).

sussexbaker

I figured that the pot installation was the biggest bit of work to be done, as his previous rough quote didn't involve any roof work, rather then the cost of the pot and thermometer.

I'm a bit rubbish/niave when it comes to haggling, am I really likely to see any reductions on his price if I go back and suggest it's a bit steep?