Installing a wood burner - advice please!

theoilman

We have just purchased a woodburner & wondered if someone could give us some advice. Our house was built in the 1980's & has a clay lined chimney (we have used it as an open fire & had a gas fire fitted in the past). Do we need to use a stainless steel liner or can we use the existing one? My husband & a friend are thinking of fitting it, do we need building regs & get someone to inspect it?

Any advice would appreciated
Thanks

A._Badger

Sadly, yes. You will either have to get it installed by a HETAS registered company, or pay the local council to certify the work after it has been completed.

Only an inspection can determine for sure whether the chimney will need lining. The lining lobby says you will almost certainly need one. Mind you, they sell them. It's hard to know where to suggest you can go for truly impartial advice but a few quotes from installers personally recommended to you might be the best place to start.

This is not a good time of year to be getting quotes, though. Most installers have all the work they need in the winter and will quote high.

shakeitright

We had a Hetas engineer quote us for installation and he said because we had a clay lined chimney it didnt need lining.

muckybutt

Generally if its a class 1 clay chimney it wont need a liner, however having said that get a local chimney sweep to give it a good fettle then he can have a look to a) see what comes down and b) if its in good nick.

The installer sounds decent if he hasnt pressured you into buying a liner as well, one thing to also bear in mind is that if the chimney cant be swept from the insidewith a brush the same size as the clay liner you will need a soot box chopping into the chimney some where.

As badger has correctly stated you will need to have it signed off by the local council as compliant if you go the diy install route which you can do, otherwise the hetas installer can self certify the install and no building regs inspection is needed.

Ectophile

My chimney is clay lined, and didn't need a separate liner.

I had my stove installed by a proper HETAS installer. Building regs do apply to solid fuel appliances. If you want to stay safe and legal then you should either use a HETAS installer, or contact your council's building control to get the installation inspected.

jonewer

Most HETAS installers will insist on a liner. No prizes for guessing why.

Greenfires

That's not entirely fair - and I'm not an installer by the way!

Stoves will always work better fitted to a liner for a start - they tend to be a lot more responsive - and you can also rule out potential problems further down the line, such as tar coming through bedroom walls upstairs with the use of a liner. And no - it doesn't always happen and I'm not trying to say it will - but if it does - guess who gets it in the neck from the customer?!! It's ALWAYS the installers fault - never anything to do with the customer wanting a job done cheap!

Chimney_Sweep_3

All the things greebfires list are correct but also to consider
If a full pressure test is done after sweeping and the flue is found as sound then a liner is not always needed, but there are other factors to take into account, size and position of flue, is it on an outside wall, large square liner? if so a steel liner would be of benefit. Can you install with suitable access for sweeping ? and the main problem of how are you using it is the wood dry or using smokeless ?
All these things make a difference and are all part of the reason I always recommend the appliance to be swept after 3 months of use.

jennyjelly

Can anyone tell me very roughly what to expect to pay to have a multi-fuel fire installed please?

hethmar

The trouble with clay liners is that often they arent fitted correctly in the first place and have no "give" if you should have a chimney fire. So we see tar running down the flueway, stains on plasterwork and if there is a chimney fire, structural damage to the chimney. As far as OH is concerned, he wont fit a stove to clay liners.

TBH, its better to line when you can and save yourself any of those problems plus have a better working stove.

NB You mention there has been a gas fire in there - clearly if there is a gas liner up there, you MUST NOT attach the wood burner to it.

One thing Id also add, lining isnt a fun job this time of year and it may well be an installer may not insist on it not because he is a nice bloke but because putting in the stove alone is a much quicker, warmer, cleaner and easier job than doing the full monty, particularly if he has bookings right up to February, which he should!.

suisidevw

To include what JennyJelly for a more accurate price?