Help with buying/installing a stove

drdeakin

Hi

I currently have an open fireplace and burn wood. Not surprisingly I get very little heat from it and as such it's pretty much just something to look at. And even this doesn't last that long.

So I am considering fitting a stove.

Can anyone advise me on

a) How to go about doing it
b) Do I need to line my chimney?
c) What type of stove to get - I'm thinking multi-fuel makes sense
d) Which manufacturers make the better stoves

I heat the house with gas. I could get by on this but I want my fireplace to be functional also, therefore if I can use it to generate some heat and turn the gas down it would be nice. (I'm not going to rely on it to heat the house though).

The fireplace is on a gable end wall. It measures approx 1m wide x .75m height at it's most open space.

Thanks!

PaulF81

How handy rare you? I would reccommend getting a Fitter in.

Haggle.

Ectophile

a) Find a HETAS installer. Perhaps one recommended by the stove shop.
b) Probably. But perhaps not if it was built clay lined. Ask the HETAS installer.
c) That's up to you. Will you only ever burn wood, or would you like the option to burn smokeless coal?
d) I don't think I'm qualified to say, but if it's cheap, it's unlikely to be good.

Leif

a) You have to comply with the regulations, which means for example having sufficient distance from combustibles. Usually that means installing a stone/tiled hearth. Your existing one will suffice, although you might need to level the internal hearth. The stoves have recommended clearances but these are for efficiency, to ensure good convection, rather than requirements. You can install it yourself, and some friends did just that, but make sure you know what you are doing, and get the council building inspector involved so that it is signed off. Bear in mind that stoves are heavy, so you'll need two people, and lining the chimney, if needed, requires two people, a head for heights, and maybe even scaffolding or a cherry picker. It might also be worth buying a stove with an exernal inlet, and making a hole through the back of your fireplace. This means the fire takes in air directly from outside, rather than drawing in warm air from your home, which in turn draws in cold air, and hence increases efficiency. You can get it installed for you by a Hetas registered person, who can self certify the work, though going by comments here there are some iffy installers about. Oh, and 5kW and more requires an air vent in the room.

b) Possibly. If you search this forum you'll see lots of discussions on this.

c) People here have said that burning non wood such as coal generates more corrosive gases that can reduce the flue liner's lifetime.

d) There seems to be a lot of argument on this forum about that. Your local stove shops will give you an idea of the good brands, and you will be able to examine them, and judge the finish. Some claim brand snobbery is rife, and that some shops push expensive brands. It is possible some brands give more profit, so are pushed. Who knows. Expect to pay ~£600+ for ~5kW. There are some British made stoves, such as Charnwood, which are good. There are some British companies such as Stovax that sell stoves with major components from overseas, still good though. There are some good foreign brands, Morso for example. I made my choice on the basis of appearance, and UK made, and I'm not convinced there is much difference between the good makes. Comments on here suggest the ones to avoid are the cheap Chinese ones. Some Chinese stoves are said to be okay.

I'm sure you get better answers ...

drdeakin

Thanks for the replies.

I fully intend to get someone else to fit it.

Can a builder line the chimney? And then just get a HETAS person to fit the stove?

I would rather not create an external inlet, as the exterior of the property is covered / blocked by plants and shrubs and I think this would probably be defeating the object. And also it's a grade ii listed property and I want to involve the relevant depts as little as possible.

Has anyone any experience or can offer any help on the heat issue? As mentioned, I'm not looking to run the house on it or have a back boiler, simply to heat the room well. But I would like to know to what extent this could be - could I heat adjoining rooms by leaving doors open? Or is it not that kind of power?

Many thanks.

grahamc2003

drdeakin wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

I fully intend to get someone else to fit it.

Can a builder line the chimney? And then just get a HETAS person to fit the stove?

I would rather not create an external inlet, as the exterior of the property is covered / blocked by plants and shrubs and I think this would probably be defeating the object. And also it's a grade ii listed property and I want to involve the relevant depts as little as possible.

Has anyone any experience or can offer any help on the heat issue? As mentioned, I'm not looking to run the house on it or have a back boiler, simply to heat the room well. But I would like to know to what extent this could be - could I heat adjoining rooms by leaving doors open? Or is it not that kind of power?

Many thanks.

I'm a bit confused, I thought from your op that you wanted to do all the work yourself, yet from the latest post you're getting someone in? If you get someone in, they'll tell you everything you need, and size the stove to your room, and tell you whether you need a liner (guess what, I bet you will! the installer I got a quote from (£5k, no water connection) always fits a liner).

If you have the correct sized stove in your room, then you'll probably want to turn other heating off in that room. We have a (self installed) 5kW Aga stove in a 5mx4m room with high ceilings, and it heats that OK. It doesn't effectively heat the hallway though, and in the winter, tho door has to be kept closed to keep the room warm. It's much better to run a smaller stove hot rather than a larger stove cool, which is very inefficient.

I think the best bet for inlet air is via a pipe under the stove, through the floor (assuming it's a wooden floor) into the underfloor area to get useful underfloor air circulation- although my house is leaky enough not to need any extra vents.

Leif

drdeakin wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

I fully intend to get someone else to fit it.

Can a builder line the chimney? And then just get a HETAS person to fit the stove?

I would rather not create an external inlet, as the exterior of the property is covered / blocked by plants and shrubs and I think this would probably be defeating the object. And also it's a grade ii listed property and I want to involve the relevant depts as little as possible.

Has anyone any experience or can offer any help on the heat issue? As mentioned, I'm not looking to run the house on it or have a back boiler, simply to heat the room well. But I would like to know to what extent this could be - could I heat adjoining rooms by leaving doors open? Or is it not that kind of power?

Many thanks.

I think the liner has to be installed by a Hetas registered trade, or checked by the council building control.

I have a 4.9kW stove as a luxury item in a 3.5m by 5m room. I keep the heating on, not high, but on very cold nights (0 Celcius outside) I run the fire to take the chill off the house. It heats the room nicely, and the heat spreads out, making the entire house nice and cosy. Such a small stove would not heat the house, it acts like a couple of radiators. You'd still need to run your central heating, albeit on a lower setting.

It pays to find out what is involved in the installation so that you can chat to the potential installers, and spot any carp. At the first sign of carp, run!

highrisklowreturn

drdeakin wrote: »

Hi

I currently have an open fireplace and burn wood. Not surprisingly I get very little heat from it and as such it's pretty much just something to look at. And even this doesn't last that long.

So I am considering fitting a stove.

Can anyone advise me on

a) How to go about doing it
b) Do I need to line my chimney?
c) What type of stove to get - I'm thinking multi-fuel makes sense
d) Which manufacturers make the better stoves

I heat the house with gas. I could get by on this but I want my fireplace to be functional also, therefore if I can use it to generate some heat and turn the gas down it would be nice. (I'm not going to rely on it to heat the house though).

The fireplace is on a gable end wall. It measures approx 1m wide x .75m height at it's most open space.

Thanks!

a) stick it in where your fire is now, ensuring a comomsensical distance between stove and wall, I have only about 2 inches between mine and get away with it. You then stick a pipe in the top, around which gets hung the register plate, with a hatch for sweeping and hoovering. Job done easy peasy.

b) no. If there is no smoke leakage don't bother.

c) multifuel. Coal is cheaper and can be bought in bulk off the wholesaler. Just find out where their nearest yard is and yarn them that you're a coal dealer to get the wholesale price, buy a tonne and f off.

d) I have a 6.4 kw waterford stanley which cost £370, now around £330. My room is bigger than the room size quoted above for the person who said they had an aga above, but it didn't heat the room. My "cheapo" "chinese made" stove has got my room temperature over 34C, causing me to strip off a few layers at times. Sitting in front of the fire it is always warm but sometimes chilly at the other end of the room, but this is more down to layout of my house.


If you need to pay somebody, and it doesn't involve building working on the fire opening but just bunging the stove in, don't pay over £250.

Don't bother with signing it off the authorities are d icks.

drdeakin

Ok thanks, some interesting stuff there.

Sorry if my first post sounded like I wanted to tackle it myself. I just figured it would be too difficult. Although 'highrisklowreturn' says it's just a case of sticking in a register plate around the top of a flue and away you go??

'grahamc2003' - £5k seems way too high?? (Compared to what other posts on other threads are saying)? I thought for everything it may be up to £2k? Am I being unrealistic? I don't to sacrifice quality though, I'd prefer to know what it costs for some proper kit.

Thanking you.

muckybutt

And dont listen to highrisk!

Grade II so you really need to get listed building consent, and you most certainly will need building regs, possible you may need planning permission as well but it might be covered under permitted development.

Seeing as you are in a G II building (like myself) then its going to be of an age where the chimney condition isnt going to be great, so get it lined with a twin wall 904/904 liner, it will help with the draw and it also makes sweeping a whole lot easier.

Dont be tempted by the cheaper makes, they really are false economy. They rarely draw as they should with air leaks every where, you will probably struggle getting parts as and when needed etc etc

shegar

If I was you id buy some large lump house coal where you will get far more heat than burning wood .........

It will heat the one room nicely and you wont have to fork out thousands to buy/install a stove and all that goes with it..........:)