Flue + Canopy fitted in fireplace 6 months ago. It doesn't work, what can we do!?

Higemmalea

We had a custom made chimney canopy and flue installed in our inglenook fireplace back in March. A few days after work was completed we tried the fire for the first time and were completely smoked out of the house. We tried again, and again, and again with the same result every time. The chimney has absolutely no draw, and the house stank of smoke.

We contacted the company that installed it straight away. The owner requested pictures of the installation and said that with the canopy installed that high above the fire there was no chance it would work. At this point I should point out that the installers asked where we'd like it, my OH told them something along the lines of "I guess around here would look nicest but I don't know, I don't install canopies for a living."

The company said that they could come back and lower the hood, but that we'd need to pay around £300 as they'd need to get their team up from Cornwall to Dorset again. That was apparently a cheap price as they planned to coincide it with the next job they had in the area, so it would definitely be done in time for the colder weather.

Fast forward 6 months and the work is still not done. We've left 3 messages asking for a call back in the last week alone. We've spoken to the owners wife asking her to get him to return our call and we've heard nothing. We paid £4000 for the installation and bespoke black smithery so IMO we should not be paying for them to come back and rectify their error at all.

We've been very nice about the whole issue, and on the occasions OH has spoken to the owner by email/phone he's also been very pleasant. This is all getting very frustrating.

What action can we take from here? I'd be grateful for any advice!

P.S. On the off chance that someone with experience in chimneys is reading, I have a picture of the fireplace. Unfortunately I can't post links as a new user, so please let me know if you'd like to see it.

TidyMax

Get a carbon monoxide alarm/meausurement device. Start the fire. Take a picture of the carbon monoxide reading.

A company can't install something that is there to prevent you from dying/being poisoned in such a negligent manner.

http://www.hetas.co.uk

They are the governing body for solid fuel burning appliances etc. I would contact them. The installer obviously hasn't installed the canopy to the building regulations which is exactly what they should of done so the onus is on them to fix it.

Regardless of wether your husband begged them to fit it at the height they did. They shouldn't of done and that is their fault!

Good luck

TidyMax

http://press.hse.gov.uk/2014/unregistered-fitter-fined-for-faulty-flue/

Quick case study!

Although in that instance the guy has installed a gas appliance when he hasn't been gas safe registered. The reason for the suspended prison sentence was he didnt follow building regulations and left the customer at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

JohnB47

The first thing I would do is try having a good look up the flue. If, as you say, there is no draw at all, it may be actually blocked - perhaps on purpose for some reason while they finished off the job. The height of the canopy isn't too relevant from your description. If there's no draw, there's no draw and moving the canopy down won't create one.

Grab a torch and have a look. Maybe poke a bamboo cane up to see if there's an obstruction.

I'm surprised they didn't test the system, using a smoke pellet, before handing it over. Sounds a bit dogey to me.

Higemmalea

Hi guys,

Thanks for replying. I'll definitely try the carbon monoxide idea if I need more ammo to get them here to do the work.

If you look up the flue you can absolutely see the sky. Judging by the bird splats I can see it would appear to be a clear run down!

The company are very reputable, though they are a small business. They recently installed flues and wood burners in one of the fancy local pub restaurants. I don't want to name any names yet, I'm hoping we can get it resolved without having to bad mouth a small independent business. Perhaps I'm being too nice about the whole thing.

Higemmalea

Seeing as I still can't post the image, please copy and paste this into your address bar to view it:

oi60.tinypic.com/2mq1ert.jpg

warmhands.coldheart

I'm no expert, but I would have assumed the canopy should be the entire width of the fire opening, otherwise what happens the smoke that misses the canopy? Lowering the canopy I think would look a bit naff to be honest. I'd have thought a full width canopy at the height of the fire opening would have been OK...... Could be wrong but just a thought...

System

I assume that there is some way that a decent amount of air can get into the room to give a through flow ?

A fire can only draw if it has got the flow to do it

firefox1956

Looks a bit naff to me.......I would have installed it about 18 inches lower to be honest.
Not an ideal solution but have you thought about raising the grate ??
Or installing a higher dog grate ??

Gloomendoom

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

I'm no expert, but I would have assumed the canopy should be the entire width of the fire opening, otherwise what happens the smoke that misses the canopy? Lowering the canopy I think would look a bit naff to be honest. I'd have thought a full width canopy at the height of the fire opening would have been OK...... Could be wrong but just a thought...

If the chimney is drawing properly, the smoke won't miss the canopy.

As !!!!!! said, is there enough draft to feed the fire? The smoke/air going up the chimney has to be balanced by air coming into the room.

Our inglenook will draw without any form of canopy or flue insert... but the window had to be open for it to do so.

rustyboy21

That is a massive opening , no wonder you are not getting any flue pull. The height is too high, the opening too wide and the canopy is too small for the inglenook.


The only option you can try is to raise the fire basket up on bricks to see if the reduced distance makes any difference.


It looks totally wrong to me. A fire needs the flue to 'Pull' in order to work correctly, the pull will draw air towards the fire and make it burn better too.


As I have said, try lifting the basket up with a couple of courses of brickwork/breeze blocks and see if that helps. If it does, that will be cheaper for you to sort than lowering the canopy and fixing the liner.


IMO, I would say its both parties fault, the installer for not insisting on a lower height and your wife looking at the overall look, instead of practicalities.


The basket is too small too, it looks like an 18'' Valencia basket. You would find that it burns better with something like this....


http://www.castfireplaces.co.uk/individual-fireplaces/firebaskets-traditional/victorian-gallery-firebasket


This is quite a high basket, but even better would be


http://www.britainsheritage.co.uk/fire-baskets/swansnestfirebasketforfiredogs.htm


This is what would be normal in a large opening like you have. The bigger the fire, the more flue pull you will get. Add on the height reduction and it should work ok. At the moment, you are not heating the flue up enough to create a draw for the fumes, any natural draw is lost due to the excess height of the canopy.


Did you show the installer the fire basket you had/thinking about?