wood burning stove - advice please

ANDY597

Hello All

I am decorating my livingroom and have knocked out the bricked up fireplace to expose the builders opening to the chimney.

I like the idea of fitting a log burning / multi fuel stove as an occasional winter piece and would like some advice please.

My room is about 4.5 metres by about 4.00 metres and the fireplace opening is about 50cm.

What I need to know is

Wheres good to buy one, and how much am I looking at.
What size would adequately heat the room and fill the space.
How should I finish off the inside of the fireplace as its just brick just now
Can I fit this stove myself, is it just the case that I need to bolt on the flu pipe to the stove after sticking it up the chimney
How far does the pipe need to go up the chimney
Any other stuff you think would be beneficial.

Cheers
A

Hapless_2

to have a woodburning stove you need to get the chimney lined and probably a replacement chimney pot.
It also has to be done to building regulations which will mean getting it inspected.
We looked into this and although the council have said yes, to get a biulder to knock out the old fireplace and redo the chimney pot, plus having it fitted by a HEATAS engineer to regulation will cost us £600 on top of the stove.

ANDY597

Why do I need the chimney lined ?

Hapless_2

a normal unlined chimney will allow heat to escape up the chimney and also means the fire will not draw as well. This would mean burning more fuel, no lining and you may as well not bother with the woodburner and just have an open fire with all the heat you will lose. Also the chimney would have to be checked to see if it is sound.
loads of advice and FAQ on this site.
http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/stove_help_and_advice.html

cazrobinson

make sure you have adeqate ventilation. condensation from wood burning stoves can be a massive problem!

Mojisola

ANDY597 wrote: »

Why do I need the chimney lined ?

Because if you don't you may have the same problem as a friend of mine. The gases from the fire seeped through the unlined chimney into the bedrooms and the carbon monoxide made them all ill.

Not worth the risk!

ANDY597

thanks for all the usefull comments, since posting I have done a good bit more research and it would seem to have a lot to do with the age of property construction as well as to the lining used in your chimney.

What I have found is that generally speaking, houses built after 1965 would normally have adequate lining, but this is no guarantee.

So, I have a chimney sweep coming around tomorrow to sweep and test the chimney and I will ask him millions of questions.

Thanks
Andy

sairy2005

Just had a multi fuel installed in an old house (1934) we are doing up, I had to have the chimney lined but a friend of ours who has an older bungalow didnt so you need advice on this. i got the names of several chimnney installers from the yellow pages although some charge to come and look.
Altogether with the lining, stove and chimney pot stopper things it cost £2,600. I dont think I would have had it done if I had known how much but it does look very nice.

Poppycat

We had it done a few weeks back in a 30' semi, chimney had already been lined with aluminium but installer said we needed a stainless linery, along with new cowl it cost us £1280 plus £700 for multi stove, kick out up to 8kw, we alos had a new air brick fitted to allow better air flow

We only had chiney rendered inside for stove and paited white and stove sits on black slate slabs

ANDY597

thanks again folks.

that kind of price is out my bracket, so I need to tread softly.

Poppy, I read your thread on it before and I understand you werent to happy with the finish.

Im a DIY nut and tackle most jobs myself, but I draw the line at balancing on the roof in order to stick a flexi tube down it.

Will see the outcome tomorrow with the sweep and test (£46) and go from there.

Also, this is just an occasional winter piece for me and the size of the fireplace is quite small and the size of the room indicates that I only need something that kicks out 3kw to 4kw so I hope that will be cheaper too.

Lots of them on ebay and great prices, but would want to again tread softly there too.

If anybodys bought a stove recently, can they post the make, price and supplier if they dont mind.

Poppycat

Andy I wasnt haopy with finish thats true until I used some linseed oil it hide the grout that got stuck in the tiny pits in the slate, it made it go a matt black which I am pleased with, on hidsight my complaint were with the lazy !!!! builders as not onky did they di fastened the skirting back on, they also had knocked my tv aerial which now needs attention as I have now lost a few freeview channels even though its was indirect view on the transmitter a mile and half away

I heard some of those cheaper stoves are Chinese fakes and some are rpoor quality and wont last