Multifuel/wood burner issue during house purchase

babyblade41

I'd prefer not to rely on anyone else, just remove and do it properly if needs be

suki1964

Neighbour just sold their house and needed the stove to be signed off. It too needed a vent, hubby popped around, took less then an hour to cut one, stove signed off and safe

seven-day-weekend

We have two woodburners, both installed by HETAS engineers and have certificates to go with them. We also have CO detectors in each room where there is a stove, and one near the bedrooms. Better to be safe than sorry.

Davesnave

AdrianC wrote: »

This wood burner fails sign-off because it needs ventilation.
"Right, well if I move it out the way when you inspect, then put it back afterwards (still without the ventilation), it'll be right..."

But the OP has confirmed that won't happen.


"We will decide once in if we wish to put a vent in or change to a smaller KW burner....."


Mind you, I'm not sure what their worry is now, apart from ensuring that once the stove is removed, the vendor leaves it behind.

AdrianC

Davesnave wrote: »

But the OP has confirmed that won't happen.

"We will decide once in if we wish to put a vent in or change to a smaller KW burner....."

Sounds more like that's exactly what'll happen.

"...and if it clearly isn't right, we'll worry about it later."

ProDave

This vent thing.

As I understand it, a WBS under 5KW does not need a vent, it assumes there are enough "leaks" in the building to provide enough air.

Over 5KW building regs demand an air vent is provided.

If fitting a larger stove, it is far better to fit a room sealed stove, one where the air intake is connected by a pipe from the vent to the stove, so the stove can draw in the air it needs directly from outside but when not in use, that vent is not letting cold air into the house.

phoebe1989seb

Davesnave wrote: »

You might worry over this and then find, like we did, that the stove isn't that great.

We replaced our original 7-8Kw monster with a 5Kw fully compliant Woodwarm 3 winters ago. Although we've made other improvements, it's now possible to stay warmer using about half the amount of fuel we used to chew through annually.

If I were buying another country house, I'd not care too much about the stove that was in situ if it wasn't a known good brand, fitted correctly.



I also think your vendor is unlikely to renege on the arrangement, given that secondhand stoves fetch relatively little on the Bay. I got £50 for ours....and no way was it a 'bargain!'

Similar story here.

At a previous house in the 'snug' we inherited a huge, ancient, 16kw (Coalbrookdale, iirc) wood burner from the previous owners. It was terribly inefficient but as we only used it for show we didn't replace.

In our current cottage - after opening up two rooms into one large kitchen that's twice as large as the snug in our previous home - we had a hetas installer fit a 9kw Dovre wood burning stove (the correct size for the space) which heats up far quicker and like Dave, we use far less fuel than before.

Size definitely isn't everything

Also agree to an extent about the second hand value. We sold the tiny Clarke barrel stove wood burner we inherited at our current cottage for £30 iirc, but that was a fairly basic example. OTOH, in the snug here we had a Charnwood multifuel installed - before purchasing new I looked at second hand models on eBay and found in some cases these were going for only two or three hundred pounds less than the showroom price.....

Davesnave

ProDave wrote: »

This vent thing.

As I understand it, a WBS under 5KW does not need a vent, it assumes there are enough "leaks" in the building to provide enough air.

Over 5KW building regs demand an air vent is provided.

Yes, and as far as I remember, the rules about this came in around 2006.
So.... if this stove is <6 years old and it was installed via HETAS or Building regs, it ought to be compliant.

Something doesn't add up!