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Log Burner Advice

Discussion in 'Lounge' started by bradders, Dec 16, 2017.

  1. Had a Stovax a number of years and very pleased with it. 1994 house and didn't have the chimney lined as installer said it was optional and that certainly saved a lot of money. If your property is older then maybe it would be best to go the liner route. You really can't beat having a real fire in the lounge!
     
  2. Others have it unlined, but it’s whether belt and braces approach and this company won’t install unless it has a liner.
     
  3. If i’m honest whilst your at it, I would always line it. For wht the total job costs. It is completely sealed then, top to bottom. No ledges or sudden increase in flue size. These fires are designed to work on a certain size flue, opening up to a clay liner which could be a large one (obviously jobs/houses differ) creates a larger volume of cold air to heat and effects the efficiency of the flue/fire. Also when you have it swept there are no issues ensuring you get it all clean. Just confirm with them what grade liner they are going to use, and makes sure it goes in the right way up o_O:laughing:
     
  4. That’s why they say they use it: consistent so it maximises efficiency.
     
  5. On a small technical point, lined flues should also have an air brick fitted at the top of the stack and a vent in the register plate at ground level. Once a liner is fitted the flue void becomes a sealed space and without ventilation can become very hot, even if the liner is insulated, and that hot air needs to go somewhere. A natural unlined flue is obviously self-venting. A lined flue sealed at top and bottom becomes a heat trap. That heat can easily transfer to adjacent floor or roof timbers. In some older buildings structural timbers are pocketed into the masonry of the chimney breast. They won't go right through into the flue but if the mortar is powdery ignition can take place and that was not an uncommon occurrence in the early days of steel liners before they were routinely insulated. On thatched properties it is a stipulation of most insurance companies that flue voids are vented. Some even demand that aluminium plates are fixed to the chimney stack where it passes through the thatch (they are a bitch to fit..).

    Furthermore, unvented lined flues develop to a lot of condensation when the fire goes out and the void starts to cool. This moist air also needs to be vented out or you're likely to get chimney sweat which is a form of hygroscopic damp that occurs when acids and salts present in the soot and tar residue migrate into the masonry carried by the damp. It looks for all the world like a leaking chimney flashing as it occurs at the highest point where the stack passes through the warm inhabited parts of the house - so at the junction of wall and ceiling in the upper bedroom. People can tear their hair out and spend large amounts of money trying to fix a "leak" that isn't there. Once you've got chimney sweat its a bastard to get rid of and the longer its left the further the pollution penetrates and the worse it gets. Sometimes only dry-lining of the chimney breast, or complete replastering with the masonry tanked can get rid of it. Fit air vents...
     
    #45 Gimlet, Dec 16, 2017
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 16, 2017
  6. You definitely need to line it in my humble opinion. Irrespective of how old the house is you have to be confident their aren't any fumes escaping. Just done this meself, pretty chuffed. You can’t beat a real fire, especially with logs and turf you cut yourself :upyeah: I’ve got lurgy, been glued on the couch all day and this thing has been on all day, little bed of coal and keep topping up with turf and the odd log, luvvly jubbly :beer:

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  7. Unless you insulate (fill the entire void) left around the flexible liner with vermiculite insulataion .... which I always did, I would never line without. It is not actually a regulation to insulate even if it needs lining, although as the points above show you can end up with more trouble than it is worth if you do not insulate. Plus I prefered vermiculite as it ‘held’ the flue in place in the stack.
     
  8. All I would add is it is better to run a small stove hard than a big one gently.
     
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  9. Absolutely, we almost always burn hard and when we have the chimney swept, the sweep is lucky to get a teacup of soot out. We only back it down if we want it to stay in overnight.
     
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  10. Their advice so far stacks up with what’s on here. Good to know :upyeah:
     
    • Funny Funny x 1
  11. We had ours done a few years back, had a small Brunel burner, new hearth and mantle, ripped out the old one, lined the chimney etc and it was just short of £3k

    Never understand why ours is always a raging inferno, can’t seem to turn it down, it burns a log or 2 in about 20 mins.
     
  12. We had ours done a few years back, had a small Brunel burner, new hearth and mantle, ripped out the old one, lined the chimney etc and it was just short of £3k

    Never understand why ours is always a raging inferno, can’t seem to turn it down, it burns a log or 2 in about 20 mins.
     
  13. Worth checking the doors/vents when closed are all sealing ok, more air in will obviously burn faster, although some stoves unfortunately do not seal too well. However you ‘may’ have a huge draw through the flue, which some flues just do. In that case it is worth getting a flue damper fitted in the vitreous pipe that exits the top of the stove (assuming it does) .... can be done without removing the stove 99% of the time, only 30 quid or so and it will allow you to ‘close down’ the flue slightly to minimise the draw and achieve a more effective burn. Of course, many reasons but a lot of times this is it, may help. :upyeah:
     
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  14. Paul you should make a rocket-mass-heater! You can get the builder book from amazon for £20, its an ancient method of storing the heat from wood fires & fully burns the smoke also.

     
  15. yes... A "mate" ... He was living in the garage at his mum's place and had recently installed the fire place.
    his mum was looking out the window at the time of the explosion. She said it was a good one , bits of paper and light weight debris went flying out the door in a kinda ball of white light.
    he doesn't remember much of it...
     
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  16. He must have felt a right knob :)
     
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    • Agree Agree x 1
  17. Did ya get burned Chiz ?? o_O
     
  18. "he" did suffer from what they refer to in NZ as "idiot burns"
     
  19. al
    though not as bad as a mate of his that thought it a good idea to hold a roman candle in his arse crack. His mate lite it and it fell in his downed trousers' and shot fire balls into his butt and plucked chickens...
     
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  20. Right then Chizel, which one would you nominate for best attempt at a Darwin award then, your "Mate" or your "Mate's" mate. :joy:
     
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