Woodburner installation with terminated chimney?

[Whatdoiknow31]

So excited, were booked to have a woodburner installed next week.

However previous owners took chimney down so it terminates in loft (no problem, just having liner and solid flue)

However I am stressing, I am so looking forward to sitting by the fire I am imagining every possible thing to go wrong.

Like the other day I noticed that the vent at the bottom on the chimney in the inglenook was shut (could have been like that for 10yrs) so now I am thinking the chimney is going to fall apart when it's swept from deteriorating with condensation! (Did I say my mind is going mad?)

Has anyone had similar work done? Can you put my mind at rest?

It's being swept next week before the installation and I know I'm going to be on tenterhooks until then :-(

Don't worry as long as you are having the installation done by a HETAS registered engineer they will check everything. They do not risk any problems with their installations.

Should have added, I'm happily sitting next to my new wood burner installed in an old house. The engineer was very through and explained all the legal rules and regulations. Enjoy your fire!

I wouldn't worry. The fitters will have seen it all, done it all before. When we had ours fitted there hadn't been a real fire for at least 30plus years.

I never had the chimney swept before having it fitted. Will you need it done? It will all be in a flue which won't be fitted until it's fitted, so I don't see the benefit of having the chimney swept? The stove company never mentioned it and they were very thorough/good. Have your fitters told you to have it done?

We have had a woodburner fitted into an inglenook that hadn't had a proper fire in it for at least 30 years.

We had a liner put in and a solid flue and it's been fine.

Yes Hetas registered, I was very specific about that and found them through the Hetas website.

They said on their estimate that the chimney to be swept before the work. I have questioned them on it re our situation and they said it's more for blockages then actual soot removal (as the soot will come down with the flue installation) Although when speaking to the Hetas chimney sweep (wife) she recommended having it done as soot is a fire risk? We've decided to get it swept anyway as the previous owners had the chimney taken down due to birds, so likely to be a bird nest in there? And I desperately want the Woodburner installed for Christmas so don't want any reason why they can't do it.

Thanks for the reassurance. Just needed to hear your situations. Of course they have dealt with unused chimneys before, just needed reminding of that fact as my mind was going mad with all the what ifs.

You'll love it when it's done, best money I ever spent.

I can't flippen wait 😄

10yrs we (I) haven't wanted to sit in that room as to me it was too cold (no insulation/ solid walls) Have totally redesigned the room around this Woodburner lol and counting down the days to family afternoons snuggled up watching films with the burner roaring away. Bliss

Yes, we are getting one too, old house, same deal it's cold and takes an age to heat, our guys said they sweep the chimney and do it all. Lots of paperwork and legalities so should be fine I'm excited about Xmas with a roaring fire lit too.

I think uou have to do stuff though, like wait a couple of days, then do mini fires or something, not sure .

Have uou started to look at log baskets and all the different things like fire side sets?

Yes I seem to remember having to wait a week for plaster to set or something. Then small fires which stank so bad we had to have the windows open!

Ah, really? Thanks for that, that's helpful.

Yes, small fires to begin with, about 4. There was a smell, I thinks it the burning residue from the sealing stuff.

Ah that's something to look forward to...😃

Apparently it's the residue from the woodburner burning off?

So far have got Flue Thermostat and Stove Gloves. Also bought a cast iron companion set from Amazon but its awful quality- rusty and the shovel is longer then the stand so it's going back.

They're delivering a Wood Store and kiln dried wood when the install next week. So just need to get log basket, kindling basket, firelighters, another companion set and some kindling. 😄

Going to go to the shop for the companion set as want one that will last and not sure of the ones on line now ☹️️

Can I ask if you've had to have your chimney altered at all? The opening in ours is too small so it will mean knocking out bricks etc

I had to have mine altered to make it bigger. But the stove fitters did it. Made a great job. So they knocked out bricks and made a bigger hole. Put plaster board on and skimmed it. Put the mantel on. Did the hearth and the actual stove including the flue and chimney liner.

Thank you! I was debating whether to just cover it up and get a bio ethanol fuel, one which doesn't need to vent. We don't use the room at all but I want it to be nice and 'traditional' (it's currently awaiting renovation). I'll get in touch with a local company and get a quote

Gosh, op, you're very organised, ours being installed in an a couple of weeks and I've bought nothing yet!

Interested in your install whatdoiknow32. We don't have a chimney stack above the roof line, but the chimney and opening is still there. I assumed that meant we couldn't have a log burner...but you've inspired me to investigate further. I appreciate all installs are different but what sort of prices are you all paying for the stoves to be installed?

Hi, I'm interested in the budget for this as well... Just so I can decide in which decade it might be realistic... Any info would be gratefully rec'd

Think it's £3,300. Buts that's including the Woodburner, liner, Twin wall solid flue from the stack to the roof etc. We went for a good quality burner, but there are cheaper ones out there.

No alteration Autumnchill, were lucky enough to have an Inglenook.

I know Bluntness - I am that excited I have to get my new 'baby' all it's bit 😄

We did some investigation last night and turns out what we thought was our neighbors chimney in our loft is actually ours! These old houses are very confusing 😳 So hopefully the install will be easier /cheaper (they gave me an estimate) as no solid flue required to the roof. Going to phone them up today with the good news lol

For budget ours is also about 3.7, but it's also a large double door burner which is half of the total cost, in addition we also need scaffolding ( -access tower) due to the height of our chimney.

I think average price is about 1500 for all the installation, liner etc and then whatever the wood burner costs on top of it. You can also buy them second hand off of places like eBay.

You can get woodburners installed if you have no chimney or,fireplace, they look great and simply sit someplace in the room, I think they go up through the roof, not sure, and also you can get them inset, which means they are inset into the fireplace, a bit like a tv hanging on the wall but it's suspended into the fireplace, but is actually a full size woodburner.

The size uou need depends on the size of the room, and also the size of your fireplace, and I understand the cost of wood is fifty percent of that of electricity, so it pays for itself at some point.

Apparently an open fire is 20 percent efficient, so 80 percent of the heat goes up the chimney, and a log burner is 80 percent efficient, so only 20 percent up the chimney, so more cost effective to run and heats the room quicker.

Anyways, this weekend I think we will go shopping for the stuff for it, I fancy one of those really big log baskets. I did see one on Amazon which was just two glass side panels joined together by two steel bars, and made your logs look like they were suspended in the air, but think it's too modern for our place. It was also nearly two hundred quid!

I spent about 4.5k but stove was£1400, mantle £500 and hearth about £800.

So it could be done cheaper.

Thanks all, that's really useful.