Wood burning stove

Yorky

I am hoping to buy a wood burning stove in the near future. The recess it will fit into, below the chimney, is 18" deep x 28.5" high x 23.5" wide. The sides and back of the recess have been plastered, skimmed and painted. My queries/concerns are the following:

What maximum dimensions should the stove I buy be?

Is there a risk of the plaster cracking from the stove heat?
In view of this, would it be a good idea to fit a ceramic blanket or scanilax cladding to the back and sides of the recess to prevent cracking and project the heat into the room rather than the recess?
If this was done, would there be a risk of damaging the stove due to the heat being reflected back at it?

There is a flue gatherer for the 8" flue - would there be any need to blank this off with a register plate, again to project the heat down from it?

The model of stove I am considering is The Larch by Evergreen as it is the narrowest I can find. There would be about ten inches of hearth
in front of it. Is this a good make and is that enough hearth?

Finally, how much should I expect to pay for installation (no plumbing required).

Thanks in anticipation. Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

Do-more

Hi Yorky - I was considering doing something similar, and the first bit of advice I got was not to put the stove back into the chimney recess as you end up wasting half the heat straight up the chimney! Better to place it into the room so that heat from all sides of the stove will radiate into the room.

rooferPete

Hi Yorky,

You still have the option of tiling the plaster finish it can look well around the stove, I wouldn't expect the plaster to crack if it has dried out.

You can fit a stove with 100 mm all around although the preferred spacing is 150 mm each side.

If you can take the flue from the back of the stove it will allow plenty of room around the stove.

You should use a register plate, they can be reasonably easy to make up and fit.

You should also use a flue adapter from the existing clay flue to reduce to the stove pipe (usually 125 mm), the area above the register plate should not be regarded as part of the flue you have to direct the flue gas or smoke.

The regulation for the hearth in front of the door is too narrow at 10", if anything should fall out of the stove when the door is open chances are it will miss the hearth.

.

Yorky

the area above the register plate should not be regarded as part of the flue you have to direct the flue gas or smoke.

Thanks for your reply, Pete. Could you please explain the above.

rooferPete

Hi,

Some fit the register plate and allow the new flue to just pass over it without joining into the clay flue, that method has been known to work sometimes, if the smoke from the stove is allowed to build up in what is now a chamber it can obstruct the draught in the chimey.

There is an adapter available that fits into the clay flue and the new 5" flue will join to it making the flue complete.

In a good chimney it will work every bit as well as it did as an open fire without down draughts.

I came across one recently where the stove wouldn't stay lighting, the smaller flue from the new stove was just short of the clay flue, maybe it was windy the day it was fitted and the installer thought it would pull the smoke up the chimney, obviously didn't work.

.

Yorky

Would this be a difficult DIY project?

If so, a few questions:

Would it be advisable to fit Scanilax insulation on the sides and back?
Does the adaptor need to be cemented in or is it just a case of attaching it to the stove pipe and pushing it into the flue?
Where would I get a register plate made?

rooferPete

Hi Yorky,

It may be difficult depending on your DIY skills and patience because you are fitting one unit without much help, however it can be done.

We don't use insulation except when supplied or called for by the stove manufacturer, which means none so far.

The adapter should be made with a "nib" around the edge, I usually smear the sides with a lot of fire cement and push the adapter into the flue and any fire cement that squeezes out is cleaned off, then fit one or two galvanised coated bars to hold it in place.

Most will make their own plate, but your flue supplier will most likely have a sheet in stock with the correct diameter hole, they are usually oversized and need folding and / or cutting to fit.

.

Yorky

I was talking to someone today who had a problem with condensation running down the 8" flue and running out where the decorative black pipe meets the stove and rusting it. They had to re-spray the stove and install a flue liner in the flue. I had never heard of a flue liner being installed for a solid fuel stove but apparently there is a move in the UK to make it a legal requirement to prevent carbon monoxide gas seeping through the flue. When the flue liner was installed and connected to the decorative flue pipe and sealed with fire cement, the space between the flue liner and flue was filled with an insulation material. They have had no problems since.

Has anyone any knowledge/experience of this?