Have been told stove is illegally fitted...

Rugbyrunner

Hi all,
I have been directed to the website to get advice on our stove problem:

We had a stove fitted and now 2 different chimney cleaners have told us that it is illegally installed and that our house insurance won't be valid should the worst happen. We have a video of the current fitting from one guy's camera inspection.

Our original installer is claiming he fitted it as per the regulations in 2011 and he does not need to fix anything.
The stove is not connected to the chimney, the back of it opens into the space behind the plaster work behind the stove. Was this ok as per regulations in 2011. Did the regulations change since then and if so, when?

I contacted CIF and the Department of the Enviornment today and they are both supposed to get back to me tomorrow with the correct regulations.
I contacted the shop who sold us the stove for advice and they said that from the cleaners' descriptions it sounds like it is not fitted correctly. I have also been googling Building Regulations but I can't find the definitive guideline for 2011.

Is the Installer correct or should this be reinstalled?

Has anyone every had to resort to taking a case/ complaint against a tradesman further?
How do I do this? Through my solicitor or is there a body/ group I can apply to?

Robbie.G

Rugbyrunner wrote: »

Hi all,
I have been directed to the website to get advice on our stove problem:

We had a stove fitted and now 2 different chimney cleaners have told us that it is illegally installed and that our house insurance won't be valid should the worst happen. We have a video of the current fitting from one guy's camera inspection.

Our original installer is claiming he fitted it as per the regulations in 2011 and he does not need to fix anything.
The stove is not connected to the chimney, the back of it opens into the space behind the plaster work behind the stove. Was this ok as per regulations in 2011. Did the regulations change since then and if so, when?

I contacted CIF and the Department of the Enviornment today and they are both supposed to get back to me tomorrow with the correct regulations.
I contacted the shop who sold us the stove for advice and they said that from the cleaners' descriptions it sounds like it is not fitted correctly. I have also been googling Building Regulations but I can't find the definitive guideline for 2011.

Is the Installer correct or should this be reinstalled?

Has anyone every had to resort to taking a case/ complaint against a tradesman further?
How do I do this? Through my solicitor or is there a body/ group I can apply to?

You need to post pictures to know what your talking about.
If the stove was fitted in 2011 it had to meet building regs of that time.
What make and model of stove do you have
With out that info no one will be able to help

dathi

http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/FileDownLoad,1650,en.pdf this is the one that was in force at time of instalation it was updated 2014

deandean

Is this one of the small inset stoves that fit into the fireplace without you having to remove the fireback?

IIRC some of them are designed to go in the way you describe.

What does the installation book (that came with the appliance) say?

Rugbyrunner

Thanks for the replies.

We have a Morso Squirrel Multifuel stove. The rear flue outlet is used. There is no connection between this outlet and the chimney. We were told that soot is falling and gathering behind the plaster work, below the flue outlet opening.
The Morso installation guide is not clear on whether a connection is required between the stove and chimney.

Thanks for the link to the 1997 guidelines. I read and understood it to mean that there should be a connection between the stove and the chimney. I also spoke with a guy in the department of the Enviornment today who said it sounds like we have a fire hazard in the house.
If the installer refuses to work with us on this where do we go from here?

jimf

as Robbie g posted pics would be handy to see exactly your issue

have you asked anybody about removing the stove and having it refitted to todays standard

it does sound like a fire/co hazard from reading your posts

deandean

I found the nanual online, it says

1.7 Connecting the stove to a masonry chimney
A wall sleeve should be bricked securely into the wall of the chimney at the appropriate height and the stovepipe inserted centrally. The pipe must not extend into the actual chimney opening, but rather must reach only to the inside of the chimney aperture. The gap between the stovepipe and sleeve must be sealed using glass fibre packing rope.

Your installation might be in accordance with this mfr's instruction.

One big problem with those bricked-up fireplaces is that they can make it very hard to clean the chimney and remove the soot.

crock!

I have seen many stoves fitted this way and some manafactures say to do it this way it's still not right.alot of the time the flue from the back is to long.ive seen them up to 2foot long.the problem is you can't remove all the soot and this may cause a chimney fire.if you pull the stove out to empty soot and put it back in then it has to be fitted to 2014 building regs.when a stove is fitted the way you have said I would imagine it's hard to keep the glass clean.