Currently trying our best to fit in properly on Singletrack by having a wood burner installed (I already have the Audi) and have been getting some prices.

However, half of the fitters we have had around say we don’t need a flue, the other half say we do so what do we do? Save the cost and potentially endanger our lives or have one fitted and waste money on something that wasn’t needed?

If you don’t have one, and your house burns down you will not be covered.

But surely if a registered heating engineer says the property does not need one then the blame would lay with them.

My last property didn’t have a flue, we simply concrete lined an ageing chimney.

Warton is talking borrocks – you don’t have a flue liner on an open fire. A liner will add protection if the existing chimney is in poor condition and probably improve the draw but that’s about it.
Go with what your fitter suggests – they’re the ones signing it off.

Have you had the chimney tested for leaks?

We did and was like a sieve, smoke everywhere. If it hadn’t leaked, no flue, simples.

Have you had the chimney tested for leaks?

No, interestingly, we asked if he was going to and he said there was no need. He does come very highly recommended and is one of the reputable fitters in our region though.

(We *did* smoke test our last place as it was a much older property (100+ years old, this one is just short of 30 years old).

“If you don’t have one, and your house burns down you will not be covered.”

Technically he is right – how ever generally he is wrong.

If you dont have a flue and your house burns down you will not be covered. HOWEVER a flue doesnt have to be a stainless steel drop down liner – it can be the clay or brick liner the house was built with provided it is in good nick…..

But dont let that stop a good myth being perpetuated.

he said there was no need

Hmmm, no way they can know that. Builders make mistakes so no way of knowing they didn’t do a crap job of building your chimney.

It’s a five minute job. If they want your business, get them to test it first.

EDIT: And welcome to the club. Fire is ace.

I have been in the club before – had one at our old place, just getting around to sorting it in the new one 🙂

If you don’t have one, and your house burns down you will not be covered.

What a load of crock!

I fitted one: better draw, easier cleaning, higher gas temperature which means less condensation of creosote so a lower fire risk and again, easier cleaning.

The tale I heard is that a traditional chimney has a huge cross section compared to the diameter of a flue liner. Log burners only chuck 20% of their heat up the chimney compared to 80% from an open fire so in a traditional chimney the flue gasses get cooled too much which stops them rising and prevent the burner drawing as well as it might.
Thats probably total rubbish but it makes sense to me!

Some fitters will say they need them so they can make money installing and on the price of the flue. If it’s only a 30year old house chances are you wont need one

We had the same, two very reputable local fitters said line, one said you have a ceramic flue (70s house) and the others are just making cash on the flue. All HETAS reg. Chimney sweep with 40 yrs on the job agreed with the ‘no flue’ and echoed the suspicions around making ££.

josh & tang +1, get a local experienced sweep in there & ask them their opinion, worth getting the chimney swept before fitting a liner anyway & should only be a few quid.Three reasons to get a chimney lined, one if ya chimneys knackered, two if its way bigger than it needs to be & might cause problems with draw on a wood stove, three if there are ledges or other soot traps that would help start a chimney fire.

Rockhopper – nearly there, compared with a stove an open fire needs a far greater volume of air to be pulled up the chimney to help ensure that smoke doesn’t blow back into the room, so they need a larger cross section of chimney to achieve that & this results in much more heat being lost up the chimney too

Two fireplaces have no flue liner and draw perfectly fine (different stoves). Third fireplace has always been a b@stard to get lit and stay running, flue retro-fitted, and runs great now (different side of house, generally colder and maybe crappy chimney line).