Hi all, Can anyone tell me if there is a easy way of installing a log burning stove into a existing fireplace.
At the moment there is a real flame gas fire which i am thinking of taking out. The stoves i have been looking at seem to need a 6inch gap all around them.

HETAS regulations are a real nightmare, you will need your chimney lined with a rigid lining, its an expensive undertaking if you are starting from scratch.

I suggest that you seek a professional quote before investing any money.

We did this the builder just took out some of the bricks and it made enough room all around. Well worth it and they are excellent, sadly the heat from ours has had some effect on the old chimney so waiting to have a flu fitted now. Both builder and sweep thought we'd be fine and it was for a bit but now now.

I never understand why anybody would want put a woodburner in without a liner, its like having a full suspension bike with no tyres !!

The lining isn't always essential, mines not lined however the house used to have a fire place there which was converted to a gas fire which in turn we replaced with a multi fuel stove, Had a smoke test done and no liner needed. Things to consider would be the chimney pot, as a gas one is different to what a wood burner will need. The "6inch" gap isn't important just make sure whatever is close to it doesn't set on fire…
Best option would have a HETAS engineer look at it.

My main concern is that i would like to keep the existing marble fire place and hearth but the hearth isn,t deep enough without trying to put the stove back into the opening

Have a look here:

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/woodburner.htm

without trying to put the stove back into the opening

Nowt wrong with that, but it would be better if you had some refelctive or insulating material at the back of the fire place. Are you old enough to remember Thermalite breeze blocks?

Check your insurance. my dads wouldnt cover without proper fitting and lining.

I never understand why anybody would want put a woodburner in without a liner, its like having a full suspension bike with no tyres !!

Because it isn't necessary, it passed the test but the heat has done something to old brick work somewhere so now need one.

Because it isn't necessary, it passed the test but the heat has done something to old brick work somewhere so now need one.

Err, OK, i didnt say it was necessary, i said i couldnt understand why you would install one without a liner, and your post has just proved why you should generally put one in, it causes problems without it, stops problems with it…..

I have been looking into fitting a log burner too.

A couple of people have said that the burner would perform better with a liner?

Is this correct?

Anyone got one fitted with little ones and curoius fingers? Any neat simple fire guards?

It can cause problems but not always but yes it could be advisable just to fit one while your on.

So nothing like fitting tyres to a bike.

Ski the liner can help with the draw, if the draw is piss poor they become hard to light and can smoke back into the room.

Anyone got one fitted with little ones and curoius fingers? Any neat simple fire guards?

We tried one when Junior 1 was very small and it was a real faff. We now don't bother and have kids 5 and 3.

TBH ours isn't on much when they aren't in bed, and if they are up when its on, they have learned not to go near it and one of us is usually in the room with them.

I wouldn't bother – its a different ball game from an open fire. The size of the hearth stone also provides a natural boundary across which they know not to cross.

We lined ours, "we didn't need it" according to one person who quoted 1200 to just fit the fire. Fitted a flexible liner removed brickwork from inside the old Gas back boiler recess, Built a new hath and tiled it. Goes like a rocket now.
Glad we did it.

Liners are not essential, in fact they can be a waste of money. In an old house built for a stove, range or decent sized open fire they are often not needed. The only reason I would consider a liner in my chimney to to slow the burn down. It would hinder the warming of the chimney and thus the room above to note 1 disadvantage. If you have the original stack etc then you may well not need it. after all stoves ran perfectly well for hundreds of year. I suppose its down to the chimney and what is meant to burn.

Woodburners are very different to open fires , generaly they are 80% efficent compared to open fires which are 20%. The stoves due to their design burn the wood gas which helps to raise the efflux temperature to a much higher level than is achived with an open fire.
A chimney which works well for an open stove could be hopeless and possibly dangerous. If the chimney is cold/wide where the stove pipe ends the eflux will cool rapidly and cause much to build up. With a liner the stove will draw much better and will be easier to sweep.

The Hetas regs are easy to understand and straightforward in the main. A Hetas installer can sign off somestuff which the regs say should be done ie hearth size.

As for price we were quoted £990 to fit a liner and to DIY with a 904 liner (the more expensive)will cost £550 ish. Building control will sign you off for about a £100.

Google around and read whats about and between them all you can work out what to do.

Need to tell your house insurance and either get it signed off by building control or installed by Hetas other wise your insurance will be invallid.

Check your not in a smokeless zone to and suss out a supply of wood first and where you will be storeing it , you cant just burn any old wood. Well you can but you could have big problems with your chimney and possibly a fire.

Can you tell I have been mugging up on this 🙂

Finding a HETAS installer to sign off work that they have not carried out themselves could prove difficult; maybe someone know of one somewhere but i couldn't find one.

You may be based on the other side of the country, but if you live around the Manchester area I can recommend The Fireplace in New Mills – they installed our woodburner and did an excellent job – do all the building work too and are a HETAS registered company

Sorry to drag this post up again, but as there seems to be a few here with advice, I have a couple more questions.

Long shot, but here goes:

I have a unused recessed fireplace, with a traditional chimney and as I have two little ones I am considering going for a recessed or insert log burner, something like the Esse 301 or 350 series.

Just wondering if anyone here has experience with these, as to how much heat the give out compared to a stand alone version (silly question I know)& how easy are they to service?

Would 5kw be ample to heat a living space roughly 6m x 6m square?

Ta

Just wanted to say to those with small children – what are you worried about? Kids won't just go and deliberately burn themselves. My kids never went near the fire – as soon as they are able to communicate and understand "no!" and "ow!" you can start to educate them.

Just the same as with the stairs – we quickly dispensed with the stair gate with the first on and the second child was just told, repeatedly, not to use the stairs. And cupboards, and tools laying around etc. Active safety is way better than passive.