Wood burning stove

[Orion]

Not like in the UK where you can buy a white van and then off you go as a quote professional.

The customer doesn't have to use them though. They can always go to a HETAS Approved sweep or installer.

http://www.hetas.co.uk/about-hetas/

 

[Bavarianbrit]

I had never heard of HETAS when I lived in the UK till 2002. All the sweeps that were in my area were as I described.
I am happy to hear that standards are now appearing ref the fire/death risks involved.
Martin

 

[Stingercargill]

Thanks for all the replies . Chimney sweep coming on Tuesday now and will take it from there. Bought two heaters from tescos in the meantime to keep mrs happy, as I'm away up north stinging for a couple of days .. Bad timing

 

[Feugh]

Had a stove fitted in September and going great until last Thursday,
it is blowing smoke back into the house through the top vent .. Spoke to people at stove shop , they say it is the change in temperature .. Any idea what is causing this?

I had this with my woodburner last week, and three neighbours had the same effect with their open coal fires on the same evening. It's due to cold, dense air in the chimney not letting the smoke up fast enough. Solution (as others have stated): use quick-burning and very dry kindling to start the fire and open a door to increase the draft up the chimney.

 

[Stingercargill]

I had this with my woodburner last week, and three neighbours had the same effect with their open coal fires on the same evening. It's due to cold, dense air in the chimney not letting the smoke up fast enough. Solution (as others have stated): use quick-burning and very dry kindling to start the fire and open a door to increase the draft up the chimney.

If I open the door the room will fill with smoke very quickly

 

[Feugh]

If I open the door the room will fill with smoke very quickly

No, the door to your living room or wherever the stove is situated, not the door to your stove . Sorry for the confusion.

However, I do open the stove door just a tiny bit sometimes, because this increases the draft into the stove.

 

[User00035]

We also only light newspaper bundled up with very dry kindling to start it. And as soon as the heat is drawing up the chimney it is fine.
Here in Germany the law requires you to have the chimneys regularly swept/serviced around 4 times per year due to many chimney fires happening over the centuries and we had a designated sweep from the council for our area (we had to use him as no others were allowed to compete with him, now the law has changed and we can choose our sweep but have kept the old one because they do a full apprenticeship. Not like in the UK where you can buy a white van and then off you go as a quote professional).
Was the chimney serviced before the unit was fitted?
Martin

If you live in a thatched house your insurance requires two certificated sweeps a year from a qualified chimney sweep and HETAS compliance on installation. What a lot of people with thatched properties don't realise is that insurance companies require that where a solid fuel burner with a flue liner is used the chimney stack, including pot, must be a minimum of 1.8 metres above the thatch with no more than 600 mm of that height accounted for by the pot.
I'm a bricklayer myself and I do stacks of chimney rebuilds and many times I've seen people either rebuilding a stack that already has a liner fitted without ensuring it meets minimum height requirements or fitting a liner to a stack that is too short. Get a fire and the insurance company won't want to know.
But however well qualified the builder or fire installer, that doesn't protect foolish householders from themselves. They have to do their bit and learn to use the stove correctly. Not implying that the OP has not been using his stove correctly of course, but many others don't unfortunately.

 

[Cumbrian 1]

This is exactly what the man in stove shop said

I have 3 stoves, two have liners which are in traditional chimneys the third has a double walled flue straight from the top of the stove, when we have cold dense air I have to start it with paper to warm the flue up so it will draw properly.

It is not a big deal and takes about 20 seconds, I think the other two flues are not affected because the chimneys (brickwork/stonework) retain a certain amount of heat.

 

[Hunting Solutions]

If I open the door the room will fill with smoke very quickly

A little trick I use is to pre-warm the chimney using a completely smoke free method.

Just place a small metal bowl with an egg cup full of bioethanol fuel into the stove and light it. Leave the stove door open and the heat will be pulled up the chimney in no time.

When the flame goes out, just build your fire and light it.

You'll never have problems with smoke spilling into the room ever again.

 

[Bavarianbrit]

A little trick I use is to pre-warm the chimney using a completely smoke free method.

Just place a small metal bowl with an egg cup full of bioethanol fuel into the stove and light it. Leave the stove door open and the heat will be pulled up the chimney in no time.

When the flame goes out, just build your fire and light it.

You'll never have problems with smoke spilling into the room ever again.

Could this work maybe better with a hand held propane gun?
Just the thought of bringing an open fuel container or a jerry can into the house makes me squirm a little.
Martin

 

[finnbear270]

Do you have enough of a through draft in the room, Try opening doors to get the air moving round.

We sometimes have to open the back door of the house if we have a northerly wind/ breeze, to get the draw going.
, usually a couple of minutes & it's away then.

 

[Hunting Solutions]

Could this work maybe better with a hand held propane gun?
Just the thought of bringing an open fuel container or a jerry can into the house makes me squirm a little.
Martin

No idea Martin, but I'm not gonna p155 about with a propane gun when an egg cup of bio does the job superbly!

 

[JTO]

If air doesn't go up the chimney, it's either because there is constriction in the flue or no air is getting into the room from outside. Burning Elm is terrible for tarring up flues. People seal up all windows and doors in cold weather, then wonder why the fire won't draw. If the stove is above c5KW, the room must be permanently vented by law.

 

[ILoveBambi]

As the shop said its temperature simple as cold air falls and pushes down your chimney when it's colder outside, you try lighting the fire and the warm air tries to rise but has a battle the cold air initially wins so pushes smoke into the room. As the fire hots up the rising air wins and the problem sorted.
Try burning a handful of paper to warm the chimney first or give it a blast with a blow torch
ILB

 

[td]

If your burning un seasoned wood the sap will stick to the side of liner and sometimes it will clinker and catch alight ,hence blow back of smoke . Try and burn seasoned wood I no not easy but lot safer.

 

[sauer]

Bioethanol fires very good , I have one In my conservatory just for taking chill off etc .... Easy to put the stainless burner in and pre heat ....but shouldn't have to

Paul

 

[sauer]

No wind here hardly yesterday , but open the log burner door ( unlit)
And feel the drafting coming in .
Added another 1.5m to the flue today , used the paper & small kindling to get going , opened living room window a touch to equalize pressure & it went brilliantly