Wood burner WITHOUT expensive flue possible?

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 27 Oct 2007, 22:56

Some years ago we looked into getting a wood - or possibly a multifuel - burner ... but backed off when we found the special flue cost 5 to 10 times the cost of the burner!

Is there any way of avoiding / optimising the cost of the flue?

(We have a windowless cavity wall we would like to put the burner against - or even IN or THROUGH!)

eatyourveg · Post by **eatyourveg** » 27 Oct 2007, 23:16

This is precisely the problem I face at the moment. Tomorrow morning I am going to look at a woodburner advertised locally, apparently in good nick - with 20' of flue pipe included, ?100!
Scour the local ads, there are still those out there who are not aware of quite where the big cost in a woodburner system.

MisterE · Post by **MisterE** » 28 Oct 2007, 09:50

Internal flue is only ?100 for 7m.

A good place for prices is, http://www.fluesystems.com/

If I had to have and external I'd build my own, ie small brick square upto soffit, then flue liner, insulate that with purlite, and put an external 1m length on at the end. In your case I'd build it internally on your wall. But that's easy for me being a bricky and cheap. But again like I said checkout that site.

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 28 Oct 2007, 09:53

greg wrote:This is precisely the problem I face at the moment. Tomorrow morning I am going to look at a woodburner advertised locally, apparently in good nick - with 20' of flue pipe included, ?100!
Scour the local ads, there are still those out there who are not aware of quite where the big cost in a woodburner system.

?100? Gordon Bennett!

eatyourveg · Post by **eatyourveg** » 28 Oct 2007, 12:38

Vortex wrote:
greg wrote:This is precisely the problem I face at the moment. Tomorrow morning I am going to look at a woodburner advertised locally, apparently in good nick - with 20' of flue pipe included, ?100!
Scour the local ads, there are still those out there who are not aware of quite where the big cost in a woodburner system.
?100? Gordon Bennett![/quot

Stove was v. old, not good quality, flue single skin, left it.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 28 Oct 2007, 14:24

One's attitude to flues for woodburners is related to one's willingness to ignore building regulations and live the life of an outlaw.

MisterE · Post by **MisterE** » 28 Oct 2007, 15:01

biffvernon wrote:One's attitude to flues for woodburners is related to one's willingness to ignore building regulations and live the life of an outlaw.

Muwhahahahahahaaaaaa! Thats true

I think you should put a good flue in, as its a tad more pricey to have your home burn down and you burn less with a good flue system.

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 28 Oct 2007, 23:14

I put in a multi-fuel wood-burner in place of an open fire. The existing flue started at about 8ft above floor level, so I bought 2 x 3ft lengths of enamelled stove pipe (flue) and joined it to my existing flue with some fire rope. It has been working well for 12 months now with no problems and neither do I expect any.

I was told that all houses built since 1965 have pot liners and they are fine as a flue.

I think there is a lot of claptrap talked about double lined and insulated new metal flues. They cost many hundreds of pounds - I certainly didn't need them but if I had listened to some people I would spent an extra ?5-700. Glad I used my common sense......

NB. If your house was built before 1965 and the advent of pot liners in chimneys, then you may well need a new metal flue costing quite a bit extra......

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 17 Nov 2007, 12:06

OK, so who knows a CHEAP source of double skinned flues?

MisterE · Post by **MisterE** » 17 Nov 2007, 18:18

Mine is prior 1965. Total cost ?110 that was for the flue 9inch, plate, and filled with purlite insulation.

I use fluesystems.com

Insulated flues are not a load of balls lol. They do serve a vital service ie used on an external wall with no chimney or inside a home with no chimney and boxed in, and errr thats about it. Many try to get you to spend out big on a flue - totally no need as snow hope rightly pointed out

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 17 Nov 2007, 19:42

Building regs require a double skinned flue if used externally and more than 3m long.

(I think its to prevent condensate formation in cold weather)

So legally & technically I need a double wall flue ... and they are SO expensive ...

There MUST be a cheap way of doing this!

phobos · Post by **phobos** » 17 Nov 2007, 20:26

Im not sure what you need but...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Steel-single-and- ... dZViewItem

MisterE · Post by **MisterE** » 17 Nov 2007, 21:08

Vortex wrote:Building regs require a double skinned flue if used externally and more than 3m long.

(I think its to prevent condensate formation in cold weather)

So legally & technically I need a double wall flue ... and they are SO expensive ...

There MUST be a cheap way of doing this!

Yep there is mate. I'm a bricky by trade and if it was me I'd build a simple blockwork stack and render it. Then put in a flue and fill it full of purlite, better than any insulated flue pipe. Cost for all materials ?200 tops, thats a bit of concrete for a footing, the blocks, sand, cement, L shape ties (lugs) plugs n screws, feb mix, beads, flue, purlite. I'd take it about 500mm above the fascia / roof line. Or even build it indoors and render and plaster it, again fill it full of purlite. Other than that its insulated flue.

Mr Livered · Post by **Mr Livered** » 24 Mar 2008, 17:44

I'm very confused about this so I have a thicko question:

I want to put a stove in place of an open fireplace, so there's a (1950s) brick flue there. Do I need to put a steel flue inside that?

Thanks.

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 24 Mar 2008, 22:54

Um, assuming you do not have pot liners in your chimney, then I believe the answer is yes, you need a steel flue. And it may need to be double skinned for insulation purposes, if I have understood this thread correctly. I will leave others to confirm this.

More positively, a stove is much better than an open fire. For a start you no longer have an open funnel for all the heat in your house to be sucked up the chimney and to escape from your house!