Inglenook to line or not to line?

[danjennings]

I have just bought a old place with a nice brick inglenook and a very old and ugly woodburner which I intend scrapping - theres a register plate above it but no liner - If i weere to repalce this with a canopy and a grate to burn logs will i need to intall a liner -? what is th ereason to have a liner ? am I correct in saying that there could have been a build up of salts ? that may cause fire issues with out a liner especailly has it hasnt been used for a year as house has been empty?

 

[christianb]

Hi Dan,

Have a look a little lower on the discussion topics list and you'll find a much-contributed-to thread about lining chimneys. It may be that your answer is in there.

All the best,

C.

 

[Penners]

Dan - a well insulated liner is recommended for use with a woodburner, in order to preserve sufficient heat in the flue gases to stop the tars in them condensing. If this is allowed to happen, the condensate builds up on the liner wall and, under certain corcumstances can become quite corrosive. It can greatly shorten the life of the liner.

As for your situation, it's impossible to know how much combustion product has coated the chimney - it depends upon so many variable factors: the length of time since it was last swept, the dryness (or otherwise) of the wood that was burned... and so on. But broadly there should be no reason why you can't remove the register plate and have open fires (other than the waste of energy and money that will occur when you start to heat the sky above your house).

I recommend that you get in a properly qualified chimney sweep. He will give the chimney a good sweeping, and will be able to advise you on the suitability of the chimney for an open fire.

 

[MdB]

If your wall is similar to mine then you need a liner to stop the flue gases from escaping the chimney sideways. There are smoke marks in the wall 2m horizontally from the chimney in our case in multiple places as it is so full of holes. There is no way I would light it now without a liner in place.

 

[JoceAndChris]

a very old and ugly woodburner which I intend scrapping

Pic!

How long have you lived in the house? Forgive me, but scrapping something old that's part of the house? How old is this wood burner?

When I first came here I wanted to scrap a lot of things, make a lot of changes - but it's worth waiting, and thinking, and seeing how you feel about "eyesores" when you've settled for a while- sometimes they gain a charm!

Good luck anyway, and keep us posted!

 

[danjennings]

Thanks for your helpful comments all - I will take your advise and contact a sweep and get them to check it out first. - Joce and Chris - thanks for your advise too, but this burner looks a little like a darlek and unless its an original worth several millions, its on its way out as soon as I can find a way to move it - it is without a doubt the ugliest woodburner ive ever seen! :lol: That said ill let it sit in the fireplace until we get the more inportant jobs taken care of.
Thanks again.

 

[Penners]

it is without a doubt the ugliest woodburner ive ever seen!

Well, I'm no oil painting myself, but I still work reasonably efficiently.

 

[DaveBrigg]

Well, I'm no oil painting myself, but I still work reasonably efficiently.

But have you got a liner, or just the flu?

 

[Ushy M]

Well here we are again - lovely warm sunny day outside and we're indoors with the woodburning stove going! Mr M has moved it to a more aesthetically-pleasing bit of its little plinth and added some brass pipe-clamps and stays to support the flue pipe better, so we have to fire it up for the fire cement to go off. A biscuit for anyone who can identify what the official name for these pipe-clamps is :?: (Please ignore extreme grubbiness of back wall - occupational hazard of grubbing about with sooty stuff. The flue is lined and insulated but we also took the opportunity to get the sweep to remove years of fallen soot from the 'shoulders' of the inglenook.)

 

[Penners]

But have you got a liner, or just the flu?

Sadly, no.

Happily, no.

 

[philpjuk100]

Is there a prize for the most ugly logburner? if so I would like to be considered(hell no,I CLAIM THE PRIZE!)Phil.

 

[Penners]

A biscuit for anyone who can identify what the official name for these pipe-clamps is

They're called............... hang on...

...what sort of biscuit? My massive mental databank can't be accessed for just any old dry digestive, you know.

 

[Penners]

the most ugly logburner?

That's definitely been knocked up out of an old gas cylinder!

Ugly?? It's a gem! You should offer it to the Science Museum.

 

[philpjuk100]

No Im keeping it ,it keeps my workshop lovely and warm and gets rid of all my inflamable rubbish.Yes it was a calor bottle,I used to heat the workshop with a "super ser" but when I found the latest cost of a gas refill I took the cylinder home and turned it into a "logburner"(Its really ugly though)It was painted with "heatproof" black paint but with over feeding it you can get it to glow and the paint is not that heatproof!phil.

 

[philpjuk100]

We used to call them "munsen rings"but then again we used to call pipe wrenches "footprints"phil.
(Jaffa cake?)

 

[Ushy M]

We used to call them "munsen rings"but then again we used to call pipe wrenches "footprints"phil.
(Jaffa cake?)

Yes! Lovely word. The Jaffa cake goes to you, (thought they're probably not very robust in the post and it all went wrong when they stopped making jammy Wagon Wheels in my view)

 

[philpjuk100]

Ahh,waggon wheels!no matter what it says on the wrapper they used to be BIGGER!,Phil (food again!)

 

[Sue Wilkinson]

It was painted with "heatproof" black paint but with over feeding it you can get it to glow and the paint is not that heatproof.

Oh dear! This really made me laugh. The idea that your "stove" will glow outside as well as in. I think you need something you might find on a space shuttle to paint that with.

A number of years ago I had pneumonia and I could not get warm. I remember my husband going off to work leaving me on the sofa in my pj's, dressing gown, blanket and hot bottle. With a fresh stack of logs and the multi-fuel stove blazing away. I would just be so cold I was forever putting another log on and opening the vents. I could hear it really ticking fast and loud. And eventually when I looked I realised it was actually burning white in the middle. Hmm. I could invite a blacksmith in to this I thought. Better stop and let it cool down.

Great things, stoves.

 

[philpjuk100]

Yes I made the stove out of an old calor bottle,there is no firebrick or any other refractory lining in it (its difficult because its round) but I cannot quite understand quite why it is used,does it not prevent some of the heat ending up in the room and end up going up the the flue?The flue on this home made stove is just a bit of 4" steel air cond pipe I happened to have lying round,this is not insulated and contributes to the heat into the room(this can also glow and i know it may have a short life but I have plenty more)the flue runs about 18" from a glass window which cracked with the heat so now i have a "checker" plate heat sink between it and the flue,after a seasons use there does not appear to be much of a build up in the flue.It burns logs,pallet wood,packaging and other stuff I would rather not admit to and I am considering fitting a "drip feed" to it for next winter to burn old engine oil(only a small amount from my own vehicles,lawn mower etc)phil.

 

[Flyfisher]

Are firebricks only required in multi-fuel stoves? I think coal/coke burns hotter than wood and the firebricks help prolong the life of the stove. I believe multi-fuel stoves also have a removeable grate as coal/coke requires more underdraft whereas wood burns best on a bed of ash.