lining a chimney.

[robgil]

do you need to be qualified to line a chimney? or can it be done by anyone?
also , my spab old house hand book (brilliant read) says for an inglenook a minimum of 300 mil dia liner will be needed. is there a more acurate way to guage what size of liner i will need? i will be burning solid fuels (wood) and will most likely be using a canopy and a register plate depending on whether or not my fire place actually works without filling the house up with smoke.

 

[bower1]

I believe you don't need to be 'qualified' but if you are not a hetas (or similar) registered installer, you will need to do the work via a building notice with your local building control.

Are you planning to line because the chimney leaks?

 

[robgil]

i dont know if it leaks or not but i have a thatched roof and want to use the fire place as an open fire. i know the fire place has been used for hundreds of years with no lining but i am not sure if i want to take the chance or not.

 

[MdB]

This is what you need to read:
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/england/professionals/en/4000000000503.html

(don't fall asleep half way through though....)

 

[robgil]

cheers Mdb , i may need to spend an evening looking over that.
i did find this though which i found pretty informative but i may need to get a chimney person out to have a look just to be sure to be sure.

http://www.fluesystems.com/liners/info/chimney_liner_installation.htm

 

[christianb]

Hi RobGil,

do you need to be qualified to line a chimney? Not if it's your own. And you'll save yourself a massive amount of money if you do. As much as a grand.

or can it be done by anyone? Only if they're HETAS registered

is there a more acurate way to guage what size of liner i will need? Standard procedure is 6" and up for woodburning stoves, but (and don't quote me on this) you can use 5" if that's the size from the flue outlet. Grey area. As for open fires? No idea.

Strictly speaking, if your chimney is an existing one, you don't need to get building control involved. After all, there is nothing whatsoever stopping you from fitting your own central heating system.

But, being honest, you can dot i's and cross t's and have a natter with them. They'll check the flue for air tightness and it will, at least, put your mind at rest. Advisable, I'd say.

 

[robgil]

cheers christian , i think you are right in getting a bi involved , just to make sure its done right. if i ever do sell this house i would like to think i am not handing over a potential fire hazard along with it. its still an expensive undertaking though , and i have yet to price up scaffold.

 

[christianb]

Or hire a cherrypicker from a local farmer for a couple of hours.

C.

 

[robgil]

now thers a good idea , i am scared of heights though.

 

[skier-hughes]

Send the wife up like I do

 

[christianb]

Me, too. But it's amazing how you get used to it when you're saving thousands of quid by slating your roof yourself. Positively love it.

 

[robgil]

this is very true , i think a scaffold tower may be a handy thing to have though , just in case she decides re-roof the extension while shes at it..

 

[chuckey]

I would google around for flue linings then consult the sites you find. I think 300mm (12") seems a bit big, normally its 9" diam (225mm).
The way to keep smoke out of the room is for the flue to have enough "draw" and suck an excess of air over the top of the actual fire. In a properly made fire place there is actually an obstruction ("throat") on the inside just behind the mantle piece. this causes the gases to accelerate and suck air in over the top of the fire. why?, because then you have a system to suck any stray bits of smoke back inside the flue rather then blacken the underneath of the mantlepiece.
.....l l..
.....l l..
.....> <----- mantlepiece
...../ \air flow
..../ ! ! !
....l !!!!!!------
With an inglenook type fireplace, there is no suggestion of any throat, so it was constructed like a large canopy. Its downside is that it requires an enormous amount of heat to heat the flue up to get any draw which because of the amount of masonary also took a long time to warm up (3 hours??).
I am rambling now, must go.
Frank

 

[robgil]

cheers Frank , i managed to pick this up fairly cheaply from e bay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=300320680390 , i was hoping to hang this over the fire and up through a register plate to try and get some kind of draw from the fire.
do you think i may need a damper as well? or is that something entirely different?

Rob.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Before you go any further, please consider these things.

In an open fireplace LOTS and LOTS of the heat just goes up the chimney and heats up your village or the sky. Most of winter will be cold and it will cost a bomb just to be cold.

What about a stove in there?

 

[robgil]

ive just been sat here thinking about that schoolmarm , the fire will be one that we can light but not one that will be lit constantly. our primary source of heating will be underfloor heating , the fire will be an occasional thing.however to stop all the room heat going up the chimney when the fire isn't lit , if this canopy goes in it will hopefully slow things down a bit. is there any way to bung the chimney up totally when its not in use?

 

[17c_lancs]

Try:

http://www.chimney-balloon.co.uk

 

[Flyfisher]

Not a good idea to 'bung the chimney up totally' when not in use as some ventilation is generally a good thing in a chimney.

I can second the chimney balloon suggestion. Have used one for many years to stop downdraughts during the summer and the design specifically allows some ventilation. They even come with a warning label for your fireplace to remind you to remove it before lighting the first fire of the season!

 

[bower1]

After all, there is nothing whatsoever stopping you from fitting your own central heating system.

Central heating systems are now covered by building regulations. I would have thought they need to be inspected.

 

[MdB]

You can fit your own central heating system (I recently have), it is the boiler bit which I believe is covered by building regs. This is due to the dangers of gas leaks, carbon monoxide poisoning and the direct heating of a potentially closed loop water system which can easily be a bomb.

I got around the above by fitting a heat pump which doesn't have these issues.