On Saturday 01 February 2014 12:09 puffernutter wrote in uk.d-i-y:

I live in an 1890 Victorian terrace. The dining room has a wood
burner with back boiler (and a stainless steel flue) that provides our
central heating needs. The front room has an open fireplace with a
open gas fire (with those heat resistant blocks) that we haven't used
for many years.

I plan to get the gas fire removed by a certified gas engineer.

You could just get the gas disconnected and capped. Then remove the fire
yourself.

I have a second wood burner that I should like to install in that
fireplace. I have been quoted over £800 to have a flue installed.

Sounds about right - *most* of that is the liner.

I can fit a plate (with a hole for the fire flue) to seal off the
brick flue and I can perform a smoke test. Assuming the smoke test is
OK, do I have to fit a liner, or can I just install the wood burner?

That depends on lots of things - condition of existing flue, cross
sectional area vs the stove manufacturer's requirements of the same
(this should be in the installer handbook for the stove, often
downloadable online).

Do I have to get a HETAS engineer involved, if not, do Building
Control have to be informed?

Yes or yes respectively.

Very simply, what do I HAVE to do to meet any building regulations,
laws etc.?

In short:

1) Combustion - meet the requirements for combustable materials being
the required distance from the stove and anything connected with the
hearth area WRT to rest of the floor (eg carpets).

2) Flue;

3) Ventilation - possibly you may need a vent in that room.

The installer's handbook for the stove sometimes summarises the
requirements or a common subset of them.

Otherwise, flick through the building regulations Approved Documents
online (google).



Personally, I would:

Get the gas fitter to cap the gas off;

Remove fire myself and make good the hearth and fire opening.

Ring up the nearest HETAS fitter as I think you'll pay around £200-300
over the parts for the actual labour and he gets to clamber on the roof,
bugger about swearing at fittings and bends in the flue and best of all,
you get a nice shiney certificate at the end to keep your insurers happy


In otherwords, do all the prep and sub out the really fiddly bit

You can take his advice before hand on whether the room needs a vent and
do that yourself like I did too. But have it done before he installs
everything or else he may not be able to sign off.

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