Hi,

I've moved into a house and had a couple of jobs done (in this
order)...

1) Got cavity wall insulation fitted
2) Replaced the electric fire with a gas fire

Both jobs have been done by "professionals".

The gas fire uses a pre-cast flue which is connected to a raised roof
tile on the top of the house.

Recently, when the gas fire is on at over 50%, I've noticed the wall in
front of the metal flue is getting extremely hot. So much in fact, the
paint is starting to blister, and the walls are too hot to touch.

I'm a bit stuck at what to do next, other than not use the fire. Any
suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

wrote:
Hi,

I've moved into a house and had a couple of jobs done (in this
order)...

1) Got cavity wall insulation fitted
2) Replaced the electric fire with a gas fire

Both jobs have been done by "professionals".

The gas fire uses a pre-cast flue which is connected to a raised roof
tile on the top of the house.

Recently, when the gas fire is on at over 50%, I've noticed the wall in
front of the metal flue is getting extremely hot. So much in fact, the
paint is starting to blister, and the walls are too hot to touch.

I'm a bit stuck at what to do next, other than not use the fire. Any
suggestions?

I assume you've paid the 'professional' that fitted the fire?
Call them up. "I've got a flue the paint is blistering over, is this
normal, or can you come along and fix it".
"Oh, you put it in, now get here pronto before I call Trading Standards" ?

wrote:
Hi,

I've moved into a house and had a couple of jobs done (in this
order)...

1) Got cavity wall insulation fitted
2) Replaced the electric fire with a gas fire

Both jobs have been done by "professionals".

The gas fire uses a pre-cast flue which is connected to a raised roof
tile on the top of the house.

Recently, when the gas fire is on at over 50%, I've noticed the wall
in
front of the metal flue is getting extremely hot. So much in fact,
the
paint is starting to blister, and the walls are too hot to touch.

I'm a bit stuck at what to do next, other than not use the fire. Any
suggestions?

Where is the problem exactly? If its the paint, you should use heat
resistant paint, stripping off whats there now first.


NT

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. Yep - I paid for the work to be done. I've
called the company who installed the fire. Hopefully I'll be hearing
from them tomorrow.

The paint is flaking off on the wall between the fire surround and the
ceiling. Also noticed that in the upstairs room above the fire, the
plaster has a hairline crack in it. I guess the flue is at the other
side of the cracked plaster. The plaster is not new.

If worse comes to worse, I'll get the "company" to do a deal and
replace the gas fire with an electric one.

Gaz wrote:
Hi,

Thanks for the replies. Yep - I paid for the work to be done. I've
called the company who installed the fire. Hopefully I'll be hearing
from them tomorrow.

The paint is flaking off on the wall between the fire surround and
the
ceiling. Also noticed that in the upstairs room above the fire, the
plaster has a hairline crack in it. I guess the flue is at the other
side of the cracked plaster. The plaster is not new.

If worse comes to worse, I'll get the "company" to do a deal and
replace the gas fire with an electric one.

very odd.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I've moved into a house and had a couple of jobs done (in this
order)...

1) Got cavity wall insulation fitted
2) Replaced the electric fire with a gas fire

Both jobs have been done by "professionals".

The gas fire uses a pre-cast flue which is connected to a raised roof
tile on the top of the house.

Recently, when the gas fire is on at over 50%, I've noticed the wall in
front of the metal flue is getting extremely hot. So much in fact, the
paint is starting to blister, and the walls are too hot to touch.

I'm a bit stuck at what to do next, other than not use the fire. Any
suggestions?

Thanks in advance.


If the wall is getting that hot, then something needs to be done before it gets
worse. The pre-cast flue is made of what? Is it an old chimney stack?

BigWallop wrote:

If the wall is getting that hot, then something needs to be done
before it gets
worse. The pre-cast flue is made of what? Is it an old chimney
stack?


I must be in a brain warp he as I see it, a hot stack is a _good_
thing, it means youre recovering more of the heat out of the appliance,
making its heating more effective, more powerful, reducing gas cost and
emissions.

If your paint cant take the heat, use some that can. The coal burner I
used at one place made the metal stack roasting hot, lovely, all that
heat. Luxury. It was finished in high temp paint, black to maximise IR
radiation.

Its no more of a safety isseu than having a kettle, those get hot too.
No idiot touches it twice. I'm assuming the house construction is in
line with the 1924 build regs, with struc woodwork not touching the
chimney stack. Pre 1924 properties noramlly are, as its basic common
sense.


NT

In the loft, the flue looks like it's made out of metal. I'm not sure
if the metal goes down to the fire, or if it's something else.

The hot stack is getting too much heat. The wall above the fire
surround has paint blistering off the plaster. The room upstairs has a
gloss skirting board that's too hot to touch. It seems like a fire
waiting to happen.

I've been having a chat with a few people at work, and it seems like
the air vent at the top of the fire is too big. The vent on my fire is
about A4 in size. Most people's fires seem to have smaller vents. I
think the bigger the vent, the more heat is getting chucked up the
flue, rather than into the room.

Does that make sense?

"Gaz" wrote in message
oups.com...

In the loft, the flue looks like it's made out of metal. I'm not sure
if the metal goes down to the fire, or if it's something else.

The hot stack is getting too much heat. The wall above the fire
surround has paint blistering off the plaster. The room upstairs has a
gloss skirting board that's too hot to touch. It seems like a fire
waiting to happen.

I've been having a chat with a few people at work, and it seems like
the air vent at the top of the fire is too big. The vent on my fire is
about A4 in size. Most people's fires seem to have smaller vents. I
think the bigger the vent, the more heat is getting chucked up the
flue, rather than into the room.

Does that make sense?


It all makes sense alright, but the fire was fitted professionally, wasn't it?
It could be that the flue liner, the metal stack you talk about, is far to close
to the surface for the type of gas fire you have, but it was fitted
professionally, right?

I think it's time you showed the installer what is happening, not just talking
to them on the phone. Tell them you want an engineer to come round and take a
look, or have a feel in this case, and work out exactly what the problems are.

If it is getting as hot as you're saying, then the surrounding areas of the flue
are, in my opinion, getting close to combusting. Get them back to have a feel.

"Gaz" wrote in message
oups.com...

In the loft, the flue looks like it's made out of metal. I'm not sure
if the metal goes down to the fire, or if it's something else.

If it is a flueblock flue then a change to "double" skinned metal flue pipe
within the loft is normal

The hot stack is getting too much heat. The wall above the fire
surround has paint blistering off the plaster. The room upstairs has a
gloss skirting board that's too hot to touch. It seems like a fire
waiting to happen.

Have you posted details of what the fire actually is? Also is it suitable
for the fuel in use, i.e. if it is running on LPG is it an LPG model or is
it a Natural Gas model with larger injectors (jets) which would produce a
much bigger flame (and heat) than it should have.


I've been having a chat with a few people at work, and it seems like
the air vent at the top of the fire is too big. The vent on my fire is
about A4 in size. Most people's fires seem to have smaller vents. I
think the bigger the vent, the more heat is getting chucked up the
flue, rather than into the room.

Does that make sense?

It might but your description of a "vent" requires clarification. Are you
talking about an overfire flue break which will admit "lots" of cooling air
and thus could be expected to actually cool the flue products rather than
overheat the flue.
The construction of the flue may not be to standard. Has the flue been used
for a gas fire before this?
I think you should speak to the manufacturers technical department

Gaz wrote:

In the loft, the flue looks like it's made out of metal. I'm not sure
if the metal goes down to the fire, or if it's something else.

so far so good. Check how close the woodwork gets up there if youve any
doubts.


The hot stack is getting too much heat.

That makes little sense


The wall above the fire
surround has paint blistering off the plaster.

so use suitable paint, or use a big metal hood.


The room upstairs has a
gloss skirting board that's too hot to touch. It seems like a fire
waiting to happen.

Just how hot is it? What is the temp required for spontaneous
combustion to occur? I think youll find those 2 temps are miles away.
If not, you must have quite a furnace in there. Not an industrial
monster is it?


I've been having a chat with a few people at work, and it seems like
the air vent at the top of the fire is too big. The vent on my fire
is
about A4 in size. Most people's fires seem to have smaller vents. I
think the bigger the vent, the more heat is getting chucked up the
flue, rather than into the room.

Does that make sense?

I doubt it. You havent told us which air stream goes thru the vent, so
we really dont know whats there.

I really think you dont know what whats going on yet, a good idea might
be to draw us a diagram or pic so we know what this vent is about, and
what the layout of the various bits is, including how far woodwork is
from the flue.

I presume you have a single walled metal flue, not double wall as is
common with gas appliances. But I've still heard nothing to indicate
that there is a safety problem. All I hear is its nice and hot when you
expected it to be cool...


NT

Thanks for all the advice. A few answers (and a result?)

Yep - the fire was professionally fitted by a company.

I have been told a fire was originally installed. Although it's dubious
why the last owners replaced the fire with an eletric one.

The wall is too hot to touch.

The fire uses natural gas, with injectors I think. Not sure if any of
the previous fires used injectors.

I read the installation book that the fitter left behind last night. It
appears that I have a pre-cast flue, meaning that I've got a load of
concrete blocks with a hole in them going to the loft. Once it's at the
loft, I've got a metal pipe going to the raised roof tile. The plaster
has been applied directly to the concrete block, with no insulation.

According to the installation book, a new standard BS EN 1858 (i think)
published in 2003 says pre-cast flues must have insulation between the
concrete and plaster. It also says if it doesn't have this insulation,
no gas fire is suitable for the flue. (does this mean no gas fire with
injectors?). Looks like I'll have to opt for a balanced flue fire, or a
electric fire.

As the installer fitted the wrong type of fire for our house (although
it would be difficult to tell if the plaster is applied directly to the
concrete during the survey), I imagine I'd be able to "do a deal" on
the replacement fire.

Anyone know if it's common for pre-2000 houses to have pre-cast flues
with plaster stuck directly to them?