Stove installation advice
Note: Do not purchase the stove that you may have seen/like the look of, until WHOEVER that you decide to fit your stove has measured the sizing’s that you have, and has made sure that it will fit/function safely and properly.
1) The Chimney needs to be swept AND Soundness tested either by us, or by another N.A.C.S chimney sweep in the last 12 months, and whereby you can provide your installer with BOTH:
• 1 x Orange A4 sized N.A.C.S Certificate of SWEEPING
• A 2 x part, Green, A4 sized N.A.C.S Certificate of TESTING, showing that the chimney has been SOUNDNESS tested and that it has PASSED.
2) Have checked that the specific manufacturer of the stove that you wish to have fitted does NOT not stipulate that the appliance requires that the chimney must be relined/require a flue liner – Most manufacturer’s do not, although a few do.
3) Have checked that any wood/combustible material has been removed, or clad in fire and heat retardant material from near the opening – this can include wooden skirting board being too near to the opening, and wood beams/railway sleepers stuck above the top of the opening. Forget the nice pictures you’ve probably seen elsewhere of a nice wooden beam as they are dangerous and misleading – in reality, wood combusts at approx 350°C and these stoves get hotter than that.
4) Have checked that the stove that you want fitted will fit inside/in front of your chimney/fireplace opening and conforms to all the manufacturer’s AND HETAS’s rules and regulations. A stove that only just fits inside an opening will not work as well, or produce much heat or give good energy efficiency – stove’s work better with an air gap (the manufacturer’s recommendations differ from stove to stove as to what these are) to BOTH the back AND the sides of the appliance.
5) Have checked that the room is of a sufficient size and any additional air vent is fitted, if required – should the stove be above 5 KW (Kilowatt) an additional air vent WILL be needed. This air vent can go in either the wall or window or floor and must be sized according to how many KW the stove is. These air vent’s can NOT be closed when the stove is not in use, they have to be permanently open, 24 hrs a day, 365 day’s a year. A Multi fuel stove that is 5 KW or less, does NOT need an additional air vent, as long as the manufacturer or any relevant building regulation does not stipulate it.
6) A sufficient sized, Non Combustible hearth is required, that in most cases will need to protrude from wherever the FRONT of the Stove will sit, by Approx 230mm (if it’s a Stove designed to be used with the door’s CLOSED) or by Approx 300mm (if it’s a Stove designed to be used with the door’s OPEN) outwards towards the room. This is to keep carpet or wooden flooring or any other combustible material away from the vicinity, unless the manufacturer’s of the Stove say otherwise.
A metal register plate, that blanks the Chimney off is sturdier and more rigid, therefore fixes better in place than a Fibrous board one. That way, a reasonable sized chimney sweeping brush relevant to the chimney flue size diameter, can in subsequent years be placed inside the chimney to clean it, without dislodging the metal plate, or in the case of a fibrous board, even damaging/breaking it. Where possible, a sweeping hatch into the Register Plate, out of eyesight though, so that the chimney can be swept without dislodging the seal’s of the stove might be needed. This will also enable the removal of as much of the soot build up as possible, when the chimney is subsequently swept annually.
As part of any installation a Carbon Monoxide (CO) alarm MUST be screwed/affixed to the wall/ceiling, by law.
A HETAS Certificate of compliance should be issued to you the consumer on completion of the installation.
A Metal Data plate explaining the make and model of the appliance fitted, it’s date of installation, the flue liners diameter size/manufacturer and warranty length for the flue liner, is to be stuck on the wall either by the Water Stop Cock, or Electric Fuseboard.
