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Wood Burner Installation Regulations


patp

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We bought a Heta wood burner second hand in excellent, unused condition. We now want to install it. Husband (heating engineer) has done this before but not under the watchful eye of Building Inspector. Is he allowed to install it and the flue etc or do we have to find a "qualified" person to do it?

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I tend to think it's easier, from the stand point if anything goes wrong (insurance) and proving it has been installed correctly to BC.  A registered installer can sign off and certificate, they can also argue the case for you, to BC, if they install per manufacturers instructions, instead of building standards; which tend to be completely different.

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Well, I sent the BC an email and got a reply that instructed me that under no circumstances were we to install it ourselves! We must have a qualified installer to install and issue a certificate. Husband is a bit miffed and wants to abandon the project until build is finished and got the certificate. He could then do a post build install. Of course, if we sell we may have to supply a certificate?!

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It has to be HETAS qualified installer or building inspector, I installed one fir a customer as other work was being inspected by BC, He asked me if I done this before and I said yes, so he accepted it ?. If your BC won’t you have no choice, instal it after he has gone.

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Thanks all. We would leave it out and install at a later date but I think there might be problems in the future if we wanted to sell? Solicitor is bound to ask for a certificate :( Not planning to sell but you never know.

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17 minutes ago, patp said:

Solicitor is bound to ask for a certificate :( Not planning to sell but you never know.

Well I don’t have one!, it was on the building regulations drawings that were  passed by BC.

I have just scanned the internet on this subject and many sources say the BC officer should sign it off if it is part of other works or you pay the fee for them to inspect but if (like my example above) they don’t have the expertise you are between a rock and a hard place. If you did it afterwards as a separate job and paid the council the set fee I think you would have a lever to make them. 

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Just found this from https://www.stovefitterswarehouse.co.uk/pages/regulations-for-wood-burning-stoves

 

Building Control charges

Some Building Controls are not very switched on and will also insist on themselves employing an installer to check your install and its compliance with Building Regulations. This is very annoying as they will also likely want you to pay for it.

Unfortunately it appears that they can do this.

See here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/404/regulation/7/made

They do though have to follow a process - make sure they do so. 

Take a look at this document. It says in here: “In the case of local authorities, which cannot refuse to undertake building control on a project if requested…”

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Thanks @joe90

 

This is the reply I got to my enquiry -

 

"You will need someone who is a currently qualified HETAS Engineer, as we require a HETAS commissioning report from them for the installation.

 

DO not do it yourselves if not HETAS qualified as when a HETAS engineer comes along, he/she will not sign it off for you. And it will need to be ripped out and re-installed by the HETAS Engineer."

 

Chris, a retired heating engineer, has installed them in the past and my query was - could he do this one.

 

He has corrected us on a roof installation and I get the impression that he takes kindly to being challenged.

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From the Telegraph today:

Domestic wood burning is the UK’s single largest source of PM2.5 air pollution, according to research – creating three times as much as road traffic, or 750 times more than an HGV. Analysis from Green Transition Denmark found that these tiny particles – emitted by eight per cent of the population, of whom almost half were affluent and chose a burner for aesthetic reasons – are small enough to enter the bloodstream and lodge themselves in organs.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/middle-england-getting-heated-wood-burners/

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32 minutes ago, patp said:

 

"You will need someone who is a currently qualified HETAS Engineer, as we require a HETAS commissioning report from them for the installation.

 

DO not do it yourselves if not HETAS qualified as when a HETAS engineer comes along, he/she will not sign it off for you. And it will need to be ripped out and re-installed by the HETAS Engineer."

Think if does do the install now (or after building completion) and anything went wrong you are well stuffed.  As you have been explicitly told, not to do it yourselves.

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1 hour ago, patp said:

You will need someone who is a currently qualified HETAS Engineer, as we require a HETAS commissioning report from them for the installation.

Obviously the BC does not want to sign it off, as I said before it depends on your local guys.

1 hour ago, patp said:

Chris, a retired heating engineer, has installed them in the past and my query was - could he do this one.

I am sure he can, I can do electrical stuff as I used to be registered (many years ago) but as I am not currently registered I am not allowed to as I cant issue a certificate.

 

@patp I would ring around your local HETAS engineers explaining the situation and see if anyone will help you out letting you do as much as you can yourselves. If you don’t ask you don’t get!

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On 11/02/2022 at 15:48, patp said:

We bought a Heta wood burner second hand in excellent, unused condition. We now want to install it. Husband (heating engineer) has done this before but not under the watchful eye of Building Inspector. Is he allowed to install it and the flue etc or do we have to find a "qualified" person to do it?

 

I believe he can do it if he is sure he knows the rules. Dont forget the little ratings plaque you are meant to have on a wall somewhere.

 

PS My builder installed one of ours and I installed the other one. Our BCO only questioned the lack of an air brick and I pointed to the MVHR vent and he accepted that!

Edited by Temp
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Thanks everyone. We have had one quote (C 1.2K) and Chris did mention that he has installed them in the past but the guy did not offer to just supervise :( Mind you Chris is in his seventies with  metal knees, a triple bypass survivor and still fighting bowel cancer so I think we should bite the bullet.

 

Funny about the Telegraph quote because I read today in the same paper that research carried out by DEFRA has found that the risk has been overstated for years. They state that domestic wood burning stoves only account for 17% of all fine particulates as opposed to the previously stated 38%

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