Wood Burning Stove with short flue???

[JUan Carlos]

Hi everyone. I really appreciate any advice.

I have a wood burning stove with a flue that terminates just above a sealed fireboard. I've had a WBS company check it out and they said this is unusual, and it needs a whole new flue liner etc to meet modern regs and to brun properly. They say as the short flue could deposit soot onto the fireboard, build up over time, and then cause a chimney breast fire.

However I have just discovered an access hatch hidden behind a mirror on the chimney breast, which they, nor I had previously known about. This means I could periodically sweep up built up deposits from the fireboard, and assumingly reduce that risk significantly.

I include a diagram of the arrangement and photos further below: 

My questions are:

* Does my mitigation of risk sound reasonable? That if I use this hatch to clean deposits regularly, then the chance of fire is significantly reduced?

* Can a sweep still clean the brick chimney by using brushes up the WBS. Or would they have to go up via this small acccess hatch - is that even possible?

Of course I could ask a stove supplier, but two have already failed to check for a hatch and quoted me £1800 for a new flue liner, aire vvent in the room, etc.

Note: I only really intend to use this fire once or twice a week during the winter. I have decent central heating and the fire iis more of an occasional nicety for winter evvenings.

Background:
I moved into my house about a year ago. And I was already aware that the WBS in the living room didn't have any HETAS paperwork (discount on sale was appplied!). An old friend of mine who has had stoves all his life said let's run a few tests... see if it's drawing. We did a smoke test, and sure enough looking from outside it was drawing well enough. Then we lit a few fires over the course of a week and it burned reasonably well. The ropes on the doors were falling off, which I think contributed to a lot of smoke smell in the house from the fire. But 3x Carbon Monoxide detectors dottted around the fire room, room above and hallway didn't ping once.
 

 

[crispy_wafer]

Mine is exactly the same...  Short piece of flue that terminates above the register plate, so 6" pipe into a 9" pumice chimney.

 

It's not ideal and yes soot does drop and build up on the register plate.  I periodically drop the register plate to clear the soot because when burning the stove hard with wood, flames can lick up and catch the soot.

Most of the time I burn smokeless Ovoids and there isnt much in the way of flames roaring up the chimney... 

 

My install was done and HETAS signed off, I only found this arrangement last year by accident too .  Now I know a bit more about these things it appears that a clay pot adapter of sump adapter should have been fitted to gather and allow the soot to fall back into the stove, rather than building up on the register plate.

 

If you are staying there, then budget accordingly and have the job done right, you know it makes sense!  Do you really want to faff about with it for the rest of it's existence?  Most installers will go for the flue liner because that's easy for them and rules out any chimney issues causing you and them grief and call backs. 

 

With mine, we've lived with it like this for 13 years and I'm out of there next year so will continue my observation and cleaning routine.

[JUan Carlos]

21 hours ago, crispy_wafer said:

Mine is exactly the same...  Short piece of flue that terminates above the register plate, so 6" pipe into a 9" pumice chimney.

 

It's not ideal and yes soot does drop and build up on the register plate.  I periodically drop the register plate to clear the soot because when burning the stove hard with wood, flames can lick up and catch the soot.

Most of the time I burn smokeless Ovoids and there isnt much in the way of flames roaring up the chimney... 

 

My install was done and HETAS signed off, I only found this arrangement last year by accident too .  Now I know a bit more about these things it appears that a clay pot adapter of sump adapter should have been fitted to gather and allow the soot to fall back into the stove, rather than building up on the register plate.

 

If you are staying there, then budget accordingly and have the job done right, you know it makes sense!  Do you really want to faff about with it for the rest of it's existence?  Most installers will go for the flue liner because that's easy for them and rules out any chimney issues causing you and them grief and call backs. 

 

With mine, we've lived with it like this for 13 years and I'm out of there next year so will continue my observation and cleaning routine.

Thanks for the reply! I guess with this knowledge I could look into getting an adapter that fans out to meet the chimney breast brick. But can't find any examples of that online.

But as you say with regular checking and cleaning (and the fact it will only be used a handful of times over the winter) - I could just live with it. My slight issue is it's just fireboard, not a register plate that I can drop down. So would need to get an old hoover or something to keep it clean

There's still the issue of cleaning the chimney though that I'd need to look into. 

 

Thanks again.

Any other ideas / comments from others???

Edited December 1, 2023 by JUan Carlos

[SteamyTea]

How are you going to monitor the CO levels that may enter the living/sleeping areas though the chimney breast brickwork?

There is a reason that WBS have approved flues these days.

[joe90]

23 hours ago, crispy_wafer said:

Mine is exactly the same..

NO, @crispy_wafer has  a pumice liner, yours must be just brickwork. I recently lined a neighbours brick chimney and installed a bird proof top and his woodburner is miles better (and safer). It’s not that hard to do (if you don’t mind heights 🤷‍♂️). 
 

just one example pulled from the internet https://flexibleflueliners.com/product/125mm-316-316-flexible-flue-liner/?attribute_length=6+metres

 

 

Edited December 1, 2023 by joe90

[JUan Carlos]

18 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

How are you going to monitor the CO levels that may enter the living/sleeping areas though the chimney breast brickwork?

There is a reason that WBS have approved flues these days.

We have 3x CO alarms - living room (where stove is), bedroom where chimney runs through, hallway outside bedroom. Was thinking it would be similar to the previous open fire that must have adorned the house.

Edited December 2, 2023 by JUan Carlos

[JUan Carlos]

16 hours ago, joe90 said:

NO, @crispy_wafer has  a pumice liner, yours must be just brickwork. I recently lined a neighbours brick chimney and installed a bird proof top and his woodburner is miles better (and safer). It’s not that hard to do (if you don’t mind heights 🤷‍♂️). 
 

just one example pulled from the internet https://flexibleflueliners.com/product/125mm-316-316-flexible-flue-liner/?attribute_length=6+metres

 

 

Thanks. I don't think I could get up on the roof myself. I know it will help it draw but as previous it was drawing reasonably well when my friend tested it and when it was lit a few times.

 

But I will look into flues again...it's just by the time I do that I might as well get it signed off properly for when I sell the house in future.