Most of our wood burning stove installations involve re-lining the chimney with a flexible stainless steel liner.
A Flexible stainless steel liner is passed all the way through the chimney structure from the top of the stove pipe to the top of the chimney pot where a rain cowl is fitted. This method ensures containment of all of the smoke and gasses safely until they discharge to the outside.
There are several good reasons to re-line the chimney.
First and foremost is to be absolutely sure that the flue will work safely. When we re-line an old chimney we know for certain that all of the dangerous gasses associated with burning fuel are contained and won’t leak into the house.
Another reason is the effective and efficient operation of the stove. Stoves are designed to have a smaller throughput of air than open fires and to operate with a specific flue diameter. Having a liner with a continuous diameter for the full length of the chimney helps the stove to work at its optimum levels.
Sometimes the old chimney has reached the end of its life. Soot is corrosive to mortar and therefore, over time, the joints between the bricks break down until the chimney leaks smoke, carbon monoxide, tarry deposits and soot into the house. Re-lining the old structure means everything is properly contained.
Even fairly new clay lined chimneys sometimes need to be re-lined as they can be cracked, damaged or installed incorrectly in the first place.
Connecting a stove to a chimney made of bricks (constructed before 1966) means that the tars and creosotes produced by burning wood won’t simply settle and condense on an impervious surface where they can be easily removed. Instead they soak into the surface of the bricks where they will remain until they leech out on the other side.
When there is no existing chimney or it cannot be used, a factory made insulated chimney pipe is used and the stove sits on a hearth in the room.
The twinwall chimney is usually taken out through an outside wall and ran up the side of the building to the correct height and fitted with a rain cowl.
We are independent of any stove manufacturers or suppliers, so we can advise, without bias, which stove will best suit your needs.
We also provide and install stove hearths to fit your taste.