The importance of fitting a flue liner with a wood burning stove

No lining – no stove!

If you are one of the many homeowners in Greater Manchester that is choosing to have a gorgeous new stove fitted by our team – you will have to line your chimney flue.

While some installers will fit a stove without lining a chimney, here at the region’s leading fire installing companies, we won’t.  Let’s explain why.

Safety

First consider smoke and carbon monoxide.  Chimneys in older properties can deteriorate over time, having your chimney lined will ensure that poisonous fumes can’t enter your home via air vents which are often found in the bedrooms of some homes, especially terraced houses.

Chimney fires do happen.  However, these fires are less likely to happen with a chimney liner and should they occur, they would essentially be contained within a metal tube and so will do far less damage and be less dangerous.

Heat and therefore smoke rises.  However, an older, unlined chimney is often quite cool thanks to the brick or stone construction.  Colder air makes smoke and therefore combustibles travel much slower. This could eventually cause tar build up with over time and could even stain internal walls but most importantly the build-up will cause poor burning.  This in turn lead to smoke leaving the stove each time you open the door or via the stove air vents (it has to get out somehow) – these dangerous gases enter your living space and you and your family will breathe them in.

Efficiency

When your property was built the chimney was designed specifically to cope with an open fire.  The problem with open fires is that the majority of heat – around 80% goes up the chimney, and as a result the intense heat in the chimney actually pulls fumes up and out via the pot.  However, a modern stove is a different animal.

Compared to an open fire it is very energy efficient and only around 20% of the heat it produces is ‘lost’ up the chimney.  While on one level this is good news, it also means that your chimney is not getting hot enough to expel the fumes up and out of the house – and that means your lovely new stove is not working as well as it should.

These are just some of the problems that can occur if a stove is fitted without a chimney liner which why when Heat Installers will line your chimney with a flexible steel liner.  Please note, that lining a chimney is controlled under Building Regulations and should only be carried out by a suitably qualified installer.

Essentially, we are bypassing the chimney completely ensuring the modern steel liner will get hot quickly which will mean your stove is working as it should be and running to full capacity and maximum efficiency.

When you ask Heat Installers to fit your stove, we will only do so if your chimney is lined or we are lining it for you.  Our reputation and your safety is on the line – we won’t risk either.