Advice needed re fireplace and room heater

[shaz]

Our house presently has a Parkray solid fuel room heater, which stands on a marble hearth (which comes out from chimney breast and only has the front part of the fire visiable (surrounded by a stone "makeshift" fireplace and the hole above has been boxed in with plaster board.

We have bought a free standing parkray chevin(solid fuel) and i am wanting to open up the chimney breast, move the room heater backwards(so it stands within the hole and be able to see part of the flue)...and use the existing backboiler if possible

My questions are....

1) Is it a huge job? 2) where are back boilers situated? ( how big are they? will it need to be moved? will it be visable) 3) where can i find any building regulations?(ie materials needed, does work need to be checked?) 4) could the old fire still be used whilst the work is being carried out?(its our only source of heating) 5) if the job is very complicated and we need to have professional help....who do we need? builder? heating engineer?...any ideas on cost? 6) The new fire (bought second hand) needs a flue....where can we get one? and what length will it need to be? (i dont know if the one from existing fire will fit)

We are on a tight budget!!!!... we are willing to do any work we can(thats not too complicated/risky)ourselves...but we need pointing in the right direction. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers Shaz :)

[John]

Its a long time since I had a Parkray but the inset and the free standing versions of yesteryear were basically the same boiler with just the casing different. AFAICR you can strip away the brickwork around the existing unit and it will still function depending on the flueing connection arrangement. You may have a problem sealing the new units exposed flue into the masonary flue. The easy way is to use a sheet of steel as a closure plate but do bear in mind that the flat top within the chimney void forms a ledge for (eventually) a heavy weight of flue dust so make sure it is well supported.

[Owain]

"shaz" wrote | Our house presently has a Parkray solid fuel room heater, which | stands on a marble hearth (which comes out from chimney breast | and only has the front part of the fire visiable (surrounded by | a stone "makeshift" fireplace and the hole above has been boxed | in with plaster board. | We have bought a free standing parkray chevin(solid fuel) and i | am wanting to open up the chimney breast, move the room heater | backwards(so it stands within the hole and be able to see part | of the flue)...and use the existing backboiler if possible

I don't know the Parkray Chevin but I am acquainted with the Parkray room heater + back boilers. AFAIK they are designed and built as one unit and it will not be possible to remove the room heater front from the back boiler. It would almost certainly not be possible to use a free standing stove in front of and in conjunction with the back boiler.

| My questions are.... | 1) Is it a huge job?

I think your proposal is impossible.

| 2) where are back boilers situated? ( how big are they? will it need to | be moved? will it be visable)

Behind and part of the room heater. Remove the room heater cosmetic front and it's basically the assembled lumps of cast iron behind.

| 3) where can i find any building regulations?(ie materials needed, does | work need to be checked?)

Building Regs are on

for England and Wales. I think Part L (fuel and power) will apply which means that, unless you are a tradesman recognised by a self-certification scheme, you will have to submit plans to Building Control at the council.

| 4) could the old fire still be used whilst the work is being carried | out?(its our only source of heating)

See 1.

| 5) if the job is very complicated and we need to have professional | help....who do we need? builder? heating engineer?...any ideas on cost?

You need a solid fuel heating engineer. Your usual chimney sweep will know of one if you don't. If you don't have a usual chimney sweep, stop now.

| We are on a tight budget!!!!... we are willing to do any work we | can(thats not too complicated/risky)ourselves...but we need pointing in | the right direction. | Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Bear in mind that if you get it wrong with a solid fuel heating installation, you run the risk of:

- structural failure of the chimney exacerbated by heat

- fire

- carbon monoxide poisoning

Owain

[Rick Dipper]

Probably more painfull than big. and messy, oh yes very messy. I moved a fire around, it took ages to do, but noting complex or difficult.

You may have issues with the chimney, that you won't find till you have the old fire out.

I have seen 2 types, on stoves where they are in the back of the stove, and in fires, where they are in the back of the fire, with a vent up the back of the boiler, to heat both sides.

Best to phone the building regs people, send a few sketckes, let them advise you. You don't need profesional drawings unless you are moving a lintel or something. I have done several building regs jobs on sketckes, they inspect what you do compiles, not what you draw, the good ones will even tell you what to do to make it comply.

I'd rent a gas cabinet heater, heating wet cement, or working with hot bricks does not sould like fun.

hotline chinmneys, thay have a web site, give the guy a ring, he knows more than I ever will .......