Fitting a solid fuel stove in an old fireplace.

[Syd Rumpo]

We have some rather attractive original Art Deco fireplaces. While they look nice there's so much hassle with down-draughts that we rarely use them, in fact we have chimney balloons to stop our neighbour's smoke from entering the rooms.

We are considering fitting a multi-fuel stove into the main fireplace, but want to do this without altering much. Being 'sealed' and having a flue liner, this should prevent the draughts and give us a useful fire. We can remove the firebrick, grate and cowl and end up with a 17" wide opening (I think that's what's known as a standard 16" fireplace).

We have been told that we'd need 70mm clearance for a stove which means that we'd end up with something about a foot wide - Hobbit stoves are one type...

We have central heating, so this is more for ambience than necessity.

Any experiences? Is 70mm clearance true? Where is this information?

Years ago, there was a fireplace/chimney expert on this group, but I can't remember his name.

Cheers

[newshound]

I guess the 70 mm is a "finger in the air" allowance to give enough airflow to stop the surround being overheated by radiation from a stove run at its hottest setting.

If you are running it for "ambience" you are unlikely to be running it flat out. Assuming your "Art Deco" fireplace is glazed tiles set in concrete with steel reinforcement, this is probably pretty heat resistant. You might want to be a bit more careful with Victorian cast iron surrounds containing nice tiles.

But you probably do want some clearance, maybe an inch?

If it were mine, I would try to pick a stove that looks right rather than being constrained by that number. But if you are getting a liner put in, with the stove installed by a registered specialist then I would listen to their recommendations. If they insist on 70 mm "because it is the rule", try a couple of other installers.

[damduck-egg]

Hobbit list what they require in the Installation manual on the site

400mm to the sides 450mm to the back where the surround is combustible but where the surrounds are non combustible then they recommend 100mm for airflow around it, note recommend rather than a must. Other makers may have their own recommendation.

Don't leave it too long to make a decision, I got a Hobbit last year. In the week I searched for a Hetas installer who would do it the delivery time went from two weeks to eight though mine has the optional back boiler.

Or have read of the sections of this site.

G.Harman

[news]

I'm no expert but have fitted a stovax into a standard opening and there is less than 70mm all round, no problems yet though it doesn't meet modern part J regulations.

At home I have a Jotul 602, 40 year old, sitting in the hearth and I recently added a £24 Aldi stove fan sitting pointing into the opening, this seems to drive hot air down to escape at floor level. I keep one of the helical aluminium xmas decorations hanging from the ceiling and that no longer spins so less heat is rising directly from the stove.

AJH

[Syd Rumpo]

Thank you. Very useful.

Cheers

[damduck-egg]

You're welcome . for what its worth Our hobbit is in a 16" aperture and has about 85mm clearance on the sides to the flat plate on the top, the main body has a little more about another 8mm per side.

I only have about 50mm of the rear of the stove into the aperture so most of it is forward of the aperture so the heat goes into the room directly. This did mean extending the existing hearth forward slightly to comply with the Hetas regs . As our floor was already concrete under the covering it was just a case of laying down a suitable sized bit of slate slab.

G.Harman