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