Distance from wood burner heat source, electrical wiring.

[David]

Several years down the line I am looking again at installing a small wood burning stove in the Mother of All Sheds.

The fireplace area is all there as planned. The flue will go up through the tin roof. As there is 375mm between the rafters I think I will need twin wall stainless for that area for fire safety. I may get away with a

5" flue.

Now the main issue - running the electrics.

I could run the wiring along the front of the shed but this will pass the flue. Is there any guidance about how far horizontally wiring should be from a single walled flue? In trunking (probably plastic) along a ceiling?

For the wiring to be easy and unobtrusive it would be best to run along the front or back walls. However the front wall has the stove, and the back wall is where the toilet and shower are planned.

I am guessing that trunking through a shower area is not optimal - it would have to be an electric shower so I assume that I have to have some method of concealing the electrics anyway to emerge behind the shower, so perhaps I need a false wall to the shower with all the cabling behind.

The other alternative, I suppose, is to run the trunking down the middle of the shed end to end. Not very pretty and it would have to be shallow because of the head room. I suppose that at just under 2.2 metres there is adequate clearance for most. It would have to carry lighting and at least one 13 amp ring main (or perhaps a couple of spurs).

Internally the shed is roughly 7.6 metres long and 3.3 meters wide. This should be plenty of space but it looks to be full at the moment!

If I manage to fit a toilet and shower along the back wall to turn it into an office/studio/garden room then it will start to look a little bit snug.

Cheers

Dave R

[harry]

You will need a twin wall flue and it'll cost a much as the stove. I nailed/wrapped aluminium sheet round the the rafters adjacent to the flue and filled the space with mineral wool.

You can buy flat stainless steel plates that fit round the flue on the underside of the roof. On the outside there are various weather proofing devices.

[GB]

Why not out through the wall, then up?

[Brian Gaff]

And get it done in two years as the pollution police have their eyes set on wood burners now. Brian

[David]

Mainly because I have built a double thickness wall where the stove goes. Although this just requires a deeper hole cutting.

Also for aesthetic purpose, and because a block paving path runs across the front of the shed and a flue pipe would obstruct that.

I think I will have to go dual skin stainless for the above roof part, so extending down from the roof to just below the ceiling won't cost that much more.

Dual skin stainless to keep the flue temperatures high enough to avoid too much condensation and tar build up.

Starting again I might consider locating the stove elsewhere in the shed, but front and centre still seems the most logical place as it shares the front wall with two windows and two double doors, leaving all the other walls free to have stuff fixed to them.

Overall design is to allow it to be split into two; garden room at one end and tool store/workshop at the other. Hence the two sets of doors.

Once I get the crap moved, tidied or ditched then I will be able to have a better run at internal layout.

Finishing off the mains water and drainage will be an achievement long overdue.

Cheers

Dave R

[Capitol]

It is essential to install an air inlet vent a

[damduck-egg]

Some stoves can have an air supply connection option direct to the fire box . That means you are drawing air from outside rather than drawing in warm air from the space you want too keep warm. A pipe from outside under the floor terminating in a drain grid under* the stove is another way of getting very close to that for stoves that don't have the option. Both methods alleviate the problem of a stove producing a cold draught at ankle level as draws in fresh air from outside which can sometimes occur due to stove position though it sounds like it won't happen this case.

Legally if the stove is < 5 kW and the shed is not classed as new build and is not completely airtight a vent isn't required but unless putting one in is a right pain it is still good practice. Intersting site on the subject here

What has been required for a couple of years now is a carbon monoxide detector. This assumes the OP wants or needs to comply with the regs, as it is a "shed" some people may take a more relaxed approach depending on the circumstances.

• It actually hasn't got be under, but not where ash etc falls in it when you clean the stove which means one just in front needs cleaning out more often.

G.Harman

[Tim Watts]

Building regs (I think) applies a "300mm/foot" rule between hot surfaces (stove hot) and combustible materials. It's a good metric even if I'm wrong about it being in the building regs.

After that, you are into IET regs land - which merely says that the cable and it's load should be designed and installed for its environment.

eg PVC cable could run upto 70C with sod all load (eg a light).

Power, you will have to look at the derating tables vs breaker trip current vs cable CSA (mm2).

If your shed is wooden, I would consider an insulated flue stack - this will help with your cabling too...

[David]

Hearth has two air bricks installed to the outside which will be directly behind the location for the stove (specifically to allow fresh air to be drawn directly into the stove from underneath behind).

Stove is also less than 5 kw.

Cheers

Dave R