Wood Burner Flue query.

www.GymRats.uk · 2022-09-16T14:01:52+00:00

I've finally got the Wood Burner/Boiler plumbed into the multi-fuel thermal store yesterday and circulated hot water from the store to give everything a bit of a flush through. All good so far.Next ponderance is the flue.It's only a short run. 138cm from boiler top to ceiling, and 160cm to underside of roof tiles.Having the water boiler side of things means flue gasses will be cooler so going to use twin-wall from the top of the stove but the question is... Sweeping access.There's access to the flue through the stove but it means taking out fire bricks etc which past experience tells me doing this "regularly" e.g. twice a year might lead to premature disintegration of the blocks so I was then considering putting a 500mm flue section with access hatch first but then realised the top plate of the stove that covers the plumbing, bleed valve etc on the rear would require a removeable section of flue e.g. telescopic bit to gain access.So...the question is, if a telescopic flue section is used to connect stove top to the rest of the flue, can it be easily removed and the flue swept once or twice a year from the open section rather than going up through the stove throat(?)CheersPete

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Martin Brown 3 years ago

If you burn only good dry hard wood then you can get away for longer without sweeping but always remember that a chimney fire with a lot of tar build up is pretty scary and will likely destroy the flue.

A neighbour (retired fireman) had one a few years back. Needed a fire tender to put it out and made an impressive noise a bit like a bunsen burner with a blue flame out the top. His fire crew mates fell about laughing when he opened the door to them. Should have known better.

I have mine swept once a year mainly to remove anything loose and prevent a build up. I burn virtually smoke free so it is generally fine particulate dust.

Official recommendation is twice yearly but I usually have mine done about now prior to the main heating season.

Every now and then it gets reverse swept in summer by a bird falling down the chimney - starlings and sparrows seem to be the most common.

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David 3 years ago

In the spirit of too late helpfullness, our wood burner has a rear entry flue to leave the top clear.

This in turn means that you can access the bottom of the T and sweep without going through the stove, should you so wish.

Which doesn't help with the stove already plumbed in.

Cheers

Dave R

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www.GymRats.uk 3 years ago

In answer to the other poster, unless I remove fire-bricks and double top-baffles the down-sweepings will mostly I believe, rest on the top of the upper baffle, I think it used to be called a smoke baffle but as long as the flue is swept I don't see that this will particularly cause a problem as I'd expect most to be carried away with the first hot burn.

Even if I have to remove the fire bricks every few years just to check and remove any deposits that's 50% less wear&tear they'll suffer.

So, next weeks job is to get the pipe purchased and fitted...

Bit more youtube revision on how to penetrate the tiles needed first.

Cheers - Pete

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www.GymRats.uk 3 years ago

It's outlet it top centre so that's where it's got to go. I'm just going to do it all in twin-wall and sweep from the roof which is easy access and see how it goes. As long as there's no build-up on the walls of the flue there'll be nothing to catch alight other than what lands at the bottom.

In answer to the other poster, unless I remove fire-bricks and double top-baffles the down-sweepings will mostly I believe, rest on the top of the upper baffle, I think it used to be called a smoke baffle but as long as the flue is swept I don't see that this will particularly cause a problem as I'd expect most to be carried away with the first hot burn.

Even if I have to remove the fire bricks every few years just to check and remove any deposits that's 50% less wear&tear they'll suffer.

So, next weeks job is to get the pipe purchased and fitted...

Bit more youtube revision on how to penetrate the tiles needed first.

Cheers - Pete

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Wood Burner Flue query.

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