solid fuel fire

caspermccormack

Hi,

I have had my chimney breast rebuilt about 7 years now and at the time the plan was to install a new gas fire. Now with the cost of gas going up, i want to install a solid fuel burner with a back boiler but here's my questions

1. I have a solid marble heart, will it crack?
2. the builder had to remove about 4 foot of clay flu, and inserted an aluminim flexi flu, will this be ok for a soild fuel fire?

I'm sure there is more questions i have but this will get me started for now,
Thanks in advance for any help.:)

311

Forget about lighting a coal fire.

The heat from a coal fire is just in a different league to a gas fire.
Read through some threads here and you'll see that some people had there chimney breasts crack ,after converting from gas to solid fuel.

Original back boiler/solid fuel houses are fine ,but a lot of newer houses are just not up to the raw heat.

caspermccormack

thanks for the reply, the house is in Drimnagh, over 70 years old! there was two separate rooms downstairs which had fireplaces in the corner, when the wall was knocked down the new breast was built but some of the original flu needed to be knocked back also hense the new liner. What i need to know if the liner would withstand the heat from the solid fuel?

MayoForSam

Have you considered a solid fuel stove with built-in back boiler? We have a stove in our living room sitting in front of a conventional fireplace opening, it's much more efficient compared to an open fire. Steel register plate covers most of the actual opening, stainless steel flue runs up the inside of the chimney.

311

The aliminium flu your talking about is only for gas fumes.

Hard to know what was done over the internet ,otherwise you wouldn't be asking about it .It really depends on what way the firplace was built ,it may well be a shell with a small liner inside.

Nonmonotonic

Answer to your two questions is that
(1) Depending on the design of the stove you should not have a problem with the hearth cracking. The boiler should conduct excessive heat away.
(2) Gas flues are not designed to withstand much heat, they are really only to remove gasses produced by burning. There are double skin flexible flues which you can use that are designed to withstand the higher temperatures associated with solid fuel. They have an inner core of stainless steel.

Any reason the clay flue liners cannot be put back?

I have two wood burning stoves, one uses the original 9" clay liner ( big stove ) and the smaller one uses a 6" flue which I installed inside the original ( square firebrick ) chimney.

Eurorunner

MayoForSam wrote: »

Steel register plate covers most of the actual opening.

Is this register plate made up specially - and does it go all the way down to attach directly to either the top or back opening in the stove? If so, where did you source and how much did it cost - would be interested as not too far from your neck of the woods.

MayoForSam wrote: »

stainless steel flue runs up the inside of the chimney.

This is only for older chimneys that have a bigger than normal diameter or were never lined right?

MayoForSam

Eurorunner wrote: »

Is this register plate made up specially - and does it go all the way down to attach directly to either the top or back opening in the stove? If so, where did you source and how much did it cost - would be interested as not too far from your neck of the woods.
This is only for older chimneys that have a bigger than normal diameter or were never lined right?

I made up the register plate myself - steel plate cut to fit the rectangular opening precisely (set back a few inches, no fireback installed), then a circular hole cut to suit the flue coming from the back of the stove.

As for the flue, it was recommended since we were installing an oil stove which can exhaust hot fumes - even though the house is a new build. Oil stove is still there actually, soon to be replaced by a solid fuel stove using good auld turf (same size and flue diameter so minimal messing about).

dannyob

Hi,

I'm also having problems with a solid fuel fire place. Can anyone help me regarding fire brick. I want to build fire brick to the rear of my fireplace instead of using a fire back. The only brick I can locate are a yellowish colour but I had hoped for a darker brown or black so staining wouldnt be seen from lighting the fire. All advise is welcomed!

Cheers

caspermccormack

Well i'm starting this job on Saturday, see tread "plumbers advice please" any more comments would be great!

Anthony