We have tried and tested many methods over the many years and hundreds of installations that we have performed. We have also used many different materials and spoken with many other installers, suppliers and industry-based specialists and advisors to come up with the best techniques; methods that ensure a safe, efficient and effective installation with the least disruption to you.
We have a system in place that allows this process to occur as efficiently as possible and as with most things, good communication is used as a solid base from which we perform our installations.
Preparation
It all starts with us asking you to provide us with a parking spot as close as possible to where we will be working from. We understand that this is not always possible, but when it is, it is really appreciated. We will also ask that you prepare your room for us. We want to be able to start by laying our extensive dust management system down so having all your small ornaments tucked away before we get there means we can get straight onto this task.
This initial aspect will all be covered in an email we send you before we start.
The more we can protect your home, the better we are able to clean up after ourselves and leave your room better and cleaner than when we first arrived.
Installation teams & duration
We tend to work in teams of two. Sometimes, we may work alone for part of it.
We will either come in and perform your installation on one day, or we will break up the process typically into two half days or slightly less.
It all depends on how busy we are and how flexible you can be with us. Often the more flexible you can be, the quicker we’ll be able to complete the installation – especially during our busy heating season which runs between September through to Christmas and the early months of the new year!
If we can perform your installation over two days, we’ll likely break it up and concentrate on all the work in the fireplace on one day, and then concentrate on the work involving the ladders/chimney/flue liner on the other day.
The process
Your installation will have several components that we need to address.
The order in which all these components come together will be dictated by various aspects of the installation, and often by the weather – strong winds in particular.
Sweeping
We tend to start by sweeping the existing flue to clear the passage of debris. This will also provide us with an indication as to how much liner we will need as we’ll often have a couple of different lengths of liner with us already to go.
Blockages
If we encounter issues with blockages, we’ll give it good go to remove it and if it continues to become troublesome, we’ll speak with you and advise you on an action plan to counter it. This may include additional costs so these will be discussed with you at this time too since we’ll want your consent before we continue, especially if extra costs may be applied.
This is why it is essential that you are available either in person or by phone on the day(s) of your installation.
This is also why we like to use and strongly recommend the smaller 5” diameter flues over the larger 6” diameter flues; we want to have a successful installation without having to charge any extra than what we have estimated.
Stove
Once we’ve swept and cleared your flue, we’ll likely focus on the stove and fireplace.
We’ll unpack your stove completely taking it all completely apart. We often label the components in the order they come out so that if one of our other team members must reassemble it, they’ll know the order in which, and how it should fit back together. We think it’s important to dissemble the stove as we can check everything over after it has been in transit and ensue everything is in good order. We check how tight the various fittings are an adjust the legs accordingly.
Closure plate
We’ll also start measuring up the fireplace for the closure plate. This has similarities to a “register plate” but is different.
The closure plate closes off the chimney from the stove. It acts like a dust sheet, stopping debris from falling onto your stove. Remember, your chimney has likely been there for many years already and although we sweep the flue, it will never be in a pristine condition. So, it’s likely that part of your chimney still has bits of soot, creosote, and loose masonry in it. The plate also acts to prevent excessive heat from escaping up the flue – instead reflecting it back into the room where it belongs!
As we perform services to many other installations, we regularly see how other companies and installers make their closure plates and we’re proud to say that we think are plates are up there with the best of them. We’ve seen a lot!
We make our plates using flat galvanised steel and tend to fix them in place using 2” aluminium angle and concrete screws. Our plates are tidy, snugly fitted, and are always painted black.
Stove and flue placement
We’ll get the stove in place and perform a dummy run/dry fit. This gives us an idea as to where the flue will be placed in relation to the closure plate.
We usually do this once the liner has been installed so we have an idea as to how the liner fits with our other flue pipe.
It also means we can position the stove to allow optimum air flow around it. A freestanding stove should never be “squashed” into a fireplace. It needs to breathe so that it can work properly!
As most fireplaces have a similar size gap between the back of the fireplace and the back of the lintel, and the stove must have a gap at the back of it against the wall – it is more than likely that bends will be used on top of your stove to dogleg past the lintel and between this gap. This is just how it is and allows that all important gap at the back of the stove.
The air supply is usually provided from a vent attached to the back of the stove, so occluding this should be avoided at all costs so that the stove can perform as best as it can be.
This is why you’ll seldom see a straight section of flue coming from the top of stove that we install – unless we have the distance and gaps to do so safely.
Sometimes we may go from the back of the stove using a flue pipe called a T-piece. We need to ensure that you have enough hearth in front of the stove for us to fit a T-piece as this flue pipe moves the stove further forward of your fireplace.
Hearth
The hearth is designed to protect your floor from any embers that may fall out of your stove or from your door when it is open. The advice we will provide is that you ideally want to achieve 5cm in front of the door once it is fully open. This is not a regulation, but it is considered best practice. The amount of hearth required in front of the stove varies and will depend upon the actual stove, in combination of what building regulations require. It is typically 30cm although in some instances it can be reduced to 22.5cm (which isn’t much!).
Once you and we are happy with how the stove and flue will sit, we’ll cut a hole in the plate using our angle grinder to make a neat circular tight hole where the flue pipe/vitreous pipe connecting from the stove will pass through. Sometimes we must use twin wall flue if you have a wood beam that cannot be removed and is far enough away from the top of the stove. The twin wall flue we use can be placed 50mm from the wood beam whereas vitreous flue must be either 375mm or 450mm depending on what size we use.
CO alarm & chimney notice plate
We’ll need to do is to fix a Carbon Monoxide (CO) alarm and a chimney notice plate in the relevant places.
The CO alarm is there as your failsafe. It could possibly save your life. We’ve never had to rely on the CO alarm with any of our installations, but it is an important part of the installation and must be fitted as part of the regulations.
It must be fitted in a specific place and can’t be hidden away. We like to provide CO alarms that look good as we understand how important this is.
We’ll provide as many options as possible as to where the CO alarm can be placed, but we won’t compromise on placing it anywhere that it is not permitted. At the end of the day, it is a regulation and is there to potentially save you and your family’s life.
The chimney notice plate is a metal plate the size of your hand. We place these by your consumer unit – or fuse box cupboard as people tend to call them. The plate has important information about your stove, flue and the installation. It’s another regulation ensuring a competent installation.
Liner installation
When we fit the actual liner, we mostly do it working off ladders. If ladders aren’t feasible, we’ll let you know before we turn up.
We can count the number of times that we’ve had to use scaffolding or a cherry picker on the palm of our hand!
We tend to take the liner up wrapped up in coil and then unwind it as it is dropped down your flue, allowing gravity to aid this part of the installation. The liners can be awkward and heavy depending on the amount, type, and size. A 9m roll of 6” W3G is much heavier than a 5m roll of 5” 316L.
We attach a weight to a rope and drop this down your flue first. One of the team will be at the bottom and will let the one on top of your chimney know when it is at the bottom. The liner has a cone firmly fixed in place. We have a particular kind of cone that allows us to firmly tie the rope to it.
Once the liner is being dropped, the person at the top will be manoeuvring around your chimney stack aiming to twist and turn the liner to avoid and bypass the various obstacles that your flue will be throwing at them.
The person at the bottom will be subject to debris falling on them as the liner makes it way down. Their job is to provide tension so that the liner can pass more easily through the chimney. There is a fine balance to the amount of pressure and knowing when to apply much more or much less so that the person on top of the stack can keep their balance whilst the liner is being installed.
Adapter
Once the liner is down, the cone and rope are removed, and an adapter is attached and fixed securely. Adhesives will be used at this stage too – which must be allowed to cure, so we always advise that the stove is not lit for 24 hours after the installation to allow all the sealants we use to set.
The adapter allows the liner to connect to the flue pipe that will be coming off the top of your stove.
The adapter and flue will always be placed above the closure plate.
We regularly must adjust the liner up and down, so we often must go up and down the ladders several times throughout the installation process.
Connecting the pipes
Once the dry fit is complete, we go about sealing all the connections together to form a tight seal. This includes the connection between the stove and the flue, the flue pipes, and the pipes to the adapter.
We use various sealants, fire cement, fire rope, bolts, clamps, and methods to facilitate this. We like our installations to look great and be very sturdy and safe.
Chimney pot
The liner is cut at the top level with the pot.
If your pot is damaged (or missing) we will have to supply and fit a new one. It is not something we like doing as it will firstly add to the cost of the installation (typically an extra £180), but from our point of view, it is normally an absolute pain to do!
We always carry a spare pot with us. Fitting a chimney pot is not the easiest thing to do off ladders.
It involves carrying up the heavy pot and buckets of mortar over several trips, which is often very limited to space and access. It is difficult and testing to place the pot level with this limited access and then to mortar in the pot onto the stack – aka flaunching. Always trying to ensure the mortar doesn’t drop and spoil your roof/tiles. It is a testing task, especially when you throw the good old Cornish elements of the winter storms in there too – it’s normally wet and windy during our busy winter months!
However, we think we do a good job and know we could do a better one working off scaffolding which we would prefer to do. However even though it is challenging to work off ladders, we have always been happy to do so. However, if you prefer a perfectly flaunched chimney pot, we will need scaffolding. This will be your responsibility to supply, pay for and organise.
Cowl
So, assuming that your pot is fit for purpose, we now attach an all singing and dancing cowl to the cut end of the liner. There are many cowls to choose from. We just use the best available to us as we don’t want to be coming back after say 5 years to fit a new cowl to your system.
The cowl is designed so that rainwater has difficulty getting inside the flue. It is still possible, but it is more limited than other cowls that we have seen. The cowl is constructed from good grade stainless steel (not galvanised metal) that is more prone to rusting in the elements.
The cowl also has a bird mesh preventing birds from entering and nesting in your new flue. It also allows your existing flue to ventilate as it is not entirely airtight on your pot. Ventilating a chimney is very important to allow condensation to move and prevent issues caused by damp.
The cowl has a tube attached to the base. This sits inside the liner and is fixed so that it overlaps the edges of your pot. This prevents water ingress between your new flue and the pot.
Safe and effective system
All the joints within the entire flue system will be fitted so that any water running down your flue will end up in the stove. This is correct and normal. It is better than allowing the water to run down the sides of the flue as this will just add to and cause issues with a damp chimney and fireplace. We’ve seen this on many installations whereby either the flexi liner or the vitreous flue hasn’t been installed correctly.
Consequently, your entire flue system is sealed from the collar/spigot of the stove at the bottom to the cowl and pot at the top. This is very effective at being safe and efficient.
Inset stoves
If we fit an insert/cassette stove to a flexible flue liner, there are a few changes to the system. The biggest difference is that a closure plate is not required. A bend or similar may be used to provide a good connection between the adapter and the stove. Most inset stoves will require that the fireplace is modified so that the stove can snugly fit inside the opening.
Inset stoves usually come with an outer cassette that encases the stove and a frame that provides a neat finish. The stoves are often bolted to the floor.
Fireplace work
We can amend and create fireplaces. We’ve been doing this throughout our long journey as stove fitters. We have dedicated an entire section to this process. Please look and see if there is anything you’d like to know about (ADMIN:LINK TO FIREPLACES). As with anything that we do, please go to this page as it will guide you into providing us with the right information to get your installation under way. (ADMIN: LINK TO WHAT WE NEED)