❖ CHIMNEY LINING ❖

The most attractive focal point in the lounge of a home, HAS to be the fireplace!! And whether you have a fireplace or a Stove, they will, on most occasions, require a chimney. For any real fire to work properly, it must be, fully connected to a sound chimney with an accurately sized flue. The natural function of a chimney, is to safely & efficiently eliminate the end products of combustion from the fireplace or stove to the air outside of the home, protecting the occupants of the house from danger and or from setting the house on fire. 

THE PROCESS

A chimney works due to the fact that hot air rises and continuously moves, from high to low pressure, and so in order to perform appropriately, the heat within the chimney MUST stay very hot, otherwise, the gasses will cool down - they won't rise - and they will therefore drop back down towards the stove or fire and potentially, into the room. This is why it's always good practice to gradually heat up the flue before loading the stove or fire with fuel. Warming up the flue in preparation of starting a fire will kickstart the engine (chimney) and thus, gently coax out the compressed cold air that has built up within the chimney, when it's not in use. And so, once the chimney is hot, this will cause, within the stack, a pressure difference, between the density of the air outside the home and the gases inside the chimney, called draft, which works by way of the dense, outside air, pushing itself, into the home, into the stove or fire & essentially pushing the hotter (lighter) waste gases up the stack and out of the property. A chimney essentially works (much better) when it's hot and so, the hotter the gasses within the chimney, the stronger the draft (pressure difference) thus, resulting in, a better (cleaner) fire. 

DO I NEED TO LINE MY CHIMNEY?

In houses, built after the introduction of the 1965 Building Regulations, all flues, were to be built with liners at the time of their construction. This was and is usually done with clay lining systems which should potentially last the lifetime of the building. Houses built prior to 1965 were lined not so much and so therefore, the flues within the chimney stack at this time were usually rendered on the inside with lime mortar however, this method of rendering often suffered major attacks from acids & tars that were produced during the combustion of solid fuel fires. With this tarring, the flue would deteriorate through time and therefore leak fumes & tars from the fire, into the walls and or other parts of the building. During the course of our work, we have found that houses built after 1965, have suffered the same fate as those built prior due to badly installed flue liners, some of which, after inspection, have unbelievably been installed upside down, and or without any proper, adequate sealing. Ultimately making them unsafe for use. Installing a flue liner ( correctly ) into a damaged (unfit) flue is the cheapest means of remedy to an unsafe chimney. 

WHAT DO HETAS SAY?

Whenever a stove or a fireplace is to be installed into a chimney, HETAS always insist that a flue liner is installed and since stoves are designed to operate with a flue diameter as closely matched to that of the outlet size of the stove, by installing a liner, it reduces the diameter of the chimney flue, creating a sealed, system from the stove to the chimney pot and this truly does maximise the potential of a stove.

There are a number of reasons why a chimney may need lining. 

1. The flue is leaking smoke and fumes (carbon monoxide) into other rooms, or parts of the building.  

2. If the chimney was built after 1965, but with the liners fitted upside down, tar and leakage can occur. 

3. The old flue surface is eroded and so is causing resistance to the flow of gasses, resulting in poor draft.

4. Condensates and or tar are seeping through the chimney walls causing staining, inside or outside the  

     building (a common problem with wood burning stoves). 

5. The chimney flue is much too large for the type of fire or appliance being used. 

6. To promote energy efficiency and to reduce the consumption of wood/fuel.

7. The flue is too cold, particularly if on an outside wall and so is not drawing properly. 

5 YEAR INSTALLATION WARRANTY

As a company, we strongly believe that all chimneys serving a stove or fireplace should be lined with a stainless steel liner and whether or not they are lined with an existing clay lining system. For even though a chimney stack can pass a pressure test, it is always a potential victim to wear and t  (as well as chimney fire) somewhere down the line and so, in order for our customers to avoid unnecessary hassle and substantial cost at a later date, we believe that a liner at the time of installation would be the best course of action to take. And to qualify for our 5 year installation warranty, a liner must be installed (at the time of the installation) with the stove as well as with any stove or fireplace purchased through us. We supply & install only the best flue liners on the market, that come with a 15 and a 30 year guarantee! 

We work hard to give our customers the best deal possible - so we supply flue liners from 4 different manufacturers!!