Wood burner in my man cave

[Toegraf]

Desperate to have a wood burner in my man cave, not so keen on a 4.5metre chimney, with at least 2.5metres coming out of the roof.
Anyone have an alternative please?

 

[Mike Jordan]

Pick one that is considered to be suitable for use on a narrow boat. They only have short chimneys as a matter of course. Midland Chandlers site should show a good selection.

 

[Toegraf]

Yes I did think that but sadly in my haste to snap up a bargain I’ve already purchased a second hand log burner.
Thinking I may have to sell it on and put the money towards a boat safe burner instead.

 

[Toegraf]

Is there any way I could use my existing burner and have a shorter chimney? Say 3metres? And maybe add a cowel to increase draft?

 

[Mike Jordan]

I have installed stoves in boats and found that the makers recommended flue is much longer than the available space, they have always worked well and caused no problems. I think it's more important o have draft control at tha stove top, bottom, and preferably in the door.
Mike.

 

[Toegraf]

Thanks Mike, the regs are quite vague and 4.5 is only a recommendation.
Think what I will do is install it with a chimney that is long but doesn’t look stupid, maybe a metre above my roof instead of 2.5.

 

[Paul200]

Just had a log burner installed in our new flat-roof kitchen extension and the flue extends about 1.7m above the roof . Ceiling height is 2.3m. Stove is 0.8cm high. Overall flue length then is about 3.5m. We also didn't want the flue to be too tall but occasionally have a problem getting it to draw when first lighting it. Spent some time discussing this with the installer as he was concerned about this aspect - but once you get used to it there are ways around it and it's no longer a problem.

Paul

 

[Toegraf]

Thanks Paul.

 

[Hot stuff]

With regards to Pauls flue, as far as I remember from fitting an oil burner in my workshop a few years ago, it's got a lot to do with the height of adjacent buildings. I was told that the top of the appliance flue should be higher than any nearby roof apex or there may be problems depending on wind direction/speed.
I know that an aquaintance has an identical burner in the middle of town, surrounded by buildings and he has had terrible problems with initial combustion whereas mine, which is out in the sticks, has had no such trouble.
I don't think there's anything to be lost by trying out a shorter flue first, it may work perfectly well. Good luck with it and it'd be good to know how you get on.

 

[Toegraf]

Thank you, that is now the plan.
Although my man cave is at the bottom of the garden behind my house it does back on to a large field and so there is very little obstruction in at least 3 directions.

 

[Paul200]

With regards to Pauls flue, as far as I remember from fitting an oil burner in my workshop a few years ago, it's got a lot to do with the height of adjacent buildings. I was told that the top of the appliance flue should be higher than any nearby roof apex or there may be problems depending on wind direction/speed.

Spot on. That was our installers concern - and you can see the potential problem in my photo. But we're in a sparsely populated valley about 3/4 mile from the Solway coast so don't suffer from a lack of wind :? And that has turned out to be the problem. The wind can sometimes blow the newly lit fire back into the room, but the answer is simply to warm the flue first by building the fire upside down and lighting a lot of newspaper on top of the kindling and logs. Works a treat and saves us from extending the flue to a ridiculous height.

Like most things vaguely elemental it's very much 'suck it and see' - and at least you can extend or shorten a flue as necessary.

Paul

 

[Toegraf]

Thank you