My first post - what a great site. You will see in the photo the very old solid cast iron wood burner that we inherited with the French farmhouse we bought a year ago. It has a wide flue pipe (200mm 8inches) that goes into the chimney and there is a steel block off plate but no steel lining beyond the flue pipe. I think it would be difficult to fit a 200mm liner. The chimney itself is enormous about 8 feet square at the base, tapering up into the top floor which has recently been converted into bedrooms and we get a lot of warmth from the chimney breast when the fire is on. I had the chimney swept last autumn and the sweep assured me that everything was OK. Certainly the stove burns really well with a terrific draw from the chimney. So I am thinking: should I get rid of the old stove, get the chimnney lined and put in a modern more controllable stove with a 150mm flue. It seems a shame to do this as it is a lovely old fire and has been there for a very long time. Another question - there is no firebrick at all inside the stove. I thought it might be useful to part line it with vermiculite bricks to improve combustion.
Any thoughts?
Many thanks.
Harry Clelland (Suffolk, UK)
Any thoughts?
Many thanks.
Harry Clelland (Suffolk, UK)