I have a rather frustrating problem that I hope someone with a bit of knowledge may be able to help me out with.
Last year we installed a Villager multifuel stove into our front room. The output I believe from memory is 18kw. The lounge could be heated by a 5kw one as it is only 5m x 4m but we wanted an oversized stove with the intention of leaving all the doors in the house open and it warming every room.
We didn't fit a liner, we just cut a hole in the fireproof board above the stove and put the 6" outlet through the hole into the chimney.
When we installed the stove there was still the gas fire metal chimney terminal on the chimney, which looked something like this:
I thought I'd have to get it replaced with a proper chimney pot but tested the fire with it still on - it worked perfectly, it became very hot and when we opened the door to the bottom of the stairs to let the heat spread the temperature on the central heating thermostat rose to 24.5 degrees (in the stairs.) So it seemed to work fine with the gas terminal on, it heated the whole chimney breast and the wall in the bedroom above. We fitted smoke and CO2 detectors around the place to make sure there was no leakage.
Anyway fast-forward to this winter and in November we lit the stove and it didn't get very hot at all in fact with the doors open smoke would come out of the front of the stove rather than up the chimney. I put this down to two possibilities - first the chimney may need sweeping and secondly the gas fire terminal may be getting clogged and restricting flow.
We had a proper roll top chimney pot fitted and then had the chimney swept and the inside of the stove cleaned out.
This had the effect of stopping smoke spilling out the front when the doors were opened but it still doesn't get anywhere near as hot as it did before, in fact with a similar outside temperature the reading in the stairs is only 17 degrees now. And the wall in the bedroom doesn't get warm at all.
It's as if the chimney pot has ruined the system that we had, but obviously I didn't want to leave the gas terminal on and in any case it has started to cause smoke to come out of the stove (although when I inspected it after its removal there was hardly any soot on it.
I am really stuck - the 18kw stove is just about heating the lounge with all the doors shut, when a 5kw one would do it easily - I have tried different fuels, good quality smokeless coal and also kiln dried logs but at the moment all it seems is that I am throwing money up the chimney.
Can anyone explain what could be causing such a big difference to what it was like before? I am suspecting a chimney problem particularly because the wall in the bedroom no longer gets warm where as before it was warm enough to heat that room.
Any help very gratefully received.
Jay.
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Last year we installed a Villager multifuel stove into our front room. The output I believe from memory is 18kw. The lounge could be heated by a 5kw one as it is only 5m x 4m but we wanted an oversized stove with the intention of leaving all the doors in the house open and it warming every room.
We didn't fit a liner, we just cut a hole in the fireproof board above the stove and put the 6" outlet through the hole into the chimney.
When we installed the stove there was still the gas fire metal chimney terminal on the chimney, which looked something like this:
I thought I'd have to get it replaced with a proper chimney pot but tested the fire with it still on - it worked perfectly, it became very hot and when we opened the door to the bottom of the stairs to let the heat spread the temperature on the central heating thermostat rose to 24.5 degrees (in the stairs.) So it seemed to work fine with the gas terminal on, it heated the whole chimney breast and the wall in the bedroom above. We fitted smoke and CO2 detectors around the place to make sure there was no leakage.
Anyway fast-forward to this winter and in November we lit the stove and it didn't get very hot at all in fact with the doors open smoke would come out of the front of the stove rather than up the chimney. I put this down to two possibilities - first the chimney may need sweeping and secondly the gas fire terminal may be getting clogged and restricting flow.
We had a proper roll top chimney pot fitted and then had the chimney swept and the inside of the stove cleaned out.
This had the effect of stopping smoke spilling out the front when the doors were opened but it still doesn't get anywhere near as hot as it did before, in fact with a similar outside temperature the reading in the stairs is only 17 degrees now. And the wall in the bedroom doesn't get warm at all.
It's as if the chimney pot has ruined the system that we had, but obviously I didn't want to leave the gas terminal on and in any case it has started to cause smoke to come out of the stove (although when I inspected it after its removal there was hardly any soot on it.
I am really stuck - the 18kw stove is just about heating the lounge with all the doors shut, when a 5kw one would do it easily - I have tried different fuels, good quality smokeless coal and also kiln dried logs but at the moment all it seems is that I am throwing money up the chimney.
Can anyone explain what could be causing such a big difference to what it was like before? I am suspecting a chimney problem particularly because the wall in the bedroom no longer gets warm where as before it was warm enough to heat that room.
Any help very gratefully received.
Jay.
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