I need to use some form of heat resistant cable to connect a fan connection kit for a wood burning stove to a spur socket to switch it on/off. What sort of cable should I use? The cable will probably get hot and go under the stove and then out and between the plasterboard dabbed onto the block wall. Total length will be less than 5m.
What cable
- Thread starter Oddbod1
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Need to know actual temperature. Mineral cable can stand a huge amount of heat, but is like a pipe so not flexible, other cables have glass fibre insulation, others butyl rubber, up to 90°C there are many cables, after 90°C it becomes specialist.
I seem to remember for wood burners the flue temperature is critical, seem to remember around 120°C under that and you get condensation and over that you are throwing away heat, also the fire box temperature is critical there is a lower limit which below that point you get particular emissions. Seem to remember that means a double burn, extra air is added above the grate to ensure the really high temperatures are maintained at least while the fuel is still wood, once converted into charcoal it does not matter.
This critical temperature was the whole draw back with the wood burner, to run efficiently it has to run at a set output, however most users want to vary the output, the only way around the problem is to store the heat produced, be it in the stone around the fire place or more controllable medium like water or FRF. It was not the wood burning fire that costs the money it was the storage system so that the fire can burn at a set rate.
However because assuming you are using the wood burner as an ecological unit, and not a method of stealing fuel, the fire will have a fixed run temperature. So cable route is often not that hot, and any 90°C cable will do the job. I note today most wood burners take their combustion air from outside the property, and the systems seem to rely more and more on electric fans and pumps, there are even some condensing wood burners now made with horizontal flues made of plastic.
The point is where water is used to store the heat, the water does not boil, so the outside temperature must be below 100°C.
There are also some very primitive systems using Sterling engines to control the temperature, and even the rocket type the latter very eco friendly however an insurance nightmare.
Today I look back at my parents house with coal and coke fires and realise how bad they really were. There were no vents to allow combustion air into the fire, they drew it from the room, as a result really draughty in the house. There was no or little control over temperature with coal fires, yet when we went to coke where it did not need the control there was. Be it charcoal or coke since nasties already removed there is no need for careful control, but with coal, wood or peat there is, however with all three we would bank down the fire to burn over night, which today is seen as a no no. There are a few old properties which have never had the fires removed, but other than those where we have had oil, or gas heating the replacement heating has to be within 10% as efficient as the one it replaces, which means once a condensing system is fitted near impossible to legal return to solid fuel, and even with old boilers it is not easy to comply with the efficiency rules. At least in England and Wales, not sure on Scotland may be the rules are more lax.
Although mineral cable will take a lot of heat, some where it needs terminating, and you standard socket or FCU will not take excessive heat.
I seem to remember for wood burners the flue temperature is critical, seem to remember around 120°C under that and you get condensation and over that you are throwing away heat, also the fire box temperature is critical there is a lower limit which below that point you get particular emissions. Seem to remember that means a double burn, extra air is added above the grate to ensure the really high temperatures are maintained at least while the fuel is still wood, once converted into charcoal it does not matter.
This critical temperature was the whole draw back with the wood burner, to run efficiently it has to run at a set output, however most users want to vary the output, the only way around the problem is to store the heat produced, be it in the stone around the fire place or more controllable medium like water or FRF. It was not the wood burning fire that costs the money it was the storage system so that the fire can burn at a set rate.
However because assuming you are using the wood burner as an ecological unit, and not a method of stealing fuel, the fire will have a fixed run temperature. So cable route is often not that hot, and any 90°C cable will do the job. I note today most wood burners take their combustion air from outside the property, and the systems seem to rely more and more on electric fans and pumps, there are even some condensing wood burners now made with horizontal flues made of plastic.
The point is where water is used to store the heat, the water does not boil, so the outside temperature must be below 100°C.
There are also some very primitive systems using Sterling engines to control the temperature, and even the rocket type the latter very eco friendly however an insurance nightmare.
Today I look back at my parents house with coal and coke fires and realise how bad they really were. There were no vents to allow combustion air into the fire, they drew it from the room, as a result really draughty in the house. There was no or little control over temperature with coal fires, yet when we went to coke where it did not need the control there was. Be it charcoal or coke since nasties already removed there is no need for careful control, but with coal, wood or peat there is, however with all three we would bank down the fire to burn over night, which today is seen as a no no. There are a few old properties which have never had the fires removed, but other than those where we have had oil, or gas heating the replacement heating has to be within 10% as efficient as the one it replaces, which means once a condensing system is fitted near impossible to legal return to solid fuel, and even with old boilers it is not easy to comply with the efficiency rules. At least in England and Wales, not sure on Scotland may be the rules are more lax.
Although mineral cable will take a lot of heat, some where it needs terminating, and you standard socket or FCU will not take excessive heat.
Surely the installation instructions for the fan and/or the stove will tell you that?
Get some fp200 fire cable
D
Doggit
We're speculating. What is a fan connection kit, and where does it go.
Is installing a wood burning appliance notifiable (needs a warrant?) in Scotland?
I don't want to sound obvious, but should you not be asking the Heatas installer?
I havent explained the full story. We're undergoing a rennovation, builder is udnertaking all wiring etc and get electrical signoff but I'm just wanting to check the correct cable is bought. We have to install the spur socket and provide the cable length which the Heatas install will then connect to.
You should ask them. Most product installers will not install unless everything is correct. They will have a required standard for the cable. Ask Heatas.
Anything else you get on here is pure speculation and guesswork.
Anything else you get on here is pure speculation and guesswork.
And if (I honestly don't know if, but I do know that there is an if to consider) the HETAS guy has to do any certification, then it would be madness if that did not include the wiring for the fan in the appliance, as the working of that fan is probably integral to the working of the appliance.
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