We're hoping to install a woodburning stove in our existing chimney in what will become our new kitchen diner. I've been looking at the building regulations and understand that we will need to have extra ventilation for each KW over 5KW that our stove will produce. We're looking at a Firebelly FB1 stove as it will suit the modern look of the new kitchen which is a 6KW stove so we'll obviously need the extra ventilation.
We have a suspended timber floor which has airbricks to the outside - does anyone know whether we could use a floor vent or if we'll need to add airbricks to our recently built extension wall?
Also, I've read that we can't have an extractor fan in the same room as the stove - is there any way around this as my other half is dreading the cooking smells making their way around the house!
Any advice would be much appreciated
Thanks!
Cat
heinbloed
15 Mar 2010, 10:32 PM
You'll always need a proper air supply to run a combustion, no matter what the building regulations say. Your chimney must be suitable for the planned combustion. The standard open-fire chimney isn't. Pulling cold air into your house via the suspended floor will keep the floor cool during Summer, as long as the fire is lit. And freezing cold during Winter. Your tendency to do everything wrong in terms of logic/sustainable energy usage won't be of big bother to others once you run your kitchen hood/extractor fan paralel with the planned stove. You will kill yourself soon. Get proper advise by a heating engineer before you go for a heating system, in particular with the planned stove......
vecchiojoe
16 Mar 2010, 11:46 AM
caterpillar520
16 Mar 2010, 2:51 PM
Thanks for the reply heinbloed. We haven't got a proper floor or walls yet, let alone an extractor so I think the chances of me killing myself are pretty slim!
Of course I've been speaking to our heating engineer but I wanted to see if anyone else had the same problem with a large kitchen/living room because whenever you see someone in magazines or on TV with a large open plan room they seem to have an extractor and a stove just fine.
We're renovating a very drafty, poorly insulated 1930s house who's open fire has been keeping us warm for many years so we want to make it as sustainable as we can while still having modern comforts. However, your reply makes me want to forget all about trying to make the house sustainable so if anyone else has experience of this some more constructive comments would be most welcome.
dean1979
17 May 2010, 2:41 PM
you are right about needing ventilation for your stove. you need a vent of 550mm squared per kW output above 5kW. It is acceptable to use a floor vent and the close you can get it to the stove the better to reduce draughts. regarding the extractor fan issue, you may either have to increase the size of ventilation or perhaps install a chimney fan to the top of the chimney stack to counteract the extractor fan (fairly costly!), it all depends on how big the extractor is and if it will reduce the natural flow of your chimney.
heatstoreltd
20 May 2010, 5:14 PM
dean knows his stuff again!! 550 square mm of ventilation is absolutely negligeable (about 26.5mm diameter drill hole!!) so a standard floor grille approx 185 x 85mm or so should be sufficient to counteract all but the most ferocious of extractors I would imagine. But it is certainly an issue to consider- would it be the end of the world to have a recirculating extractor rather than ducted? The accepted practice is to install the stove- close all doors and windows, put the extractor on full and then make "swiss cheese" walls until there is no issue!! Unless your house is new/ hermetically sealed you really should not have a problem.
Robin
9 Jun 2010, 5:05 PM
Hi we have similar set up - though extractor and stove are in adjacent rooms. Our stove has an air supply pipe - the outside air goes straight into the bottom of the stove via an underfloor pipe, we chose a Handol stove but there are others. The kitchen fan is a posh type of recirculating fan which creates a curtain of air to stop smells getting away. Brand is Itho. For is it is all theory at the moment - we're still building the house!
