Stove Safety

Flamecraft • 11 October 2019

How to ensure Woodburner and Multi Fuel Stove Safety.

Ensuring your Wood Burner or Multi Fuel stove is safe for us is vital. An unsafe Wood Burner or Multi Fuel stove can be life threatening, because of the increased chance of a chimney fire and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Over the past 12 years we have had homeowners coming to us with concerns about the safety of a previously installed wood burner or multi fuel stove. Once we have surveyed these fires we have found these customers often have more than valid concerns and the stove and/or installation is in fact unsafe. This has caused us great concern and therefore, we have decided to write a guide on woodburner and multi fuel stove safety.

With regulations and recommendations constantly being updated, this guide is for those who are new to wood burners and multi fuel stoves, those who are considering having a stove installed and the veterans who have been using them for years.

Ensure the stove is safely installed.

Since April 2005 installations of solid fuel appliances have required a Certificate of Compliance. This certificate confirms the installation is compliant and the appliance is safe to use.

A HETAS registered installer will provide this certification upon completion of the installation.
OR
A builder can apply for a Building Notice from your Local Authority Building Control Department prior to installation.

We recommend to use of a HETAS engineer to ensure the installation is compliant and safe due to the specialist training in solid fuel appliances and installation.

Check if you have a Certificate of Compliance or the builder applied for a Building Notice.

I don't have a Certificate of Compliance

STOP using the appliance immediately.

FIND who installed the appliance originally.

CHECK with HETAS and/or your local authority to see if your appliance/ installation was registered and signed off as compliant. You can apply to HETAS for replacement certificates if yours has been lost.

If your installation/appliance has never been certificated/signed off CONTACT a HETAS registered engineer or HETAS directly to explain your circumstances and discuss how to proceed.

HETAS or a HETAS engineer will be able to guide you in how to proceed based on your circumstances.

I have a Certificate of Compliance but I still have concerns.

CONTACT the original installer and explain your concerns.

DO this as soon as you have a concern or notice an issue arising, DON'T ignore it until it gets worse.

If the original installer continuously fails to fix the issues/concerns contact HETAS directly.

Have a Carbon Monoxide Alarm and make sure it works.

You MUST have a Carbon Monoxide Alarm for the installation to be compliant.

TEST your carbon monoxide alarm regularly.

CHECK with a HETAS registered installer to ensure the alarm is in the correct place.

Sweep your Chimney

Burning wood and smokeless coal produces waste substances such as soot, tar and creosote. These substances can build up which has potentially harmful consequences such as carbon monoxide poisoning and house fires. Regular chimney sweeping reduced the amount of build up from these potentially harmful substances.

At a minimum you need an annual chimney sweep. We advise booking this in either at the end of the burning season in the spring/early summer or before the weather gets cold in late summer/early autumn. This is because the chimney needs to be cold in order to sweep it. A yearly sweep is the minimum frequency we would advise, however two a year is recommended. Some chimneys need to be swept more often, therefore we advise asking your chimney sweep for their recommendation.

Check your home insurance policy and warranty terms and conditions to ensure you comply with the terms, as some require multiple chimney sweeps a year.

Find out more about chimney sweeping here.

Wood Storage

Do not stack or place wood or other combustible materials next to the fire. If combustible materials are too close to a working wood burner or multi fuel stove they can catch fire.

Caution Hot

When working wood burners and multi fuel stoves become incredibly hot. Keep children and animals away from working appliances and ensure you wear heat resistant gloves when operating a wood burner or multi fuel stove.

Avoid Wet Wood & House Coal

Wet wood (Over 20% moisture content) and traditional house coal produce more potentially harmful substances than dry wood (below 20% moisture) and smokeless fuels. This increases the chances of chimney fires and carbon monoxide poisoning.

by Flamecraft 3 December 2020
We all made it through second lockdown and are pleased to be open to the general public once more. We welcome customers to come visit us, but kindly ask they adhere to the government guidelines regarding social distancing. While we understand lockdown was frustrating, we are in a tier 3 area and therefore we also ask that our customers shop responsibly and only come into the showroom for essential purposes when possible. We are still able to take orders for stove spares over phone and email and in many cases out manufacturers will deliver these directly to our customers to help us to reduce the need for people to put themselves at risk of Covid-19. We know we sound like we are lecturing, however we want to ensure all our customers have a very happy and healthy Christmas. With all this in mind, we have reduced the hours the showroom will be open. We will review these regularly and open for longer if needed, we are also able to arrange appointments to visit the showroom at Baytree outside these hours, Our December opening hours are as follows: Monday: CLOSED (Pre-booked appointments available) Tuesday: CLOSED (Pre-booked appointments available) Wednesday: CLOSED (Pre-booked appointments available) Thursday: 10am - 2pm (Pre-booked appointments available till 5pm) Friday: 10am - 2pm (Pre-booked appointments available till 5pm) Saturday: 10am - 5pm Sunday: 10am - 4pm We kindly ask when pre-booking appointments Monday - Wednesday that customers give 24 hours notice and Pre-booked appointments are available between 10am - 5pm. On Thursdays and Fridays appointments can be pre-booked on the day before 1:30pm via calling 01406 373600. We are available via emailing flamecraftuk@aol.com outside our opening hours and will try to reply to customers as quickly as possible.
by Flamecraft 3 November 2020
With second lockdown looming many of our customers are concerned about being able to purchase fuel and spare parts during second lockdown. We completely understand this and whilst our showroom wont be open to the general public we are running a 'Call & Collect' service.
by Flamecraft 1 November 2020
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by Flamecraft 23 October 2020
EcoDesign 2022 is changes to regulations for the Stove Industry.
by Flamecraft 16 October 2020
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by Flamecraft 9 October 2020
With the cold weather rolling in we are extending our opening hours to the following: Monday: CLOSED Tuesday: CLOSED Wednesday: 10am - 5pm Thursday: 10am - 5pm Friday: 10am - 5pm Saturday: 10am - 5pm Sunday: 10 - 4pm We look forward to seeing you.
by Flamecraft 9 October 2020
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by Flamecraft 11 September 2020
Inheriting a wood burner or multi fuel stove can be confusing, but we have put together a checklist of the things you should know when buying a house with a wood burner or multi fuel stove already installed.
by Flamecraft 25 July 2020
We are open again and ready to welcome customers back into our showroom. However following government guidelines and to keep our team and customers safe we kindly ask customers to adhere to the following: When visiting please follow Baytree Garden Centre's one way system. Due to the width of our showroom and the positioning of our doors we are only able to accommodate one household at a time whilst adhering to social distancing. We are unable to ensure that there is a 2 meter distance between households due to our built in displays which allow for less than a 2 meter gap between them. Therefore we may politely ask customers to wait outside with a 2 meter distance from the door if we are already serving a household in the showroom, or return later. Please sanitise you hands upon entering the showroom. We are doing our best to sanitise the door handles, card machine and any handles on the stoves between customers. We kindly ask customers are patient with us as during busy periods they may be asked to refrain from touching the handles on the stoves until they are sanitised. We politely ask that you speak to a member of the team before touching any accessories or care products in the showroom, as this will allow our team to sanitise the products to ensure they are safe for the next customer to handle. Update: We kindly ask you wear an appropriate face mask/covering when visiting our showroom. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience at this challenging time.
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