wood burning stove in a council house ??

[gowersponger]

does any one know if you can install a wood burning stove in a council house ? cheers

 

[bopdude]

If it were allowed to be installed I bet it would still be banned due to smoke.

 

[Mesquite]

does any one know if you can install a wood burning stove in a council house ? cheers

What one council would allow another could well refuse so you're probably better off asking your council if you can than on the forum.

 

[quietone]

Go here to check if you are in an area with restrictions. But even if you are, you can purchase a stove that conforms to the current legislation.. I have a morso, which is crazily efficient and can be used in an area listed as 'controlled'
I can't answer if your council will let you install one though.

http://smokecontrol.defra.gov.uk/locations.php

 

[789987]

unless you stay in a block of flats i doubt anyone will care if you install it - when you move however there is a very large chance you will be charged for the removal of the stove and the reinstatement of the building fabric

 

[gowersponger]

thanks for all the replies iam giving a letter to my local council in the morning

 

[shaggystu]

thanks for all the replies iam giving a letter to my local council in the morning

I'd be interested to hear how you get on, I'd quite like to put a woodburner in my council house too

 

[Macaroon]

Individual councils and housing associations have different rules - mine not only agreed but offered a grant of £500 towards the cost!

 

[Nice65]

Installation involves an inspection of the flue and installation of a stainless steel liner and register plate before you can fit the stove. I live in rented, but I'd imagine a council property must conform to building regs too. The fitting of the flue etc cost £950 (and it's only a bungalow), plus £420 for the woodburner. You'll be issued with a Hetas certificate after fitting, the council may want to see this, so there's no short cuts.

 

[gowersponger]

thanks for all the replies intresting

 

[mr dazzler]

If it were allowed to be installed I bet it would still be banned due to smoke.

If you invest in a quality stove, you will find that they are highly fuel efficient and give off less emissions than a standard gas fire, this is a fact, although not everyone cares to let you know. Defra approved stoves generally use a 5 inch rather than the usual 6 inch diameter flue. They can safely and legallly be used in smokefree zones.
Of course to get the best results you need a quality stove, quality stainless 25 year insulated flue liner and have it competently fitted. It needs sweeping preferably more than once a year. And you need wood to burn in it, lots of dry logs. You get ignorant ill informed people who moan about stoves, they make stinky clouds of smoke an waste trees blah blah blah. They sometimes have a point if the stove is a cheap diy installed taiwan/chinease job going into a tarred up ex gas fire flue...with damp logs....A proper stove gives off basically no smoke, if its fuelled and burning correctly. And wood is a sustainable fuel, yet its amazing how much gets chippered. If you know someone who is a tree surgeon your laughing....theres logs everywhere, you soon develop a nose for them.
A decent stove is an outlay-BUT it pays for itself over the years, especially if you have the motivation and wherewithal to acquire and process your own logs (a practise I would highly recomend, a great task for you and your boy to do together)
In 2011/12 I paid £70 tops for a around 3 tons of logs, which were delivered to my gate, plus there were some extra windfalls and good stuff rescued from the chipper that I got for free. When it was all cut and split, I worked out that the same volume supplied "ready to burn" (LOL thats a joke) off a log merchant would of been around £450

I have a woodwarm stove, absolutely brilliant, totally British designed and built piece of kit. I swear you can actually SEE the heat energy being sucked out of those logs and converted into flame heat....I'm burning willow in it at present and its hot, wait till I start with the beech....

Good luck with the project idea,
cheers Jonathan

 

[Nice65]

I'm burning a nice mix of Ash, Beech and Chestnut. Have to shut the door for the Chestnut, it spits a lot, but I pick up used 5 foot posts 5-6" diameter for 40p a post. Bought a hundred, made a LOT of logs. Not the best burning wood, but when split in half and piled in they seem to go ok.

The tipper load of Ash was a real bonus. Arrived split and a bit damp, didn't pay a penny for it

 

[Laurentius]

I would say probably not.

I live in what used to be a Council flat which has since been taken over by a housing association.

When I moved in it was one of the very few not to have been converted to gas and to still have an open fireplace.

I used to burn smokeless fuel in it, but after they knocked the coal houses down there was no where for it to be delivered anymore, so I went over to electric heaters, but the fireplace is still there.

A couple of years back there was a fire in the block, and when the fire brigade inspected my flat after the restoration had been done they said that the open fire was a no no, I then recieved a notice from the landlord banning me from ever using it as a fireplace.

I suspect you will fall foul of health and safety for any number of reasons notwithstanding you are probably in a smokeless zone anyway and wood is not smokeless.

 

[quietone]

@ Laurentius....
As I pointed out earlier, even if you do live in a smoke controlled area, you can buy a stove that conforms to DEFRA'S legislation.
I guess you didn't read it... Naughty boy, stay on after class... Repeat on the blackboard... ' I must read all of the comments before I post my own'