Hello all. We have a couple of woodburners to install....just basic ones, no radiators or hot water. We have been asking around in the village for recommendations for someone knowledgeable and reliable to fit them. But getting nowhere, just lots of tales of people being ripped off! But not who by.

So, does anyone know of someone in the VT region who might be able to help? We have found all the chimneys are clear and ready to go, but no idea how big a job it will be, whether there are regulations or whatever. We don't want some chancer telling us it is a difficult and technical job costing thousands if it is relatively simple. Do we need flues or anything for the chimneys or do the pipes fit straight onto the opening thingy in the chimney?

Have we been hearing too many 'embellished' horror stories?

All tales and advice eagerly digested. Thanks for reading.

Sara

Sara, why not contact Prity or one of the other manufacturers and ask for their recommendation? I have spoken to a few companies in the last few days and found them super helpful.

We bought them from Prity, the showroom at the factory. They do not fit or deliver, speak any English, and only take cash. One person tried to draw a map to where they have a shop in town where they would deliver and you can pay by card, but we couldn't find it. A lady with a little English had a cousin who might fit them.

So we brought them home one at a time and unloaded them ourselves (120kg and 90kg) and my superhuman spouse man-handled the smaller one upstairs. If all else fails we will try using the translator on the computer to discuss with neighbours. They are not there much at the moment. There is no mad hurry, we do not have the builder in till the end of the month, so we will not know which chimney we will be using till then'and what will need removing.

Sara

Check out Geosonda in VT. They fit Prity woodburners and install all kinds of heating including solar. The man and his wife speak English and they have a shop in VT. Also online though its ages since I looked. Our woodburners were all installed by him and the radiators for the central heating. Hope this helps. We have had no problems at all.

oldun wrote:

Check out Geosonda in VT. They fit Prity woodburners and install all kinds of heating including solar. The man and his wife speak English and they have a shop in VT. Also online though its ages since I looked. Our woodburners were all installed by him and the radiators for the central heating. Hope this helps. We have had no problems at all.

Thanks Oldun.

I fitted one the other week I got one as its all would fit in the tiny van and I still need 2 more for upstairs and a bigger one for the Kitchen, too heavy to move that many in one go.

the neighbour helped carry it in and before I could do anything he had joined the tubes together and pushed it in the hole in the wall....he seemed happy!

We have the mini air radiators that go in the pipe to the wall as well , he just snapped it all together like meccano in 5 minutes

The only thing we did first was the day before we cleaned the chimney with a brush kit from ebay and we then sealed behind the wall metal thingamys to the wall with silicone to stop smoke getting out round the edges.

Do you have straight up chimneys, or are they the typical BG types with a round hole in the wall about 6ft above the floor?

Reason I'm asking is, with the 'hole in the wall jobbie' you have two 90 degree bends in the flue and the chimney is contained in the wall..they are a devil to clean and the risk of a fire within the wall is quite high! My house originally had about four of these and I ended up cementing them up. During the renovations, I discovered an open fireplace downstairs which had been bricked over and the vertical chimney blocked off just below the roof tiles. I ended up clearing the blockage and extended the chimney up through the roof and making a small tiled roof for the top. I left substantial openings on all four sides, so no matter which direction the wind is coming from, smoke is always drawn away. I also covered these gaps with half inch square wire mesh to keep leaves and birds out of the chimney. We used the open fireplace for a couple of years with great success...but would never go up to bed before the fire was out because of the spark risk. Following a very cold winter a couple of years ago (minus 25 degrees) we decided to buy large Prity glass fronted wood burner and after a bit of messing around I managed to build it into the original open fireplace cavity..the burner came with about 5 metres of flexible flue pipe (about 9"
dia) which takes all the smoke right up to the top of the chimney..we can now leave the fire burning all night and the whole house is lovely and warm.

Sorry for the long winded explanation..I can't think of any other way to do it, unless you want to pop down and have a look at the way I did it.

Thanks Bazz, we decided to leave it to the experts, but thanks very much for your detailed post.

Sara

Excellent post bgbazz

Just trying to be helpful.

Don't forget your carbon monoxide monitor. Very important!

Have we had any forum members die from carbon monoxide? Its a wonder we have all survived. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

You may well be right, but surely for a few pounds it's not worth the risk?

Scunnered wrote:

You may well be right, but surely for a few pounds it's not worth the risk?

We agree that prevention is better than cure, and they were on the list for Praktiker yesterday....and we still forgot them!

Sara

Equinus wrote:

We agree that prevention is better than cure, and they were on the list for Praktiker yesterday....and we still forgot them!

Sara

Oh, so easily done!