Wood burner query- chimney

[logburner1]

Hi, I am single mum and just got a friend round to have a look at my chimney to see if it is safe to use the wood burner this winter. Please could I have some advise on if the chimney wall looks ok, as worried about a chimney fire starting. 

[Doug Tait]

If by wood burner you mean a stove it should have a liner fitted, the chimney without a liner would be used for an open fire.

 

Best advice is to have it inspected/tested by a Sweep or Stove Installer.

[neiln]

Looks pretty clean to me.  Give it a sweep, you'll get a bit out but there's not much creosote there.  You can't see the top though, there may be more further up, as the gases cool and the creosote forms as they get further up.

 

[openspaceman]

10 hours ago, logburner1 said:

Please could I have some advise on if the chimney wall looks ok, as worried about a chimney fire starting. 

As @neiln says there is not much soot layer there to sustain a fire but it looks like a wide chimney so the flue gases will slow down a lot and cool quickly. A flexible  liner prevents this and when installed properly and sealed from the house with a register plate reduces the risk of gasses percolating through poor brickwork.

 

Whatever you decide do use a CO alarm.

[Squaredy]

10 hours ago, logburner1 said:

Hi, I am single mum and just got a friend round to have a look at my chimney to see if it is safe to use the wood burner this winter. Please could I have some advise on if the chimney wall looks ok, as worried about a chimney fire starting. 

Definitely worth getting a registered sweep to clean and check it.  But use a carbon monoxide alarm in any upstairs room the chimney passes through. 
 

lining it is a good idea as has been said, but it might not be necessary.  Impossible to tell from the photos - I assume the chimney is taller than the photos show?

[Steven P]

'safe to use the wood burner this winter' to me sounds like you have the wood burner there and ready to go, just checking that the chimney is OK?

 

It doesn't look any worse than mine did and the sweep didn't find any problems.

 

The chimney liner makes the wood burner more efficient (well it is really the register plate at the bottom which blocks up the big hole with only the stove chimney poking through that does it), it isn't necessary to have a liner but the fires do work better with it and the lined chimney is cleaner.

 

 

If you arn't sure then a chimney sweep can advise best

[GarethM]

As you are a single mother, surely you would want to have a chimney sweep check the installation and flue is actually safe!.

 

If your house does burn down, your insurance without it being swept will be null and void. Not wanting to scaremonger but you wouldn't try to fix a gas boiler yourself.