Legal Requirements For Fitting a Cast Iron Stove : eBay Guides

Legally, for all installations after 1st of April 2002 - you require a BUILDING CONTROL NOTICE from your local council should you wish to fit or replace a woodburning or multifuel stove, flue pipe or make modifications to a fireplace. Alternatively, the work can be carried out by a HETAS registered engineers. There is a downloadable pdf of HETAS engineers available from the HETAS website.

You can also download a copy of the building control regulations (document J) from the website : (www dot planning portal dot gov dot uk) - please see pages 25 > 35 of document J

Some of the things building control will require you to do are :

6 inch minimum air gap from NON combustable walling right round a cast iron stove (walled fireplace)
840 x 840mm MINIMUM hearth size for free standing appliances
12 inch (or more) hearth in front of the main body of the stove which may EXCLUDE the ash plate
5 inch thick hearth (concrete / brick base with tiles / slate / marble / whatever on top)
An air vent to an exterior wall somewhere in the room - size dependant on stove output and room size. (the formula for how to work it out is shown in document J of building control regs - also downloadable online)
Cleaning access points must be catered for.

Of course, we realise the fact that a lot of people do not give a stuff about regulations and will fit themselves without a building control notice anyway. If you buy a stove from us, we are in no way responsible for making sure you get a building control notice or have your stove fitted by a HETAS registered engineer.

Failure to comply with legal regulations however, may have serious insurance implications on your property and will void the warranty on your stove.

Note, that often the cost of flue pipes and parts for fitting a stove can often out-weigh the purchase price of the appliance. We urge you to ask ourselves - or others help working out your requirements and for costings of flue pipes / fitting etc before purchase of the stove.

To SAFELY fit in a caravan / narrowboat / garden shed, the parts are likely to cost approx £250 on top of the cost of the appliance. Vitreous pipe (the black stuff) is for indoor use only and you MUST change to twin wall insulated at least 6" before passing through combustible materials such as ceiling / roof / etc and maintain 2" clearance right round the twin wall pipe. Brackets, fire stops, compounds, roof flashings and fixings CAN add on more cost than is often expected for small projects !