Many people choose not to install a wood burner into their home for the very practical reason that they don’t have a chimney. It’s certainly true that where there’s smoke there needs to a be chimney, however installing a chimney, or something similar, doesn’t need to be a logistical impossibility or prohibitively expensive.
Basically, if you don’t have a chimney for your wood burning stove, or your chimney is used for something else, you can install something called a flue pipe. This does something very similar to a chimney, i.e. it releases smoke from the home. However, they are relatively easy to install, and are designed especially for use with wood burners.
A flue needs to be insulated. There are a couple of reasons for this: stoves tend to get hotter than open fires, and this is because they are more efficient, i.e. more heat is retained. Insulation ensures that the hot flue doesn’t threaten the surrounding area, especially important where there are nearby timbers.
If you’re installing a flue yourself, which should only attempted if you have the right experience, then you can seek advice from the buildings standards office. You don’t necessarily need their permission, however their advice can be very valuable.
Alternatively, you could seek professional installation, and there are lots of installers these days who specialise in wood burner and flue installation. You can also look online for wood burner spares and mutli fuel stove spares.
