The type of chimney or flue you have usually dictates your choice of fire, so naturally the first thing to do is to identify your type of chimney or flue and go from there. Don’t worry if you don’t have a chimney though, you can still find the perfect fire for your home.
Brick/Stone Chimney
Conventional chimneys are easily recognisable. The stack rises well above the roofline and is topped by a traditional chimney pot or gas terminal. This type of chimney relies on the natural circulation of heated air to expel the products of combustion up your chimney.
Pre-fabricated Flue
You will see a metal flue cowl on your roof. Some are all metal whilst others may terminate through a short rectangular pot (but with a chimney stack). These flues create the same circulation of heated air as a brick or stone chimney.
Pre-cast Flue
Many modern homes have been built with such flues. You can readily identify them by either a metal flue cowl or a raised ridge terminal on your roof. Again, the natural circulation of heated air expels the products of combustion. Incidentally, these flues tend to be very shallow in depth so a slimmer fire is often required. Deep appliances, however, may be able to be installed with the use of either a spacer kit or deeper rebate on the fireplace.
Balanced Flue
Balanced flues work in conjunction with glass fronted gas fires. The appliance is completely sealed from the room into which it is installed (so there are no draughts and heating effciency is increased) and a twin-wall pipe vents directly to an outside wall. Air for combustion is drawn in through the outer pipe whilst the inner pipe removes the combustion gases to the exterior of the property. Depending on the fire selected, the twin-walled pipe may exit horizontally through an external wall or vertically through the roof. No electric supply is required therefore there is no sound with this flue system.
Powered Flue
This works by coupling our externally driven flue system to the fire so that it expels the products of combustion through a flue to the outdoors. You can have up to three bends in the flue so the fire can be located in the more rooms around your home, and the fire does not necessairly have to be installed on an external wall.
Electric Fires
Electirc fires do not require a chimney or flue of any kind.
