The most appealing focal point in any room must be the fireplace. Be it an open fire, closed stove or room-heater, the leaping flames and glowing coals are the real heart of the home. However, for any fire to work successfully, it must be connected to a sound chimney and correctly sized flue. The functions of a chimney are to safely remove the products of combustion from the fireplace or appliance to outside without causing danger to the occupants of the house or setting the house itself on fire. A chimney works because hot air rises and always moves from high to low pressure. Factors such as running the appliance at a very slow rate or cold air leaking into the flue, will cool the gasses and affect the performance of the chimney. To keep the flue gasses warm, consideration must be given to the insulation value of the lining system chosen. In houses built since the introduction of the 1965 Building Regulations, all flues must be built with liners during their construction. This is usually done with clay liners, which should last the life of the building. However, in houses built prior to 1965, lining was less common. Flues were usually “parged” (rendered) on the inside with lime mortar. This parging suffers attack from acids and tars produced during combustion, and gradually deteriorates. The flue is then in poor condition, often leaking fumes or tars into the walls or other parts of the building. Sadly, many houses built since 1965 suffer similar problems due to badly installed flue liners and need further attention.
Lining
There are a number of reasons why an old chimney may need lining. For example you might find that the flue is leaking smoke and fumes into other rooms or parts of the building. Condensates or tar are seeping through the chimney walls causing staining, either inside or outside the building (a common problem with wood burning stoves) The flue is much too large for the type of fire or appliance being used. Or perhaps The flue is too cold, particularly if on an outside wall, and is not drawing properly. Before any new lining is installed it is essential to have the chimney thoroughly swept to remove all soot and tar deposits. This means with stiff polypropylene or steel scraper brushes. There are two distinct types of flexible metal liners available and it is very important to distinguish between them.
Solid Fuel Liners
This is a double skinned liner made from an extremely high quality stainless steel It is smooth on the inside, corrugated on the outside and must be installed the correct way up. It is specifically designed for relining flues for solid fuel and wood. Whilst stainless steel is a very tough material, it is still prone to corrosion due to the acidity of fumes from solid fuel, especially if condensation is present. Its anti corrosion properties are also reduced if heated above 900ºC for more than about 15 minutes, perhaps as the result of a chimney fire.
Gas and oil flue liners
A light gauge single skin liner, only suitable for closed gas fires and boilers, some inset fuel effect gas fires and kerosene oil appliances. It should never be used with solid fuel or wood burning
appliances.
For further unbiased advice contact Yorkshire Stove Solutions
“We will never insist a liner is fit where it is not required”
3 Dale Close,
Selby,
North Yorkshire.
YO8 9AL
07794 805999
Wood burning is better in environmental terms than most fuels as the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere is the same as that absorbed by the tree during growth. It is also a renewable resource, particularly when derived from plantations and cultivated woodland. When using your wood burning stove, for optimum results, we recommend logs should be seasoned for 2 years or more to achieve a moisture content below 20%. This will not only give up to twice the output of freshly felled timber but help avoid a build up of tar in your stove's flue. Not only do modern woodburning stoves burn much cleaner and more efficiently than older conventional stoves, but the view of the fire is just spectacular. By upgrading to a CE certified and HETAS accredited wood burning stove, you can save wood, reduce smoke and enjoy the view all winter long.
The Forestry Commission have recommended that millions of trees are planted to cover an extra 4% of the UK in woodland, equivalent to 30,000 football pitches a year, increasing the UK's total woodland cover to 16%. According to the Solid Fuel Technology Institute, logs are the cheapest form of heating energy. The cost per kW of useful energy is now around 4p. This compares to 5p for anthracite, 7p for natural gas, 7.5p for oil, 9p for LPG and 12p for electricity.
House Warming Selby presently have a number of stoves on special offer. Although summer might seem like a counterintuitive time to consider a stove installation, it actually has a number of advantages. Most obvious of which is it's reasonably warm outside so you'll not loose the heater from your house during installation.
Housewarming of Selby offer an extensive range of Woodburning and Multifuel stoves from leading manufacturers. Their showrooms boast over 40 Stoves for a variety of uses. Many of our stoves are DEFRA approved and as such are suitable for burning wood in smoke controlled areas. The beauty of burning wood is that it is a carbon neutral cycle. The tree grows and absorbs carbon - the tree is cut and burnt releasing carbon - the tree planted in its place uses carbon to grow and so on....... Given the current concern about global warming and carbon emissions this has to be a good idea.
They have a wide range of traditional and more contemporary Gas and Electric appliances - ideal for those who want the effect but don't fancy bringing in the wood or taking out the ashes.
They supply and install stoves from a number of manufacturers including Aarrow Fires, Broseley Stoves, Charnwood, Dunsley Heat, Euroheat, Franco Belge, Hunter, Morso, Esse, Parkray, Stovax, Tiger & Firefox, Villager and Yeoman Stoves. Our installation area covers the region within about 15 miles of Selby. We can perform installations outside this area on request.
www.housewarmingselby.co.uk
56 Flaxley Road,
Selby
North Yorkshire
YO8 4BW
01757 212992
There have been fad diets for as long as I can remember. The Banana diet, The Cabbage diet and over the last couple of years various Detox Diets. But exactly what are you supposed to be detoxifying your system from? Environmental toxins, toxins in processed food, free radicals? The truth of the matter is that detox diets like most other fad diets is based on fearmongering, the wish to feel good but no scientific evidence whatsoever. Unless you have a serious medical condition your body is fully equipped to deal with almost anything you throw at it, within reason. I'm not advocating eating Yew leaf stew, deadly Nightshade omelette's or throwing unknown toadstools in your once a week fried breakfast. But if you eat a reasonably balanced diet and don't over indulge in a specific food or beverage which you know will cause protests from your digestive works, there's no reason to presume that there are harmful toxins building up in your system.
The benefits that people ascribe to detox diets are in no way due to some mystical cleansing effect. They are due to simply giving your digestive system a break. A fast, as it were. It's been know for thousands of years that if you have a day without food and only drink fluids once in a while, you will feel healthier. It's not rocket science. If your usual lunch comprises of a plate piled high with macaroni cheese, six fried sausages, a lake of baked beans and half a loaf of bread smeared with margarine – you will most probably feel weary, lethargic and less than focused throughout the afternoon. It's a natural consequence of your over indulgence. Feed you pet dog or cat their whole days meals in one session and changes are they'll waddle of to there bed and sleep it off. Your body is simply diverting it's energies to processing the mammoth meal you've just ploughed your way through. Detox diets usually rely on something which is known to have a laxative effect. A weeks worth of fruits blended into a glass full of sledge, liquefied broccoli etc. But you're being conned. You are not flushing toxins from your system, you are simply purging your digestive tract. More to the point if you indulge in these sessions too regularly and don't drink plenty of liquids you stand an increased risk of dehydration. Which in turn will make you feel rotten.
The old maxim 'Everything in moderating' is as true as it ever was. Eat a balanced diet without too much saturated fat, with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, carbohydrates, protein, minerals and vitamins and you won't go too far wrong. Don't put money in the pockets of those who dream fad diets up. Without the millions of pounds people spend on them each year, the industry would soon dissolve and we would all feel much better generally.....
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