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I never saw a back boiler before. It's smaller than I thought. I was expecting some enormous tank. Good video. Looking forward to Part 2

Andy great install and you will love it - I watch ours more than the TV. I like you have an older house which I spent time to upgrade and seal up. You are only required external vents above a certain KW value. But the fire does need air and in our case the main air source was from the doorway across the room - this caused a draft along the floor area - so like you I have a suspended floor so I drilled holes through the floor just where your skirting boards are each side of the opening - the holes were close to the wall - I then routed out grooves in the rear of the skirting boards and placed them to the wall the air is then drawn from the ends of each board either side - hidden if I did not tell you it was there - this really helped. Re a fan if you place a metal sheet so it extends under the fire and projects just to the side you may find the fire heats this plate enough so you can stand a heat propelled fan on - I hope some of this makes sense? In any case there is nothing better that a day in the garden with chainsaws - log splitter and building and seasoning your wood 🔥

I had a stove fitted to my 50s bungalow 10 years ago when i moved in. Best thing i ever did to be honest especially in the current energy crisis.A trick i do is about 9.30 pm is to put a small container ( a decorators paint kettle to be exact) of smokeless coal on and turn the air up until it starts to glow. Then turn the air down low. When we go in the room in the morning it is toasty and keeps that way till early afternoon ( with lounge door shut) 👍👍

Thanks for another interesting video. Sadly HETAS, in my experience is just another of those ideas that should offer peace of mind and professionalism. In reality you get someone who’s been on a short course and passed a multi guess paper at the end. I used HETAS ‘professionals’ for my install. After their second attempt I suggested we get the building inspector and trading standards to have a look. Their immediate response was to return my £980. I then removed and refitted the fire myself. There are probably responsible HETAS operators out there, but how are you supposed to know which ones?

I did this job myself a few years ago and got it sgned off. It was a great experience! Only dodgy bit was on the roof putting the flu liner down as its not flexible! Best thing we've added to our home

Watching this and recalling my experience, I could smell the unforgettable smell of a dug out fireplace! Another great video thanks 😊

Perfect timing, we’re looking to get one installed and have just started to research the other day!

Looks like an incredibly efficient burn. Nicely done.

That back boiler was a grenade waiting to be triggered. Cats love stoves, as I do, even when it's just 16°C in the room, as soon as the stove is going the radiant heat gives a comfortable feel to you. Also it does a much better job in getting the room up to temperature quickly when you run your central heating at relatively low boiler temperature to save on gas. Price wise you got a good deal I think for all that work done. I had to get my flue drilled to a larger diameter to accommodate for a 150mm liner, total 10 meters. My woodstove is also a Danish make, the Termatec TT20S, 5kW and it heats a living and kitchen totalling 45m² easy to 20°C above outdoors temperature if I want. Total cost for drilling, liner, inside flue and stove was in my case just under €3800, but didn't include the hearth, as a nice black stone one was already in place, drilling and lining was done in about half a day. I just had to re-plaster the small hole that was made in the chimney breast to pull the drill trough. Drilling and installing an outside air admission to the stove was done by myself, it further improves efficiency (no warm air from inside is taken by the fire) and is a must in air tight well insulated houses with balanced ventilation to avoid gasses being sucked into the room. Otherwise you need to have an open vent somewhere to level out pressures inside and outside the house and to provide fresh air for the fire.

My Mum has one, she loves it and it is a nice enough thing to sit and watch but I can't say I'm impressed with its performance. I would say results vary massively depending on the quality of the stove. Some days it can take hours to get the flue up to a hot enough temperature to start pulling, when it is roaring away the room is toasty but the heat doesn't seem to travel much elsewhere even with doors open. She still seems to use the central heating and gas fire in the other room the same amount as before.

Not been a great year health wise for me Andy but your videos have helped me get thru it. Well done to you and Mrs Mac. All the best for 2023🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍🏻

Love it copper vessel imbedded in the wall for a few decades nice wood burner as well by the way

Look into getting an Eco Fan (Peltier Fan) to sit on the top of the stove, they are brilliant at distributing heat around the room.

Sold one 1920s building , had a 1950s solid fuel burner in it, the buyers (2013) ripped it out + all chimneys and replaced with rads and boiler system

Never heard of HETAS before, and referring to heat level in Kws confused my American brain, but I got there eventually :D. We just got our install done of a big beast cast iron about 3 days ago. So far, at 5 degrees F outside, the stove alone in the basement is keeping the house at 65 degrees F, furnace hasn't had to kick in for days.

Enjoyed this, I liked the relaxed feel of this video. It is possible to install your own stove and get it signed off by building control. I did mine. It's a fairly straightforward DIY job. The quotes in South East England for that kind of install come in a lot more than £850!

That little fireplace tip was much the same as mine. However, my suspended floor was completely dry rotted and it collapsed and I fell down and hurt my head. Perfectly summed up my festering dungpile of a 1920's house also .. Edit: I installed my own liner and stove tbh. I got the liner on Gumtree for £50 and the stove was an old Morso squirrel I got for £300. Its been my #1 source of warmth for 4 years and I got to say the best ~£500 I ever spent. Its not that scary really.. We didn't drop the liner down, instead we attached rope to one end and pulled it up! Much easier.

I really appreciate the shorter edit! Watching 2 videos at 15 to 20 minutes each is much more approachable than 1 video at 30-40 mins.

We just did literally the same thing. Funny enough the room looks the same basic layout os ours. They didn't add a ugly art deco surround in ours but did cement in a bunch of bricks and totally hide the decommissioned backboiler. The scary thing was there wasn't a proper lintel installed so I ended up having to replace several bricks and repoint a bunch of it and add new/old bricks to replace the ones that been broken to make room for the backboiler when it was done. We have a sweep coming in next week to handle the chimney that from the looks of it has never been cleaned. Then we still need the new flue installed and everything certified.

Thanks for yet another excellent video. I'm also blessed to have a woodburner and a free source of wood. Keith brown aka rag and bone brown has just done excellent video on woodburner and it's emissions. Unbiased and realistic. Well my worth checking out👀.

We had that exact stove after seeing it in one of your earlier videos. It ended up getting removed as the incessant clicking from the auto air control mechanism was too distracting. Ended up going for a clock burner and been really happy with it. A shame really as build quality was great, we loved the way the door worked which you slammed shut etc. Great big window but the noise was a problem. Also consider an ec motor ceiling fan (Costco) we use it in both directions when we get too hot with the wood burner on but it also helps push the heat out of the room into other rooms. We're burning oak this year with a combination of smokeless fuel.

I was rewiring a house years ago it was a full renovation with a wood stove the plumber never put holes in back boiler to drain it the family had a fire on a cold Saturday night n just put the kids to bed thankfully,the pressure built up in the old back boiler n blown the side of the house out it was literally a bomb sight thankfully all were OK very lucky....

My heart cried a little when I saw the fire place destroyed. Such a great piece of work gone forever. Maybe it's just me but that could have lived on another 100 years given the chance 😢.

Been watching your videos last couple days absolutely amazed and what you’ve done. I have a 1930s semi detached in Wembley and would have to get a loan to fix it up. No idea where to even start! I am not a builder or handy person in any shape or form. Where do I begin!

you can install your own stove (even used one) you just need building control to sign it off. You don't even need a steel register plate, two layers of plasterboard are more than enough - it is called a closing plate. A register plate is for stoves or fireplaces where you don't have a liner inside the chimney, that is why you need another door in the register plate for access to clean sooth. The HETAS installers normally install steel register plates anyway as they don't bother.

First time it's cost you more for something than I paid ( I think)! Inclined to agree about the pollution in built up areas. When the neighbours have theirs going it comes in through our windows I've left open a crack for ventilation. I don't mind the smell but end up not using ours much.

Yeah you can do as a DIY install with a building control application. Also to those talking about air pollution, I have a good quality PM2.5 monitor and it barely registers.

Beautiful finished job 🤩🤩🧱👍🏽

Back boiler is the best thing for emergency heating

Ah I did a diy install last year, shoving the liner down the chimney was a nightmare. But I bought an ex display fire plus flu and other stuff for 900, a huge piece of slate for £100 and materials prob £30? I got a certificate from building control. Was quoted 4k for the same thing.. it’s def at the more extreme end of diy. Thanks for the videos 👍

Two things Andy 1. I can’t believe how hard it was to see the builders opening. My 1930’s place was so much easier to see and smaller 2. How clean was the water that came out of the old back boiler? Not a sign of corrosion! Edit: Nice looking stove, I like the large glass, often better than TV

Hi Andy, stoves don’t *have* to be installed by a HETAS engineer… There are other certified installers you can use, or you can do a self-install and then have it inspected and signed off by your council building control inspector. But, as you said - Whilst you *could* DIY, I’d probably leave it to the professionals! Especially the ropey roof work! 😂

Looks great Andy, always a pleasure to watch you work, looked like you had another skip full out of that old fire surround, can't believe that back boiler was just left like that ! You're obviously in sync with Keith, I'll be interested to see what you find emissions wise too !

HETAS is a competent person scheme. One can get approval from building controls without going through HETAS. Similar to installing windows via the diy route, getting approval from local building control without using a FENSA installer.

I like the look of your front room The fire is marvellous Just seeing it makes you feel warm I used to go logging for my grandad He had a coal fire but supplemented the coal with logs in the very cold months of winter Always remember the smell 🤗🤗

Really nice job, looks great.😀👍

Nice stove. I love the building materials in that “crusty little house”.

Good luck, I have a wood burner and it's really expensive now to buy wood it has gone up from £3.99 to £6.59 per bag in one year one bag is gone in 2 hours its now unaffordable to use every day in winter and I can only use it when the temp is 0 or less I don't have any central heating it's much more expensive than central heating and it only heats one room

I have done the opposite. I put in a new lintel to RAISE the opening rather than reduce, to give more chance for the hot air to come out above the stove. As for emissions, yes inside you are toastie and little smoke present, but its an "up yours" to your neighbours, especially when you first light it and add new logs. Many towns are sadly going back to the smoky smog of the 1950s. Especially bad for asthma sufferers .

Nice install. Picked up old 8kw villager for £250 got it looking new with new door ropes door pins glass seald good rub down and black stove polish. Knocked out fireplace insert then drilled 6inch hole into chimney just above fireplace put flu through that. gets to 35 deg plus in here done it all very cheaply £400 total in the end. is an old house too solid walls no insulation yet. DIY not that hard if your reasonanly handy. not got pipe down chimney yet but will do it next year. run fine how it is thats how they used to do it. it is even in manual for it. A friend did similar with his fine if you not planing of selling it with it installed in there too. YT vids like yours were a lot of help too before I started smashing fireplace out :)

Brilliant . I took out my old fireplace when I bought the house I’m not seriously thinking on recommissioning it to a wood burner .

Cool, or rather warm! Lol. Great project, interesting! I'm off to research a burner. Thanks.

I love that the cats have a ‘sploot’ (sp?) by the fire, I’ve never heard that term before! Until recently, our wood burner was our only source of heating. We’ve had to come into the 21st century since we got solar and we’re trying to save the planet and some pennies, but you can’t beat a good wood burner. Looks great, Andy. Can’t believe it’s been two years already since you bought the place.

We fitted 2 in our home in Aberdeen , it heats the whole house and very cost effective , make sure you use kiln dried would for best results

Very kind of them to leave a bomb embedded in the fireplace waiting for you! I feel like you should have sent a water sample to a lab to find out what fancy new microorganisms evolved in there over the years. Some of them could have been sentient by now.

I like the look of the stove. The large single piece of glass gives a great view of the fire and the modern styling is much better than the fussy Victorian type. 👍

I did most of the fireplace work when I installed my gas fire. If anyone wants to have a go, just be aware the HETAS inspector will want to see the fire board, well they did 10 years ago. I tiled mine, so I left a few tiles to finish off later. The fitter did the chimney and outside stuff (not for me either!).

They took their time on this one! 6 hour job that.

that old back boiler looks as if its a copper one, (cos of the green on it), & you,d get a few quid at a scrap yard for it, early back boiler,s were quite thick copper, & later back boiler were made of steel.

I'm surprised they put a new lower lintel in. As I understand it, the hot flue is providing further heat in the room, so the longer the flue the more efficient the fire. A larger gap also gives space for the hot air fan and potentially a casserole. All those lovely northern dishes, Lancashire Hotpot, Scouse, Lob Scouse, Cawl and probably some from the North East too, were one pot, slow cooked over a fire😋. Thus 1 fire heats you inside and out!

I need my mother's doing soon thanks for video

Sad that you couldn't keep the original art deco fireplace surround, but I know how hard it is working with concrete like that. Unfortunately ours didn't survive a renovation, cracked and fell to pieces

What a great investment.

This is why I love Poland...(eastern Poland). NO HETAS....yes Poland is an EU member but they totally ignore silly EU rules unless they suit them. Could buy the stuff and get local guys to install. My central heating runs on coal or wood...which is lucky because I own a wood...well a large copse really, so it's great for coppicing. It does have some very big trees in it.

Brilliant. That's going to pay for itself easily.

Great video thanks for sharing that very well explained thanks are you from Newcastle Gosforth 😀

This is a really good video, so thanks! I have a query for you. I have an inset wood burner about 6 years old. I'm thinking about replacing it with a freestanding stove, partly to get a bigger fire window to watch the flames & partly to allow us to have a flat wall without fire stonework and plinths against that wall. There was once a 16inch open fire built into a "stone" opening with a lintel above & a wooden mantelpiece placed above that, AND an attached stone plinth where we put our TV on one side of the fire and a smaller plinth on the other. Together the fire surround and the 2 plinths on either side extend along the wall about 15 feet (the room is large - about 27 feet long). Apart from that stonework the chimney doesn't come INTO the room (which otherwise has a flat wall) but is built outside the house (the brick chimney juts OUT rather than in). The opening behind the inset stove (from your neck of the woods - a Cast Tec Arbeia Titus) and its surrounds is approx 760mm high and 760mm high, but I'm not sure how "deep" but it is certainly deep enough for the inset stove. M The question is whether I'd need a builder first to remove the old inset stove, maybe increase the size of the builder's opening and put a support above it to hold up the masonry and remove the "stonework" plinths etc and THEN getting a HETAS engineer around to instal the new wood burner and hearth and maybe a mantel-beam above on the outside of the fire opening. OR do HETAS people do all of it? (I hope that makes sense!)

It’s good to know also that under 5kw you do not need a separate air inlet, natural drafts are good enough. Love our stove, it’s very similar.

It could be a very good alternative and a nice job by you and the tradespeople

You have a hearth mat, you just showed it (two cats) it is also self-cooling as the cats will soon move if they get too hot, although I have never seen my cat decide to move.

Holy hand grenade I thought that fireplace was going through the floor when you pulled it off the wall 🤣

Hi Andy, lovely to see the progress on the build. When I had my stove installed in my old house, I prepared the builders opening as yourself. I looked into doing the work myself and getting a HETAS engineer to sign off, but no engineers in my area would touch it. I checking with Building Control, but in my area the6 insisted in a pre and post sign off and the cost of this was more than a HETAS install, go figure……😂

Where's the soot box? If you install yourself use the rear port with a soot box, more efficient if the stove is a bit further out. A couple stove fans on top would be well worth it.

Mine including scaffolding cost a total of £1000. That’s for everything. Also it was a diy which I wouldn’t recommend. You need a government interfering certificate to have a stove. Soon you’ll need a certificate to buy cutlery.

@Gosforth Handyman. Top work as always sir. Looking forward to the next video. Do you think that your "Wiking" wood burning stove was named after a Norse warrior with a speech impediment.........mmm I'll get my coat. Stay safe, warm and well.

I had an installer out today to price a job for me and I did ask him if you can do it yourself he said yes but you need building control to sign it off and they charge per visit (£350) my one is so if they come out 3/4 times you might as well pay a professional to do it in the first place

£850 for labour, down South at least 3/4 grand plus VAT, HETAS is a money earner. for sure

A few quick questions 1) how does the cost of wood compare to say gas 2) Supply of wood is it easily sourced , cost , good regular supply and any chopping or cutting envolved 3)Does the chimney need sweeping regular 4 ) with this green agenda always changing (like when i was encouraged to by a diesel car by one Government an now there a big no no) 5) I would make sure i got some wax on that lovely leather couch ( or settee if yer a posh Geordie) because theheat it seems to belt out will dry the Leather out GREAT VIDS KEEP EM COMEING 😀👌

You may not be a fan of Art Deco, but in my opinion the destruction of that lovely period fire surround was sheer vandalism. They can be carefully removed and sold/given away to someone looking to restore a Deco property.

Are we still able to install wood burners in the UK? I realise theres some new rulings that were mentioned in the media

Great video

I watch many videos of UK homes, and I've been surprised at the number of woodstoves that are installed and in use. I never thought that you had enough cordwood available for people to use their stoves regularly, and I therefore assumed that it would be very expensive. I live in a heavily forested state (New Hampshire), so heating primarily by wood here is less expensive than oil, gas or electricity. But in the UK?

nice to see the copper back boiler not a common sight these days watch for the asbestos rope on the back of the fireplace between the fire place and fire back

Is the fire board in inglenook just dot and dabbed onto the brick work? Thanks

I thought you might have tried to remove the old fireplace intact. There’s bound to be someone looking for a simple,classic design like that.

Where do the water pipes go that are attached to the back boiler?

It is illegal without a Hetas installation and the Hetas company will give you a Building Control Certificate (BCC) . If you do not have a BCC, your Council can condemn the enitre installation and could even get an order to remove the fire until proper certification has been granted. So unless you have a BCC, you will forever be looking over your shoulder for a visit from a council environment dept who will know if you have a BCC since the Hetas company lodges a copy of the certificate with Planning as well as giving you a copy. Frankly, you seem to have got a great deal and the installation looks fantastic. Well done.

Can anyone advise on how I can remove a hearth that looks like that? Ours seems solid concrete with tiles. He seems to make it look so easy was that a pry bar? Do I need a chisel to remove tiles first? Any advice would be much appreciated

1980s vintage water 👌🏻

Howcome the chimney stack doesn't fall down before you put the new lintel in? I see lots of videos like this where they remove bricks to install the lintel but how does the chimney stack stay up in the time betweent the bricks are removed and the lintel is put in place?

Why did you not fit a stanley boiler stove and heat the house.Your pipe work was already there,fit a new ciculation pump and the whole house is heated,plenty of wood around at recycling or indeed at the local wood wind falls etc.

You can install yourself and get a hetas registered chimney sweep to ok it. You have to know all the rules, regulations and distances before doing so. I did my own install from exactly the same start as you. My inglenook though is twice the size and it took an age getting the back boiler out and all the cement and odd thrown in brick, before it was finally revealed. Glad I did it though and it saved me hundreds of pounds by doing so. Would I recommend doing it on your own?..... Yes, but only if you are a very competent person, and you will some help.

Nice. I miss the woodstove in the house I sold. It was nowhere near as nice as that one, though!

You do good work; but, the drama is award worthy.

I guess you also doesn’t have a pipe close-up valve? That is odd. It is in fact illegal in Germany but in Finland and Sweden it is pretty much standard. You burn the firen then you close the valve and that keeps the heat inside- If you do not have the valve the fireplace is in fact cooling the house as the fireplace pushes hot air out and cool air gets in. Even kids in Finland kmow how (and when) to close it

Also worth noting to tell your house insurers you’ve installed one. When it came to renewing our insurance they weren’t happy we fitted one without telling them

Remember to look out for the dreaded asbestos when delving to fireplace projects!

I never heard of a back boiler, and don’t have a clue what’s used for, other to heat water for kitchen and bath, but the boiler looks like it didn’t hold enough water to heat a shower, or certainly a bathtub, so still confused of its use. Regardless, the firebox and wood heater looks great!

Oh I bet that old water stunk to high heaven! Great job.

O aye. Wood burning stove gives out lovely heat. .and poss boil a kettle and make toast. Remember 1970's when people was reduced to cutting up a burning all the internal woodwork /staircases ect .in desperation as could not afford coal. Later some of the houses had concrete stairs fitted. Sad grim times. Seems we heading that way now.

Hi mate did you check for asbestos

The air quality topic is really divisive. You would probably get a lot of views with a video showing your experiences with a modern stove and a good pm monitor. I would recommend Airthings ones as you get good historical graphs and they can also measure for radon etc too. I know this was covered with another channel but the monitor they used was a cheap one and it would be interesting to see another persons experiences.

If you install your own you need to get the council to sign it off.

Hi,, who fitted the stove, I’m in Newcastle and looking to have one fitted?

Hi Andy, would you recommend the stove installer? I'm 3 miles east of you and I'm currently researching stove installers, but not sure who to go with. Cheers.

I think most people could do it as a DIY.

What about plate above plinth for access of chimney sweepers ?

Do you need a party wall agreement for these types of installs?

If you don't check the chimney or get inspected you can void your house insurance so do some research first