Leaking Chimney to wood burner!

[Sheila]

I have read Robina's thread on this subject with interest - I too have the same problem!  I bought a small house, fully renovated about 5 years ago being single and female and retired- I did not want to do work ! The woodburner itself is fine - draws well - and I have seasoned wood. trhere is a stainless steel insert.

BUT -  1. The chimney pools tar  down the walls and onto the hearth overnight - when burning during the day it's fine.

            2. The joins on the s/s chimmney are male  (below)into female (above)as you go up the chimmney! Sounds wrong by reading the threads.?

            3. After the chimnney disappears into the ceiling at ground floor level - there is no access to it.  It is walled in in one    of       bedrooms, and there is no loft access! The tiles on the upper floor get quite warm, as does the plasterboarded chimney breast. Also the chimney is not secured where it joins the wod burner at the rear - you can just slide it off!

            4. The previous owners admitted to having the same problem prior to sale - and my inspection builder did not pick up the    incorrect  construction.!

I am now pretty scared of this chimney - I thnk it is hazardous - so have not been living in the house for 3 months!

I am in the Languedoc area between Carcassonne and Narbonne.

I need:   an expert to sort this out, who will not rip me off.. Shoukl I be cutting my losses and going for a new chimney? If so please let me have adetails of a  reputable guy - and what od you call such an artisan in France?

Many thanks

 

[clarksinfrance]

Sheila just hazarding an educated guess here, but it sounds as though you might not have a flue liner??. From your description, it sounds like you have stainless steel tube(s) going partway up a chimney, then opening out to the old stonework chimney, at a register-plate (which is a plate blocking the chimney). If this is the case it may be that over several or many years, the lime mortar between the stones has soaked up the condensates, and now whenever the conditions are right, (a bit of heat) the condensates are liquifying and, thanks to gravity, dribbling down the walls of the chimney. If this is the case, it may be necessary to install a flue-liner, these can be flexible metal, certain plastics, clay, concrete, or twin-walled insulated tubes. To stop the condensates held in the mortar joints getting warm/hot and flowing, it will almost certainly be necessary to insulate the flue liner.

Just so you know, the flexible liners are about €20 a metre. and should only take a good day to fit, with new register plate, insulation, and sealing, and testing. If you go this route, a professional installer must also fix an installation plate describing the make-up of the new flue.

Your stainless steel tubes certainly should have the female part skyward, and the male part downwards. (no sniggering).

I am not an expert, so, please do not take my word as gospel. I just write this in the hope that it may help.

[Sheila]

Dear Clark -

Many many thanks for taking the time to give me such sensible information.  It makes perfect sense.

To date, I have had so called professionals telling me ;I am buring the wrong wood, it is  unseasoned, the chimney is in the wrong direction for the wind(!)  However, even I can see that chimney has been installed the wrong way up - i.e. femal part downward adn male upward!

Now.........does anyone know of a professional installer who knows what he/she is talking about, in the Languedoc area, Department 11? And what is such a professional called in France?

The house is roughly between Narbonne and Carcassonne.....Please!!!!