Installing a chimney

[Alan Zoff]

Is it feasible to install a chimney in the centre of a house?

Hundred-year-old two-storey house, brick and tile construction with oak flooring. I want to put in a wood burner but the only chimney is miles away from where I want to position the stove: it's on an outside wall next to the kitchen, whereas I want to put the wood burner near the centre of the ground floor to provide general heat for the whole house - i.e. it's not a visual feature, just somewhere I can burn the plentiful supply of free wood available to me.The rooms have individual electric heaters already.

I spoke to a stove "specialist" in the UK who said it wasn't a practical proposition, even though there is an unobstructed route for the chimney and flue up through the the two ceilings to the loft area. He suggested instead rearranging the ground floor rooms and installing a more traditional fire as near as possible to the kitchen so that the flue could be sloped into the existing chimney. Our dining room would then become our sitting room. I can see the economic sense in that but it does not offer what we want to achieve, particularly as all the heat would be generated in one room on one side of the house.

Anyone got any experience/thoughts?

[andyh4]

Must it be a chimney, or would a simple flue - enamelled or stainless steel - going straight up through the roof do the job?

http://www.leguide.com/grp/3244336114445.htm

gives some sort of idea of what might be achieved.

[Lehaut]

Have seen it done in a French house. The fire was "suspended" at the base of the chimney. It was the shape of a flying saucer and could be rotated to face where you were sitting. Have only installed on chimney, we punched through an exterior wall and used the double insulated SS pipes. Should work for going through the center of a house too.

[Théière]

[quote user="Alan Zoff"]

I spoke to a stove "specialist" in the UK who said it wasn't a practical proposition, [/quote]

A behind the times view, You can run as others have said a flue pipe up through the building. It would need to be the insulated class 1 where it could come into human contact and also where it penetrates any wooden structures, observing the french regs on distance from combustables. The temperature of the flue gasses would also denote if more of the top of the flue would need to be insulated to keep the flue drawing properly and not creating a down draught.

[mint]

YES, textbook description down to (or up to) the top of the flue being insulated if necessary

[Alan Zoff]

OK. Thanks all.

New ground for me and just doing some preliminary research while dealing with other stuff in UK. Back to France shortly and I will try to track down the rather elusive but very helpful French chap who helped me out with a heating problem a while back. Not sure of the extent of his services but he might be the one to do the installation.

[mint]

If he's not the right chap to do it, don't forget to ask him for a recommendation of someone he knows who does do this type of work.