Coal fire dilema

[Joey Poey]

Hey was wondering if someone on here could help me,
Ive lived in my house now for 4 years and originally there was a gas effect fire in the living room, i had this removed and had a cast iron fire place fitted.
Ive been thinking for a while now about having a log burner installed, anyway cut a long story short xmas eve my dad said that he didnt bloke my chimney and it should be ok to use the fireplace thats there, we lit somthing in the grate just to see if the smoke got drawn into the room and to see if it went straight up the chimney which it did.
So for the last few nights ive been lighting a msall coal fire which has been lovely but the more im reading up on it now on the internet im not sure if its safe, can anyone give me any adice or is there anyong who can come and check it out for me to make sure everythings safe.
I have 2 young boys so i need to know its safe before i continue to use it.
Hope someone can help, Jo

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

do not run anything in the chimney untill its checked out by a gsr engineer or a hetas engineer either should be able to tell you the state of play of your flue at this stage any thing could go wrong with your chimney especially if used for solid fuel in the past,just because the smoke goes away do not assume its not re entering the property some where you cant smell or taste carbon monoxide

 

[Joey Poey]

Thats what i was worried about Carbon Monoxide, can you recommend any one in my area please? and thanks for the reply

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

we do cover Newport but cant do it for a few months due to work commitments ,try looking at the hetas site for a installer in your area or were you intend to buy your appliance if not heatas registered building control must get involved and inspect for your safety and when its fitted get a co alarm there are as many fatality with solid fuel as with gas

 

[Joey Poey]

Thank you very much for your advice

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

no problem,hope you get the right person to fit it for you

 

[capitanpugwash]

A local chimney sweep should cost no more than £25. This will aswell as cleaning the chimney for any flue you may fit, give you some more info about the chimney. They are pretty good and see a lot of chimneys. He will also probably be able to recommend a good local HETAS chap for any stove installation you go ahead with. Be aware that any log burning stove you install will require a correctly installed flue which while not too expensive can add hundreds to what looks like a simple job otherwise... Good luck.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

trouble is chimney sweeps are often not registered with anyone,for over 20 years we had a local sweep working in my area then i had not seen them around for a while assumed he had retired he was in prison for poisoning someone which resulted in a fatality if a chimney sweep is going to clean flues or give advice they must be registered as well IMHO,and that includes roofers who undertake flue work

 

[Puddle]

I could not believe how reasonable and professional our local chimney sweep is,comes in in his bib and braces still,with tie on,sheets out,sweeps and is away,great guy,puts me to shame,always recommend him

Would add,he is registered and knows his business

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

shocked me when i read in the paper about my local sweep,hes been at it for years,and been cleaning the parkray that was involved forever turned out to bee a soot restriction in the flue that the brushes were going trough,but caused the appliance to spill 48 hours later

 

[Joey Poey]

Hey guys thanks for all ur tips and advice I have contacted a local company called hudson and hudson , dont know if any of you have heared of them but they calling me back tuesday to make appointment